101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview
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Authors: Ron Fry
101 SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK ON YOUR INTERVIEW
THIRD EDITION
Ron Fry
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ron Fry
is the bestselling author of new editions of
101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions
and
101 Great Resumes
. An acknowledged authority, he is a frequent speaker and seminar leader on a wide variety of job-search topics.
CONTENTS
Introduction
How to Be a Great Prospect
Chapter 1
When, Where, Why, and How to Ask Smart Questions
Shape Your Questions to the Position
Don’t Ask About Salary or Benefits
Match Your Style to the Interviewer’s Style
Watch the Interviewer’s Body Language
Don’t Ask Questions That Show Your Ignorance
Don’t Ask Questions That Reveal Your Biases
Don’t Make an Interviewer Obviously Uncomfortable
Don’t Introduce Negativity Into an Interviewer’s Mind
Remember It’s a Two-Way Street
Ask for the Job If You Want It
Chapter 2
Questions to Ask Yourself
Questions About You as a Person
Questions About You as a Professional
List Your Current Strengths, Abilities, and Values
What Kind of Life Are You Seeking?
The Practical Aspects of Your Job Hunt
What Can You Learn from Past Jobs and Bosses?
Don’t Wear Sandals at a White-Shoe Company
Are You Moving Too Fast?
Chapter 3
Questions to Ask During Your Research
Finding Information on Smaller Companies
Vault.Com
Chapter 4
Questions to Ask “Preinterviewers”
Smart Questions During an Informational Interview
Interviewing with Recruiters, Headhunters, Employment Agencies
Why You Should Avoid Human Resources
Questions to Ask Your Peers (Future Colleagues)
You May Be Screened By Phone or In Person
Did the Interviewer Dial a Wrong Number?
Don’t Believe Everything You Read
An Organized List of Questions
Questions About the Company
Questions About the Department
Questions About the Job
Questions About the Next Step
Chapter 5
Questions to Ask Your New Boss
The “It’s All About Me” Interviewer
The “Out of It” Interviewer
Time to Get Up Close and Personal
The Behavioral Interview
The Team Interview
The Stress Interview
The Case Interview
The Brainteaser Interview
What the Interviewer Wants to See and Hear
What to Look for: The Initial Greeting
What to Look for: Body Language
What to Listen For
Smart Interview Questions for Your New Boss
Basic Questions
Probing Questions
It’s a Matter of Style
Questions About the Culture, Chemistry, Fit
Semi-Closing Questions
A Little Knowledge Is Powerful
Timing Can Be Everything
Chapter 6
Questions to Close the Sale
Salespeople Can Be More Aggressive
Questions to Ask Yourself After Every Interview
Chapter 7
Questions to Get the Best Deal
What If the Interviewer Blinks First?
Questions to Ask When You’ve Gotten an Offer
What to Do If You Don’t Like Their Offer
They’re Offering a Package, Not Just a Salary
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Saying “Yes!”
Is the Job Description Negotiable?
Your Negotiating “Cheat Sheet”
Appendix A
20 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions
Appendix B
Smart Questions to Ask
Epilogue
Questions That Get Real
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO BE A GREAT PROSPECT
“Today’s economy requires job hunters to be more proactive, more sophisticated, and more willing to go through brick walls to get what they want. Employers no longer plan your career for you. You must look after yourself, and know what you want and how to get it.”
—Kate Wendleton,
Interviewing and Salary Negotiation
Most job candidates think of the interview in completely the wrong way. They think of it as an interrogation, a police lineup. And they see themselves as suspects, not as the key prospects they really are.
This book will show you that you are, to a very large degree,
in charge of the interview.
It will convince you that you are there not only to sell the company on
you,
but to make sure that
you
are sold on
them.
It will give you the powerful questions that will work whatever your age, whatever your experience, whatever your goals.
It will
not,
however, spend very much time preparing you for the questions the interviewer is going to throw at
you
. Luckily for you (why am I so good to you?), I’ve already written the companion book to this one—
101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions
—whose sole purpose is to do exactly that. (Not only did I already write it, I’ve revised it five times, and it has sold well over one million copies.) Using these two books together, you will be amply armed for any interview and any interviewer.
Even though I think you should buy a copy of my other book, I am going to reveal a secret that may cost me sales: There really aren’t 101 questions you have to prepare yourself for. Not even a dozen. There are only five questions interviewers desperately want to know your answers to: