A job interview is usually looked upon as an opportunity for the employer to pick and choose the best candidate for an opening. The interviewer asks the questions, according to hiring managers the interviewee answers them and that’s how it usually goes.
However it is always a good idea for the interviewee or the candidate to ask some questions of his/her own – for numerous reasons. It shows that the candidate is interested, came into the interview prepared, did his/her homework about the organization, and sends out a positive message across to the interviewer.
Apart from the usual set of questions about the organization and its vision, it’s employees and culture, the work and what your responsibilities will be, what good questions can you ask during the interview that will really help you create that strong first impression that you set out to make?
The good folks at CareerBliss.com – one of the best online career communities out there – recently put together this brilliant infographic, listing 7 great questions that different hiring managers were asked during job interviews.
Here they are, along with some excellent feedback straight from the said managers.
1. “What is an example of a client challenge you have recently faced?”
(“Then, in your ‘Thank You’ note, address that challenge and how you would tackle it.”)
– Amy Ogden, Director Marketing and Development for J Public Relations
2. “Where do YOU see the company going in the next year? 10 years?”
(“He actually stumped me!”)
– Brandon Seymour, Beymour Consulting
3. “Can I work in the call center for a few weeks to get a sense of your donors’ needs?”
(“The position was for a senior business manager. I was blown away.”)
– Robert Moskovits, VP of Business Development at Kars4Kids Charuty
4.” What is the question you all really want to ask me but haven’t?”
(“This was a brilliant question because it encourages the committee to tip its hand about the concern we all had about the candidate, which gave him a chance to address it.”)
– Aaron Basko, Assistant VP for Enrollment Management and Career Services Salisbury University
5. “What impact would I have on the team if I get hired?”
(“The candidate was already thinking about what success would look like in the role.”)
– Mazin Abou-Seido, Director, Information Technology at Halogen Software.
6. “I was looking at your social media presence and I can see that your brands have been more active over the past few months. Has your strategy changed?”
(“Clearly they had done their research and were already thinking about marketing our brands.”)
– Heidi Ferolito, HR Director of Talent Acquisition and Retention for World Travel Holdings
7. “What would make someone really successful in this role?”
(“This makes me think they are A-players. They want to blow everyone out of the water.”)
– Ashley Verrill, Content Strategist at Software Advice
These some excellent questions to ask during an interview. Not saying that you should ask these exact questions, because it all depends on context and the nature of the organization. However what these questions do demonstrate is that the candidates did their homework and really thought about how to best make use of the question-and-answer session at the end of an interview.
What they were then able to do is leave an extremely positive impression on said hiring managers, increasing their chances of getting hired, not to mention be memorable and someone that these managers still remember!
These questions also come with some pretty amazing feedback from the hiring managers themselves, where they explain what they liked when they were asked these particular questions.
Here is infographic itself (click to enlarge in a separate tab/window):
Excellent questions to ask your interviewer (Click to enlarge)
