Skip to main content

Five questions to ask, five questions not to ask at interviews

The interview has just about wrapped up. You are interested in the position and the interviewer pops this question at you ?

Do you have any questions for me ?

Well, you should have several.

1. What is the biggest challenge in this job? You want to know what you will be asked to do. Come up with a reply to how you handled a similar challenge.
2. What do you enjoy about working here? This is a chance to find out about the culture and people there. It may be in line with what you seek with a company.
3. Is this a new position or a replacement? If you are replacing someone, see if they were promoted or let go. If it's a new position, they may seek your input on job responsibilities.
4. What kind of supervision will I have? Will someone check in with you now and then or will you be required to punch in and out throughout the day.
5. When will you make a decision? This will show you are interested in the position. They should tell you in a few weeks or the end of the month.

Don't ask these.

1. How long will my lunch hour be ? The days of the three martini lunches are long gone. You may have a scheduled one every day or it will be flexible. Expect 45 minutes or an hour. This will come after the offer.
2. Where will my office be located ? Don't ask for a corner office with a two windows. Once you have the position you can see where they locate you. If you will be in charge of people, aske how close you will be to them.
3. What is the social life here like? Don't try to find out if they have Christmas parties, picnics, fantasy football teams and like to hangout after work. You will find this out once you are there.
4. Have you ever been laid off ? Don't bring this up to them. A better question may be how did you find out about your position.
5. Why are you bulding a facility next door? If you have done your research on the company you should be able to answer this for yourself.

Bring a notepads, copies of your resumes and jot down relevant facts about the company. The key is to stay relaxed and have a positive flow with the interview.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Black Friday or Black Thursday

Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving, which is traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 am, or midnight or nowadays on Thanksgiving night. To work that turkey off they have promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but judging from commute time and crowds in stores you might think so. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005 although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time. The news media has long described the day after Thanksgiving as the busiest shopping day of the year. In earlier years, this was not actually the case. According to wikipedia in the period from 1993 through 2001, for example, Black Friday ranked from fifth to tenth on the list of busiest shopping days, with the last...

Democrats and Republicans

With the election coming up Tuesday, I sometimes wonder how people choose political parties. Maybe the parties choose them. After doing some thinking and research I came up with some differences between the two. Republicans roll a toothpaste tube as they use it. Democrats squeeze from the top. Republicans like a good brandy. Democrats drink beer. Republicans sleep in twin beds. That is why there are more Democrats. Thank you will Stanton. When a leader is in the Democratic Party he's a boss; when he's in the Republican Party he's a leader.Thank you Harry Truman. Democrats give their old clothes to the poor, Republicans wear theirs Democrats like baseball,especially the World Series. Republicans like college football, especially the BCS controversies. Democrats drink coffee from a mug. Republicans drink coffee from a cup with a saucer Democrats call the evening meal supper. Republicans call it dinner. Democrats believe people are basically good but must be saved from themse...

AOL buying Huffington Post

Internet company AOL Inc. famous for it "you've got mail," and local patch news sites is buying online news hub Huffington Post in a $315 million deal that represents a bet on the future of online news. Huffington Post grew quickly from startup to online giant. Over time, it launched city-specific pages and developed a roster of sections such as food and books. The work of its 70-person paid staff is augmented by content from news outlets and 6,000 bloggers who write for free. In a blog post about the deal, Arianna Huffington praised AOL's vision. She wrote that the deal was signed at the Super Bowl in Dallas.