101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview

Ron Fry

• Publisher: Career Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781504030427
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Careers

Don’t become tongue-tied during the most crucial phase of the interview process 101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview is for every job candidate who thinks “Do you have any questions for me?” marks the end of an interview. In Fry’s view, it marks the beginning of the last, and perhaps most important, interview phase, one that’s so important that failing to properly prepare for it can undo all the rest of your hard work, including providing great answers to tough questions. It’s your moment to shine—to show off the depth and breadth of your research, to remind the interviewer of how perfectly your credentials fit the job description, and to actually ask for the job! Fry shows you how to take charge of the interview process, presenting yourself as the self-managing, versatile, and confident candidate most employers are seeking. He demonstrates how to use the interview process to sell the company on you while obtaining the information necessary to make sure you are sold on them. From what to ask, when to ask it, and the kinds of answers to expect, 101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview gives all candidates, from first-timers to seasoned pros, the practical information and advice they need to ace entire interviews... and get their dream jobs.

CHAPTER 1

The Strategy of Asking Smart Questions

Before we start delving into specific questions to ask yourself, “pre-interviewers,” and the hiring manager, let’s agree on some overarching rules, if you will, that will govern them.

Shape your questions to the position

Learn as much as you can about the position for which you’re interviewing—before you show up for any interview. When you ask questions about any aspect of the industry, company, department, or job, make sure they are couched in terms of the requirements of the specific job you’re seeking and the goals of the particular company at which you hope to be hired.

Don’t ask about time off

Or vacations or sick days or anything other than the job at hand…at least not before you’re offered the job.

Don’t ask about salary or benefits

Again, wait until you are offered the job. (See chapter 7 to understand why.) You don’t want money to be a deciding factor when the interviewer is still wondering whether you’re the best person for the job...or even worthy of a callback.

Know what to ask when of whom

Questions differ depending on both where you are in the interviewing process—screening interview, hiring interview, first, second, third, and so on—and, during a particular interview, where you are in the interviewer’s script.

The earlier you are in the process, the more likely you’ll be asking general questions about where the company’s going, its culture, and what it deems important or valuable. Your questions are an attempt to get an initial feel for how you’d fit in, where you’d fit in, whether and how you could grow, and so on.

The more information you can get at or near the start of any interview, the easier it will be to tailor your answers accordingly:

Is there a written job description for this position?

What are the challenges you believe need immediate attention?

How would you describe your ideal candidate for this position?

What kinds of people seem to succeed in this company? This department? Working for you?

What particular traits do you value most in your subordinates?

What qualifications do you consider most essential to this position?

Naturally, you will continue to ask follow-up questions until the interviewer has given you a virtual “interview blueprint,” effectively drawing a portrait of the candidate she wants to hire.

The more time you devote to a particular company, the more targeted and probing the questions should become, both those the interviewer will ask you and those you should ask the interviewer. You’ll really want to start homing in on the particular information you need to decide whether this is the right company, position, and boss for you. So the farther along in the process, the more individualized the questions become (since what’s most important to you may be something I may not ask about, like the availability of on-site daycare, reimbursement of moving expenses or tuition, and so on).

Get the interviewer talking

Ask open-ended questions-those that begin with “Who,” “What,” “When,” “Where,” or “How.” Your purpose is to establish a conversation, to get the interviewer talking so he volunteers the information you want (and just maybe, to elicit some information you don’t even know you want). These kinds of questions do that:

How do you see this position evolving over the next two or three years?

What do you think is happening to book publishing as a whole? Is print dead?

Who held this job previously? Was she promoted? What is her new title?

When are you hoping to make your decision?

Ask probing questions, usually open-ended, to extract more details and to follow up after general questions.

Closed-ended questions—those that can be answered by a simple yes or no (and undoubtedly will be)—are useful near the end of an interview, when you want to “close” the sale, or when you do want specific answers to specific questions. “Do I have to wait 90 days for medical coverage?” A simple yes or no will do fine.

“Why” questions can be a little tricky, since, if you’re not sensitive (or aware), they can make you appear more aggressive than you might want: “I noticed you have put a lot of books out of print last year. Why did you do that?”

You can extract the same information in a gentler way: “It seems from your annual report that more books than usual were remaindered last year. Is that because digital editions are cannibalizing print sales?:

Consider asking questions that aren’t questions. Making a statement rather than asking pointed queries is a way to put a nervous interviewer at ease. It takes some practice, but it’s very effective in getting reluctant interviewers to open up: “What would help me most would be to get a better feel for the culture I’d be walking into and the styles of the people with whom I’d be working. Could you take a couple of minutes to give me a better understanding of those issues?”

Match your style to the interviewer’s

That doesn’t mean you have to become a total milquetoast when interviewing with a passive interviewer, but, if facing such a scenario, you may want to appear a little less aggressive than you actually are.

That’s why you have to be a little careful about a “one-size-fits-all” interview approach. Yes, employers want go-getters. Confident candidates. Enthusiastic, hard workers. But take the time to look around the office you’re visiting. Is everyone pretty laidback? Then dial back your fire-breathing sales personality. You can brag about the results you achieved without scorching anybody.

Likewise, if you’re inherently reluctant to blow your own horn and a little passive and laidback yourself, an Animal House–like atmosphere might not be your cup of tea.

Watch the interviewer’s body language

You also need to always gauge the interviewer’s response to what you’re saying, not just to the answers you’ve given but to the questions you’ve asked. Listen for verbal clues and watch the body language that will often tell you how you’re really doing. If it’s obvious you’ve hit a wrong note, you may even want to say something like: “I’m sorry. That question seemed to make you uncomfortable. Is that an area you’re not yet prepared to talk about?” Again, you don’t want to kill a potential job offer because you were overly aggressive on the interview.

If you know what to look for, you’ll get extra clues from the body language of an interviewer:

Lack of eye contact or “shifting” eyes are usually seen as a sign of dishonesty or, at best, discomfort: “Mr. Interviewer, are you planning any more layoffs?” (squint, shift, squirm, blink) “Uh, no, Jim. So, how about dem Bears?”

Raised eyebrows indicate disbelief or even mild distain, along the lines of: “Oh, really?”/“You don’t mean that, do you?”/“Gee, how’d you figure that out?”/“You don’t actually expect me to buy that, do you?”

A smile at the wrong time can be a sign of discomfort or an indication of a complete lack of appropriate social skills.

A tightly clenched jaw, pursed lips or a forced smile may indicate stress, anything from a boss’s reprimand to an early morning fight with a spouse. While the cause is clearly not your problem, you need to make sure the effect does not become a distraction during your interview.

“Closed” positions of the hands and arms—clenched fists, arms folded across the body—are not positive. They may also indicate boredom or negativity.

An interviewer who is slumping or leaning back in his chair may be showing disrespect, arrogance or disinterest. It is surely a sign that you have to ask a question to get him back into the conversation.

If the interviewer keeps nodding rapidly for an extended period of time while you are asking or answering a question, it may be shorthand for, “Be quiet and let me say something now.”

Doodling, chewing on a pencil, scratching, playing with her hands, moving things around on a desk, or acting distracted are typical signs of nervousness. Don’t interpret it as anything more than nerves unless something else tips you off. Again, ask a question to get the focus back on you or, even better, a question about her. (Most people like to talk about themselves, especially a not-too-experienced interviewer who seems to be nervous about interviewing you, believe it or not!)

Be concise and to the point

If your question is so long and convoluted that even you don’t remember where it started by the time you finally finish it, what do you expect the poor interviewer to think? Ask one question at a time, not a series of questions masquerading as a multi-clause construction. Then follow up with a series of equally pointed and specific questions to elicit more information.

Assume the position

Even when my brother was a relatively low-level salesperson at a public relations company, he constantly talked about what “we” were doing and how “we” were doing it and what “our” prospects were. Despite the fact that he was not privy to the executive ranks until late in his tenure—what “they” knew or where “they” were headed—his use of “we” certainly gave the impression he was more involved in those decisions than he was…and he wasn’t involved at all in any of them!

It must have worked. His last title there was president of sales.

When appropriate, assume you already have the job and ask questions accordingly:

“Mr. Baines, what’s the first challenge we’re going to face together?”

“Ms. Lyndon, what projections do we need to hit next year?”

“Mr. Johnson, what are the three most important targets you have for my department?”

Okay, there are some really dumb questions to avoid

Don’t ask questions that show your lack of research:

“So, what exactly do you guys do?”

“Who named the company?”

“Do many people work here?”

Don’t ask questions that illustrate your poor sense of taste, strange sense of humor, or those that are just plain wacko:

“Wow, how long before I get a cool corner office like yours?”

“So, I guess you’re the Big Kahuna?”

“How many days a month can I work from home?”

“Should I tweeze my eyebrows?”

Don’t ask questions that reveal your biases

“Hmm, Rutigliano, that’s Italian, isn’t it?”

“Will I be working with a lot of people babbling in another language?”

“Will my boss have a problem following my directions? After all, I did graduate from MIT.”

Avoid questions that make it clear you are desperate:

“I really need to pay the rent by next Friday. If you offer me this job, could I get a loan before I start?”

“I’ve been out of work for months. What the heck do I have to do to get a job?”

“Will you please hire me? I’m willing to do anything.”

And don’t let your arrogance show: “I have a few problems with the offer. Since you can’t seem to do anything about it, may I talk to someone with the authority to give me what I want?” Want to bet that offer just evaporated?

As a book publisher, I have a lot of experience with literary agents who suddenly receive a better offer for a book…right after I’ve made mine. Real or fictitious, such timely offers may be seen by some as just part of the negotiating process, but can also be off-putting and even deal-killing. So be careful of using a competitor’s offer, be it real or imagined, in a way that can be perceived as threatening: “Well, I appreciate the offer, but SBC Company already offered me $5,000 more. Beat it or else.” Be especially careful if you haven’t really gotten any such counteroffer…even competitors talk!

It’s okay to ask an interviewer about his own experience with the company—“What do you like most about working here?” “What do you find most satisfying about your job?” “What challenges are you facing in your own position right now?” But avoid any that are clearly too personal: “How much did you make last year?” “Aren’t you awfully young to be a vice president?” “Why isn’t your office bigger?” These would include the kind of illegal questions that you know he can’t ask of you: “Are you married?” “Tell me about your children.” “Were you born in this country?” “What kind of a foreign accent is that?”

And avoid any question that has nothing whatsoever to do with the job, department, or company. These may include, but are not limited to, asking for a date, inquiring about the “smoking break” policy, or asking any question that would lead even the most understanding interviewer to immediately call security and have you forcefully ejected, preferably from the state.

Don’t introduce negativity into an interviewer’s mind

There is nothing inherently wrong with asking about normal work hours, as long as you don’t say, “My last boss expected me to work most Saturdays. You don’t, do you?” Oh, yeah, you are so committed.

The way some questions are posed may make them negative: “Do you have a lot of people who job-shar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction: How to Be a Great Prospect
• Chapter 1: The Strategy of Asking Smart Questions
• Chapter 2: Questions to Ask Yourself
• Chapter 3: Questions to Ask During Your Research
• Chapter 4: Questions to Ask “Pre-Interviewers”
• Chapter 5: Questions to Ask Your New Boss
• Chapter 6: Questions to Close the Sale
• Chapter 7: Questions to Get the Best Deal
• Epilogue: Questions That Get Real
• Appendix: All the Smart Questions to Ask
• Index
• Copyright Page