Eight Vital Questions To As A Job Interview
The purpose of a job interview is as much for you to interview the company as it is for the company to interview you. So arrive at a job interview prepared to ask questions of your own.
You’re hoping the get a job offer, but you’ll have to make a decision: do you accept the offer or don’t you? Of course the boss is trying to sell you on the job, so you’ll accept it if it’s offered. After all, no employer wants to go through a whole time-consuming and costly search and then find his or her top choice turns down the offer.
You should ask questions to find out exactly what’s involved in this job. And of course, you want indicate to the boss that you’re sincerely interested in what he or she has to offer. Also — and this is particularly important — you want the boss to reveal to you just what he or she is looking for in a new employee.
1. What exactly would I be doing on a day to day basis? Tell me what my responsibilities would be.
2. What talents and abilities are you looking for? Please describe the ideal candidate. Once you know the answers, you’ll be able to show that you’re that ideal candidate.
3. Do you have plans to change how this department operates? If I were in the job, How would the changes affect my responsibilities? Again, you want to get a feeling for what the future might hold for you
4) What is the most important objective of this department? Employers want team players. And you should understand the big picture — what the team is expected to accomplish.
5) Who held the job last? How long? Why did he or she leave? You want to know if this is a swinging door position, in which no one can last very long, or whether it’s a launching pad for bigger things in the company.
6) What would I have to accomplish in this job to be considered first-rate? If you don’t know what the boss thinks is important, you’ll have no way to set your own work goals.
(7) When would I get my first salary review? Who would review my performance? You make not want the job, even if you start at a good salary, if it’s tough to get a raise in this company.
(8) If I’m really doing a terrific job for you, what will the future hold for me in this company? What might I e doing in a year? Two years? You want to know if you’ll be promoted for your hard work, or if you’ll be stuck right where you started.
Don’t be at all shy about asking these questions, and other like them. Better to know as much as you can about this pool before you jump into it. These are legitimate questions, and most bosses are direct and straightforward about answering them.
Until you understand what the employer is looking for, you have no way of knowing if you’re describing yourself an a way that’s appealing to him or her. Try to get as much information as you can, as early in the interview as you can. Ideally, you want the interviewer to lay out all the job background and specifications before you start talking about yourself.
