Interviewing 101: Asking the Right Questions
It’s almost 2024, so you know what that means— new year, new you… new job? Even if you’re currently basking in the bliss of a fat holiday bonus, come springtime will you feel the same way? This post will come in incredibly handy when your job search time comes. Why? Oh because we’re talking about one of the most important things to do in a job interview—asking the right questions.
To the few of you sitting there saying, “I thought the hardest part of interviews was answering THEIR questions,” wrong. Of course having prepped and concise responses to a hiring manger’s questions are important. But where the game really changes is when you’re able to interview the company right back. Well, well, well. How the turntables.
The goals of asking questions can be summed up pretty easily: 1) making sure you’re not getting yourself into anther toxic workplace 2) standing out by starting conversations and 3) covering anything you might’ve missed in the interview thus far. So let’s put ourselves in the mindset of being in an interview (minus the sweat), and now imagine asking these questions:
Cover your bases.
Can you tell me about your professional values and why?
If your best friend was applying for this role, what would you tell them about it?
How does this company support working parents?
What do you love about working here? What’s one thing you would change about working here?
What does the first 30/60/90 days in this role look like?
Can you tell me about the best performance you’ve seen in this role? What made them outstanding?
What does growth and development look like for this team?
What does the deployment schedule look like? (Engineering specific)
How do you celebrate success?
What issues are you bringing someone in to solve?
If you’re feeling bold.
Why did the last person in this role leave?
Do you have any reservations about putting me in this position?
Are you a (blank) or a (blank) person? (coffee/tea, dog/cat, pancake/waffle, Google/Ask Jeeves)
When was the last time you took PTO? Does this seem like a pretty company wide trend?
What’s one of the biggest fails in the past year and how was it handled?
What’s something you wished you had known about this company before starting here?
Okay, do you see where I’m going with this? Questions can spark insight into the company as well as making the person interviewing you better imagine you in that role. So even better news now, I have SO many more questions for you to choose from. And you can find the perfect ones for you here.
Shoutout to all my friends on LinkedIn who have helped to contribute to this list over the past year. Let’s keep adding more in 2024.