Interviewers often offer you the ability to ask questions about the job. They expect you
to ask questions about the company, department and the job role. This website
will help you master this portion of the interview.
Top Reasons for Asking Questions during the Interview
- Get an Offer - The number one focus of every activity in the interview should be to make sure that you are extended an offer. In the first interview this means that your goal is to be invited back for a second interview. In the final interview, you want to get an actual offer either directly or afterwards. Asking questions during the job interview can in every stage help you get closer to that offer.
- Analyze Job Fit & Ability to Perform - Although the most important thing in an interview is to position yourself as the best candidate and get extended an offer. It is also very important to weigh in your own considerations. Your own personality and needs. Questions are one of the best ways to better understand whether the job is a fit. If you ask questions and truly listen to the answers, you will be able to evaluate whether this opportunity makes sense for you.
- Evaluate career opportunities - These interview questions to ask during the interview will help you evaluate the future career opportunities this role may lead to. You can for example ask about the career development of previous employees in this role and thus get an indication of how this position racks up in the organization.
- Improve Interview Success Rate - Asking questions during an interview can provide you with essential information that other candidates may not have. You can then better steer your interview to ensure that you highlight your skills in light of the most important criteria. Getting answers to your questions can help you improve the potential success rate and thus should be a part of your preparation work.
Job Interviews Are Like Dates
You can compare an interview with a date. Imagine a romantic get-together, where every question you ask, is greeted with a slick and perfect answer.
The night moves on and you hear one great answer after another. You slowly fall in love. You feel the person is simply perfect. Evening comes and as you
are about to part ways, you ask them
Do you have any questions for me?.
The date smiles and reassures you that
No, no, I think
everything is pretty clear. Your profile on the dating site explained everything to me.
As you go your separate ways, what are you thinking? What do you
feel? Do you think they are interested in you? Do you think they really want to be together with you? Chances are that you would feel less
interested with the way things ended. Even with all those perfect answers to your questions, something just does not feel right anymore. Avoid
this at your next job interview with the interview questions to ask listed on this website.
Comparing Interviews with Sales Meetings
Another great comparison is the way a sales person would treat a customer. Image the sales meeting where the seller answers every question of
the customer with a perfect answer. The perfect answer is of course the one that the seller prepared before the meeting. You could not possible
know better how to answer the customer's questions if you first asked them a few questions, right? This is exactly what it is like, if you do
not ask questions during the job interview. You do not ask the interviewer what they value, what their concerns are or for other important
information. You simply go in like a cowboy shooting from the hip. After the hour you exhale and hope that things went well. You hope that
they liked you. Stop guessing and start knowing with these sample interview questions to ask the employer during the interview.
How Many Questions to Ask
There is no general rule governing the amount of questions you can ask. You need to use your own common sense to evaluate the situation. Prepare 10-15 questions prior
to the interview. Some will either be answered from the interviewer without you asking. You can also ask some questions earlier in the process. One example
would be when your question is a natural follow-up question to a question asked by the interviewer. At the end you probably do not have time for more than three
questions that are meant to stimulate discussion. Questions that are more of a no or yes nature, can be helped to tick check boxes, but does not really transport
your value. In general you should avoid yes/no questions. This will give you more data to analyze. Rank your
questions as well, so that you know which ones you definitely need to ask if you are pressed for time.
How to Brainstorm your Own Interview Questions to Ask
This website is filled with examples of questions that you can ask the employer during a job interview. We urge you to also use these interviews as an inspiration
to come up with your own questions. Sign up for our free daily newsletter, which will provide you with daily job search tips and tricks. We have something planned
in the area of brainstorming questions, which will be announced to newsletter subscribers, so sign up and be the first to know.
Personalize the Questions
Even if you choose to use a few of the questions listed here as is, consider adapting them a bit or adding more information. Let us look at one example were you ask
the question How does this
position contribute to the organization's goals? You could for a publicly traded company review the business goals and add them to the question. Your question
would then be: I noticed in the annual report that main focus of the company this year is to [insert goals], how does this position contribute towards those goals?
Read up on the person that you are interviewing with. Look them up on LinkedIn and other similar resources. Google them and see if you come across any articles
with them. Anything that can help you make sure that you select the best type of questions to ask this interviewer. Perhaps you can find a relevant question based
on an interview with them in the local newspaper?
Our Number One Tip: Relax!
The task of going to a job interview can easily become daunting, if you add to much weight to it. Try to relax and see it for what it is. It is just a conversation
with another person. It is almost the same as meeting a friend and talking about a favorite subject of yours. Just like you know your favorite subject, you also know
yourself. You know what your strengths are. You know your weaknesses. Sometimes you may have to discover some things about yourself, but most often it is just about
acquiring the proper communication skills. You need to learn how to explain who you are and what you bring to the organization in relation to the job description.
Think back on what you have already accomplished in your life. You just finished your degree? With all that hard work needed to graduate, should you really be
worried about a one hour conversation with some recruiter? NO! Prepare yourself properly, but never forget to have fun. This is a start of a new phase in your
life and you should cherish every second of it.
Worst Mistakes when Asking Interview Questions
- Bad Timing - Almost all questions you can think of are best asked at one stage of the interview or perhaps after the interviewer asked you a specific question. Asking a question at the wrong time can sometimes have a very negative effect on your chances to get the job. However, the potential benefit of asking the right questions is so high that we still advice you to ask questions!
- Asking Stupid Questions - Some questions should simply not be asked. You should avoid questions that might make the interviewer think you are not interested in contributing to the organization. Do not ask when you can go on vacation or when the manager last fired someone. Also avoid questions that might cause the interviewer to question your skills or expertise. For example, if you are applying for a purchasing position, you should probably not ask What does procurement mean?. You should know that this is another word for purchasing.
- Not Being Prepared - There are a lot of things you can and should already know about the company. You should be able to find out what the company does, what products they have and perhaps generic information, such as corporate values. Also do not forget to review the annual report for publically traded companies. It contains a lot of information about corporate strategy.
- Revealing Your Intentions or Too Much Information - Some questions can reveal your true intentions. An example would be asking when the interviewer needs to get a positive reply in case you are picked. This could show them that you are evaluating other offers as well. If this is not a piece of information you are willing to share, perhaps you should best not ask the question. The mistakes section of each question on Interview Questions To Ask often highlights potential problems. Read this section carefully and you will reduce the risk of revealing too much information.
- Interviewer Makes Assumptions Based on Questions - An interviewer can make hasty assumptions about you based on what you ask. Let us for example say that you ask the interviewer about the compensation package. If you do this before you have asked enough questions to fully understand the job scope, the interviewer could feel that you are more interested in the money than the job itself. A general advice in this case is to only discuss salary or financial compensation when the interviewer raises the topic.
Other means to Prepare Yourself for an Interview
There are of course also other areas of the interview where you need to prepare yourself. As a part of the preparation of your questions it makes sense to also review the company. Study the job description as if you are preparing for the mid-term exam. Write down at least 10 interview questions that you believe you will be asked. Prepare answers that you feel bring out your strengths and then ask friends to help you go over the answers. Find a person that you trust to review your answers and get their insights on your answers. This website focuses on helping you prepare interview questions to ask during the interview. Please refer to the info material from the career center at your university or college to get yourself up to speed on all these other aspects.
221 Sample Interview Questions to Ask the Employer
This website already hosts over 221 questions. You can browse through our long lists of sample questions to ask during the interview. Use this resource to discover all the possible questions that you should be asking at the interview. The questions are grouped into different categories, to make it easier for you to find them. You will find the latest questions added at the bottom of this page, with links to their respective categories. The questions are grouped into different categories based on either the person you are interviewing with or for a desired result.
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