30-05-2012, 03:40 PM
201 BEST QUESTIONS TO ASK ON YOUR INTERVIEW
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INTRODUCTION
The landscape for job seekers today is more treacherous than at any
time in recent memory. In other words, if you want a job today, you
may actually have to work for it.
Just a few months ago, the job interview was an opportunity for
candidates to present their demands and screen the best offers. Today
the tide has turned and employers are running the show again. It’s no
longer enough to be qualified. If you want a job in today’s business environment,
you have to shine in the job interview.
What is your understanding of our meeting today?
How’s that for turning the interview topsy-turvy?
But Bryant Howroyd understands she can tell more from candidates
by the quality of their questions than by the quality of their answers. So
the next instruction is:
I would now like you to ask me seven questions.
Depending on the quality of the applicant’s response to the first query,
Bryant Howroyd invites the applicant to ask her from three to seven specific
questions. The higher her initial estimation of the applicant, the
more questions she requests. What’s more, Bryant Howroyd gives the
applicant permission to ask her any questions at all. No limits. And then
she listens. “I learn a lot more about people by allowing them to ask me
what they want to know than by having them tell me what they think I
want to know,” she says. True, the hiring company ultimately selects the
applicant, but “the applicants I most admire insist on being full partners
in the selection process,” she says.
Now that we have talked about my qualifications, do you have any concernsabout me fulfilling the responsibilities of this position?
Does it seem counterintuitive to ask the interviewer to articulate his or
her concerns? Many candidates think so. But they are being shortsighted,
Upton argues. Once objections are stated, the candidate can usually
address them in a way that is satisfactory. Unstated objections will
doom the candidate every time.
Upton’s second question is:
As my direct report in this position, what are the three top priorities you
would first like to see accomplished?
This question, she says, effectively determines the hot buttons of the hiring
manager, demonstrates the candidate’s understanding that every hiring
manager has priorities, and underscores the candidate’s commitment
to action by the final word in the question. Remember, “accomplish” is
a term dear to the heart of every hiring manager.
If you don’t ask questions in the interview, many recruiters will wonder
if you will avoid asking questions on the job. “If I set up a scenario
for a technical candidate, and they don’t ask qualifying questions, I really
wonder if that is how they would approach an application development
project,” says Kathi Jones, director of Employee Central at
Aventail, a Seattle-based provider of extranet services. “Are they letting
ego get in the way of asking the hard questions? Do they play on a
team or play against the team? I think you can learn as much from someone’s
questions and their thought process as you can from the answers,”
she adds.