I’ve quit my old job now, and I’m going to start looking for a new one next week. The old job was not a good one, for a bad company, with a bad supervisor and a co-worker with anger management issues that she often took out on me. How do I interview with new companies without sounding like a bitter, angry person, but still ask enough questions to protect myself from getting hired by another crappy company with crappy management and people?
I realize going into an interview and asking them “Do you have any people who get angry a lot at work?” or “Do you buy office supplies for people without grilling them or making them wait for six months until they buy their own?” or “Are there any plans for this company to be bought by a heartless, multinational megacorp any time soon?” is not going to sound very professional.
“Tell me something about the work atmosphere here. Is it collegial, or do individuals work on their own projects? Is it deadline oriented? Do you know whether the staff hangs out together after work?”
Be careful of asking those type of questions because they engender too many questions about you and your past work experiences. Really, will anyone during an interview ever dis the employer?
I would ask questions about company strengths, career paths, teamwork etc. But do your homework about the potential employer ahead of time so that you appear knowledgeable–that way your information sharing starting point will be more sophisticated and possibly more revealing on their part.
Also ask any questions in a postive, enthusiastic way (fake it for an hour it you have to). I don’t know what kind of work you are seeking, but consider asking questions about types of committees or task teams you may be recruited for. It is not so much the content of the answers you should study, but rather how people answer and their attitudes displayed.
Changing jobs is always risky and even with a perfect sets of interviews I have worked for plenty of crappy places. Good luck.
You were stung badly, but that was then ; keep your focus on the future.
It’s a hard reality check but employers are swamped with applicants nowadays. The interviewers have one goal: find the person who do the best for them . I don’t mean to be brutal but that’s the reality. Lots of people have gotten screwed previously but they’re under the gun–and probably very straitened circumstances–to determine the person best equipped to do the job.
“Don’t complain, don’t explain” is a great maxim. And don’t demand, even tacitly. Sure, in an ideal world the choosing runs both ways but times are hard. Lots of people have had dreadful, unfair experiences. They want someone who can produce what they want in return for a paycheck.
But there are subtle, positive ways to find out what you want to know. “What’s the work atmosphere like?” “How would you describe the communication flow and corporate culture overall?” Etc, etc.
Spin it neutrally or even hopefully if you can manage, but listen between the lines to what they say. IOTW, give them a chance to brag. “Once burned, twice shy” makes for a hellishly hard leap of faith but everybody deserves a clean slate to begin.
The one question I always ask once I’m comfortable with the people in the interview goes something like this:
‘I know that I’m hearing the best 80% of the what it’s like to work at your company. Tell me about the other 20%, or what is the most frustrating aspect of working here’
If you are doing well in the interview, this tactic basically tells them you are doing some reasonable tire kicking, and tells them you expect to hear something other than a platitude-based answer, gives them license to be tone down the sales pitch. For the companies I’ve chosen to work for, I’ve found I’ve gotten fairly honest answers from this approach.
If I sense trepidation in responding to that inquiry, or hear a platitude like ‘everyone is happy here’, I generally get suspicious.
If you feel the interview is going well, ask an incident specific question, something like, “Tell me about a time that a member of the team didn’t meet a deadline: what were the circumstances? How was it resolved and what is that team members current status with the company?”
It doesn’t have to be that exact question, but something where they have to tell you about their specific actions. You will get at least an idea of what their priorities really are and if you can live within their guidelines.
I had about 5 of these types of questions on my last job interview. Having learned from my previous job what I didn’t like in a GM, I was committed to not going in for just any job. It was the answers to these questions that lead me to decide to work for the company I am currently with - from three job offers.
“Don’t complain; don’t explain” sounds like great advice. Good advice from everyone. I guess the best thing I can do is be prepared for the interviews, and not wing it in this situation, because I am still very angry, and that’s not going to get me anywhere.
I recommend a 2-part approach to interviewing. In the first part, you are just focused on selling yourself. Be observant, but don’t ask probing questions at this stage, or any questions about benefits, vacation, or salary. The goal of the first part is to get them to offer you the job.
Then, once they’ve offered you the job, ask the questions you need to decide if you want the job. Tell them you’re seriously considering the job, but need to do a thorough comparison with your other options. The questions listed above are good questions, but asking them while you’re being interviewed it is easy to come off as demanding or bitter.
