Job interviews should be filled with probing questions, not just from the interviewer, but from the jobseeker.
Asking smart questions during an interview is a must, career-management experts say. Doing so shows that you have researched the company, you have a high level of interest in the position and can communicate well. Fail to ask questions or, worse, ask foolish ones, and the interviewer will conclude that you have no enthusiasm for the position and aren’t bright enough to form relevant questions, much less fill the job.
“Don’t ask questions, and you probably won’t get the offer,” advises Linda Baugh, president of American Career Executives. “Would you want to hire someone who has no inquisitiveness about your business, the job, what you do and who your customers are? It’s very, very important.”
Too often, jobseekers think they have to do all the talking, but surveys have indicated that your best bet lies in getting the interviewer to talk as much or more. The way to do that is to ask questions. The basis of your questions will come from the research you should have done in conducting your job search.
Your questions should be about what you couldn’t learn from the company’s website, published reports and news accounts. The smarter the questions, the better; they should not be off-the-cuff questions; they should be ones you have thought about in advance. You want to know specifics about the position, its exact responsibilities and duties, and with whom the new employee will work and to whom he or she will report.
Interviewers like it when candidates are ready for the interview and have done their homework. The best candidates will cite information they’ve read on the website, such as a new product, and ask for specifics about how the launch will affect the company’s growth, for example.
Linda advises clients to ask “If I were to work for you, what is the most important project or problem you would want me to take care of for you? It tells them that you are a problem solver, and everybody wants a problem solver”.
Career experts caution about several questions you should NOT ASK during early interviews. Don’t ask about salary, benefits or holiday time. Doing so indicates to the interviewer that you are interested only in what the company can offer you and not what you can do for the company. Also, try not to ask questions where the answer can be found in the company literature.
Debbie O’Halloran
