101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview (2 page)

Can
you do the job?

Do you have the specific qualifications I’m seeking? Do you have the right degree? The right experience? The appropriate skills?

Will
you do the job . . .

. . . better than the other people I’m interviewing? Prove to me that you’re the best person for the job.

Will you actually
take
the job if I offer it to you?

How hungry are you? How much do you actually want
this
specific job? Or are you so desperate you’ll take
any
job . . . even this one?

Even if you are perfectly qualified and highly motivated, do I think you will fit in with the rest of the group?

The smaller the company or department, the more important this chemistry question becomes. In a one- or two-person office, it may be the
key
question.

Will you make me, the interviewer, look like a genius for recommending or hiring you?

Or will your miscues and missteps make me look like an idiot, kill my promotion, slash my bonus, maybe even jeopardize my own job? (The higher up on the food chain the interviewer is, the more central this question becomes to her.)

Will you ever be asked these questions? Probably not. You will be asked dozens of questions about your strengths and weaknesses, your successes and failures, your plans and ideas. Just remember: The answers to
these
five questions is what all the
other
questions are really trying to ascertain.

Why Ask Questions?

Crafting concise, targeted, enthusiastic, and positive responses to the interviewer’s questions gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the company and industry and show how your qualifications would help you fit right in.
Asking
concise, targeted, and well-crafted questions gives you additional chances to demonstrate the extent of your research, to build on whatever rapport you’ve established, and to align what you know and can do with what the company needs.

These questions, by their very nature, proclaim that
you are interested.
Likewise, the complete
lack
of questions will undoubtedly convince most interviewers that you are
not
interested.

Oh, you
were
interested? You just didn’t
have
any questions. Sorry, interviewers don’t consider that an option. No questions? No job offer. That’s certainly a rule with a vast majority of interviewers. (No, no, please, don’t try the “but the interviewer was so good that he answered all my questions” bit. Doesn’t work. Wouldn’t be prudent. Not going to go there.)

As I’m going to emphasize throughout this book, asking questions the smart way is just another way to match your skills, talents, and qualifications to the company’s needs; it’s another opportunity to demonstrate that you are far and away the only candidate the interviewer should consider. By preceding many of your questions with a phrase or statement that reminds the interviewer of something you said earlier or a point you want to continually reemphasize, it’s another chance to “blow your own horn”:

“Mr. Jones, as my stint at Eubonics, Inc. clearly showed, I have the ability to motivate a team to overachieve, but could you tell me a little more about the individuals I’d be working with here?”

How to Construct Smart Questions

Let me save the obsessive-compulsives among you some time—there are far more than 101 smart questions in this book. How do I know (because
I
didn’t count them!)? While there may be 101 general questions in the book (although I
think
there are quite a few more), there are a near-infinite number of specific, qualifying, clarifying questions you can ask. I intend to point you in the right direction, but the details of such questions are going to be determined by your exact situation, by what you’ve already said during the interview, and by what the interviewer has already said. How much (or little) research you’ve done will also expand (or limit) the depth and breadth of your questions.

Here’s an example of how to construct dozens of great questions after asking a general question and receiving a relatively innocuous reply from the interviewer:

You:
“Mr. Barton, I noticed in the latest issue of
Publisher’s Weekly
that you intend to increase the number of books you publish next year from 50 to 72.”

Him:
“Yes, we do.”
(Hmmm, lot of detail there, really something to grab onto. Would it have killed him to give you
some
thing more to go on?)

Here are just
some
of the questions that would naturally evolve from this initial exchange:

Why did you make that decision?

Who made that decision?

Do you know what categories the additional books will be published in?

How did you settle on 22 additional books?

Are you going to publish in categories other than your traditional ones?

Do you have a feel for the kinds of new books you’re seeking?

How would that expansion affect my position? My department? My superior? My subordinates?

Is my position being created in whole or in part because of that decision?

Will others have to be hired as well? In what departments? Does this mean the company believes the market for printed books will continue to expand?

What is the mix of the new books, in terms of fiction versus nonfiction, hardcover versus paperback?

Is the company able to fund this expansion without going to the capital markets?

I could go on and on. And, in fact, to every answer Mr. Barton gives to each of the above questions,
another
half dozen questions should easily spring to mind. Follow-up questions are the heart and soul of the interview process . . .
from both sides of the desk.

While I’ll be talking much more about how to phrase follow-up questions in the chapters to come, let me point out one thing our hypothetical candidate did in a couple of the above questions: She
assumed the position.
In other words, she referred to “
my
department,” “
my
superiors,” and “
my
position,”
implying that the job was already hers.
Such a subtle strategy may have no effect if she is otherwise unqualified for the job, but it
may
turn out to be the “tipping point” if she winds up neck-and-neck with another candidate.

So, Do You Have Any Questions?

Normally, this question occurs very near the conclusion of the interview. In fact, you may well assume that its appearance signals that end.

But do you have to wait until the interviewer puts you through the wringer, smiles benevolently, and actually asks if you have any questions? I really don’t think so, but there are a couple of caveats to keep in mind before you charge ahead doing your best Barbara Walters impersonation.

Always request permission to ask the first couple of questions. Once it’s clear the interviewer has no problem with
you
asking questions, even as she continues to pepper you with her own, you will have established a flow and won’t need to ask permission each time. But
it’s up to you to make sure the interviewer is comfortable with your approach. If he shows obvious signs of discomfort—frowning while saying “Okay,” pursing his lips, or showing in any other way that he is
not
too keen on your interrupting his supposedly well-crafted approach to the interview session—back off!

But if an interviewer suggests you are free to ask questions at any time or tells you it’s fine when you request permission, do so! In that case, waiting for the ubiquitous “Do you have any questions?” is a bad move: The interviewer may have already downgraded you because you
didn’t
take her (strong) hint to be assertive right from the start.

Asking questions during the regular interview does not mean interrupting. And it doesn’t mean always answering an interviewer’s question with a question of your own, which may well thwart the interviewer’s attempts to assess your strengths. (And you don’t want to thwart him, do you?)

Taking the initiative and asking questions early (with the interviewer’s permission, of course) is the scenario I prefer, both as an interviewee and an interviewer.

As an interviewer, it impresses me. It makes me believe (barring evidence to the contrary) that the person in front of me is interested, engaged, and assertive.

As an interviewee, I want to control the interview, and asking questions early and often certainly accomplishes that. Doing so is especially effective with an inept (or less-than-veteran) interviewer, who may welcome your help!

Another great reason to ask questions early and often is because it transforms a stilted, traditional “Q & A” session—with you being the “A”—into a
conversation.
By definition, this makes the meeting less formal, less “you versus me,” more “we.” And a conversation is how you explore areas of common interest, trade comments, and chat rather than “talk.” In other words, the way you establish the chemistry that is one of the vital factors in landing any job!

Last but not least, asking a good question is a slick way to sidestep an uncomfortable question from the interviewer (at least for the time being). What’s the story with that one-year gap in your resume?
Darn. You didn’t want to have to talk about that aborted dot-com bomb
yet.
Don’t expect the topic to die. You are probably just buying a temporary reprieve, but at least you’ve given yourself a little time to think about how you want to defuse it.

How to Use This Book

It’s as important to know how and when to ask a question as it is to know what questions to ask. In
Chapter 1
, we’ll talk about questioning strategy—general rules to follow to ensure your questions are concise, appropriate, timely, and to-the-point. Oh, and that they actually accomplish what you want them to.

Chapter 2
is, in my mind, the most important in the book, even though it has nothing to do with questions to ask on your interview. Rather, it details questions to ask
yourself
before you even make a phone call, answer an ad, meet with a recruiter, or send out a resume. It won’t do you much good to have a list of fantastic questions to ask an interviewer if you’re seeking the wrong job at the wrong company in the wrong industry!
Chapter 2
will ensure you take the time to analyze who you are, what’s important to you, and what you ideally want in a job and a career.

Once you know where you’re going,
Chapter 3
will give you the help you need to begin researching the companies you intend to target.

In
Chapter 4
, you’ll start constructing the smart questions to ask “preinterviewers”—employment agencies, recruiters, headhunters, and Human Resources—who can’t say “yes” but can certainly say “no”!

In
Chapters 5
,
6
, and
7
, you’ll be ready to finally concentrate on the questions to ask the hiring manager—the person who can actually say those magic words, “You’re hired! When can you start?”

Chapter 5
covers basic questions about the company, department, and job; “probing” questions designed to elicit more and more detail; “style” questions about your potential boss and the corporate culture; and “preclosing” questions to get a better feel for how the interview is going and what you need to do to land the job.

In
Chapter 6
, I give you a series of great “closing” questions to help you identify hidden objections, find out about the other candidates (your competition), and push for an offer.

Finally, in
Chapter 7
, I’ll tell you what to do when you actually receive a job offer and how to get the best deal—when and how to discuss salary, bonuses, benefits, and perks, and how to maximize your compensation package. I’ll also discuss how to handle the rejections endemic to the job-search process.

Just remember, like playing the piano, interviewing takes practice, and practice makes perfect. My own hours of personal interviewing experience—the tragedies and the triumphs—as well as my years as an interviewer, are the basis for this book. I hope to spare you many of the indignities I suffered along the way by preparing you for the interview of your worst nightmares—at a comfortable remove from the interviewer’s glare.