Job interviews: "Do *you* have any questions?"

In My Humble Opinion
21

“Where do you see yourself in five years?” I don’t ask that, because people rarely have an answer. I used to ask, just to see if the person was really committed to this job, or wanted to take ANY job. I’m trying to guage if you like what you hear and intend to stick around or if I’m going to be going through the same time-sucking interview process again in a couple months.

One question I always ask, if they haven’t covered it already, is designed to find out how much of an asshole your potential new boss is. Ever have one of those bosses who put you to work and never spoke to you again? To weed those out, “Can you give me three examples of ways you motivate your employees?”

This stops 'em dead in their tracks, if they’re not communicative, don’t offer feedback to staff, etc. Best answer I’ve heard? “It’s not three things – just one: I take responsibility for the mistakes and give away credit for the things that go well. Even if I’m the one that succeeded in meeting the goal, I always say my staff did the work. And if someone makes a mistake – it’s my fault because I should have managed the process better.” Note: I did take the job and that woman, as a manager, rocked.

22

What does the job pay? ALWAYS ask what it pays, always always always. Yeah, it’s an uncomfortable question for some, but it’s important, it’s a proper and professional question to ask, and the interview is the proper time to ask it. And ask, specifically, about the benefits offered. Be very, very specific; you want to know what it pays, including salaries and bonuses, what expenses you will incur, what the pay progression is like over time, and what benefits there are, including dental, medical, and pension. Specifically ask how much vacation you will get, how many sick days (sometimes they’re all in the same pool) and how many holidays you get. Specifics are the key. You don’t want unpleasant surprises later.

23
      • Uhhhhh, , , -no. One or two questions max. The applicant is not the one doing the interviewing here.
        ~
        A good guideline is “don’t ask anything they might have to go look up”.
24

Ack, NO NO NO. NEVER ask anything about salary or benefits during the interview. That’s the fastest way to get yourself crossed off their list – it makes you look like you only care about what they’re gonna give YOU, and the interview process is about giving them a reason to hire you, i.e. what YOU can do for THEM.

Salaray and benefits can wait until they give you a job offer. It’s normal and professional at THAT time, not before. Unless the hiring manager brings it up himself without any prompting.

As a very general (and unfortunately vague) guideline, ask them something that makes it obvious you’ve been doing your homework on the company. It shows your interest goes beyond just what happens at your desk and in your wallet. Start with a statement, “I read that your company does X,” follow up with a question about it, “can you tell me how X inter-relates with Y?”

25

“Are you a moron? I worked for a moron in my last job, and I swore I’d never do it again…”

26

just pick one out of GQ :smiley: that’ll teach 'em…

27

“Do you do drug testing?”

I actually did ask this at my last interview, was told “no, we don’t care much about what people do on their time off”, and got the job.

28

Harold or Amy?
[sub]Sorry, couldn’t resist.[/sub]

I’ve never known what to ask, either. I’ll have to write all these down.

29

As the interviewer, it doesn’t reflect negatively on you to ask me these questions, but don’t expect me to know the answers. I’m one of several people interviewing the same candidate, and I’m there to find out specific information. Hell, I don’t even make the final hiring decision, (all interviewers talk about it together at the end), and I sure as hell don’t know what we’re going to offer the candidate if they accept. So my answer to all of them would be “I don’t know.”

Absolutely do NOT stroll into my interview with ANY preconceived notions about how we operate. I had a guy doing really well until he started discussing in length what my company was doing wrong and how we should go about improving ourselves.

You also should NEVER ask about drug testing, for obvious reasons. Drink the snot and roll the dice.

30

“Do you happen to know what the third word that ends in -gry is?”

At least they won’t forget you.

31

After you have received an offer, you can ask specific questions about salary, benefits, etc., i.e., if I accept this job, what’s in it for
me.

But before you have received an offer, I think you should be more circumspect. You want to convey that you are interested in what it is like to be part of their team, not just what you are going to get out of the job. You also want to convey that you are interested in what it is like to work there long term.

Of course you should be concerned about money, but most employers assume that there is not going to be a good fit if the first questions out of your mouth all relate to money. They think (probably with some justification) that you are going to be entirely focused on yourself, and not thinking about how you can contribute and help them solve their problems.

I think at the initial stage, the purpose of your questions is simple: to find out what its like to work there. One way to do that is to ask the interviewer about his or her own experiences working there.

I like to start with questions about the interviewer’s background and how they came to be working there, and then transition into his or her experiences with the organization:

Ms. Interviewer, I’m curious to know how you came to work here? Where were you before? Why did you come here? What have you liked? What was it like adjusting from [whatever they were doing before] to working here?

If the interviewer is doing a job that is comparable to yours, then I do think it makes sense to ask about a “typical day.” But the problem is, although its a good question, everyone always gives the same answer: “there’s no such thing as a typical day here.” If the someone says that, then you can follow up with asking them what they did yesterday, “Just to give me some sense, then, can you tell me about what you did yesterday?”

Recently I read some suggestions for questions in a job search magazine and I like both of them a lot:

  1. Can you tell me about some of the people who have been highly successful here? Who has done a great job for you?

  2. In a year from now what kinds of improvements would you like to see in this organization?

The answer to number 1 can be very revealing. If the interviewer says A has been a great employee because he is here every weekend and late at night, well, then that tells you something. If B has been a wonderful employee because he is really good at listening to people and asking for help when he needs it, well, that tells you something too.

Question number 2, I think, is nice because it–gently–puts the interviewer on the spot, and forces him or her to talk about things that could use improvement. It also can help you to try figure out whether you are dealing with a dynamic place that is always trying to improve and welcomes new ideas.

Hope this is helpful. Good luck.

Constantine

32

Depends on what field you’re in and the current job climate, really. I’m a software engineer, and up until recently, the norm was that if you were reasonably good, you’d get multiple offers for sure. So it was, in fact, that I was interviewing them as much as they were interviewing me. My criteria (when I have a choice) are more than just salary and benefits; I want to know if this is a place that I would want to work, if I’ll get along with the people, if the work will be interesting to me. Not that I was stupid or arrogant in what I asked in response to the “Do you have any questions?”. I mean, stuff like “Are you a moron?” are fine jokes on this board, but not a good real-world way to find out.

But things like “Can you desribe a typical day for me?” or “What exactly do you have in mind for me to do?” are ok. I’ve asked things like “What’s the work environment like here?” (which is, admittedly, probably too open-ended). And as an interviewer, I’ve been asked things like “What kinds of social activities do people do, like getting together at lunch or after work?” And I didn’t think that was an inappropriate question.

I agree with the don’t ask about salary during the interview thing. Most of the interviewers aren’t in a position to even know, let alone make the decision. And even the hiring manager or HR person probably won’t have an answer until they decide to make you an offer.

As for why they ask where you see yourself in five years, I think it has multiple purposes. One has already been said, that it’s a way to see if you’re thinking of staying around at the company for a while if they hire you. But it can also show whether you have ambition, or if you just want to put in your time doing the same thing for the rest of your life. More importantly, depending on the job category, it’s a way for you to

33

Thanks everyone…my interview is in two hours, yikes!

34

I try to find out a little about the company and industry before hand. That shows that you at least know a little about what it is they do.

I also tend to ask about things like training, promotions, benefits, etc - There’s no way I want to be stuck doing the same job for more then a year, I want to make sure I can move on and up in a company and not just stagnate. - Of course this depends on what sort of job you’re going for.

As questions about the people working there, do they have a social commity, if they don’t, chances are the people working there are gonna bore the crap out of you.

I always ask for a tour of the building, this is important cos not only will you look like your taking an interest, but you’ll also get to see the people working there outside the interview room, if they all look bored shitless, or stressed, it may not be the best place to work.

There are a lot of damn good suggestions here, I gotta commit some of these to memory… I have an interview tomorrow!

35

A good question to ask is; “Is there anything that I should have covered about myself that I left out” or “What do I need to tell you to convince you that I am the right person for this job”?

You can ask what sets them apart from their competitors also.

Unless it is a sales position, don’t bring up money unless it sounds like what you are looking for and what they are offering are way apart.