What to Ask at Your Interview

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Great list of question. Thanks for helping me prepare!

SK of OH 1:59PM October 18, 2011

Thank you so much for those questions, Alison. (Where were you when I needed them?) I needed your advice so desperately a few years back. No amount of Internet searching led to any substantive advice I could really use.
I was at the top of my skills with 38 years of experience when my boss retired. I was so naive, it took me two years to realize why I wasn't getting a job. (Registered with nine employment agencies; sent out over 1,000 resumes on my own.)
The main reason was obviously my age (which makes absolutely NO sense to me!). However, if I had just had some of your stellar advice - such as what questions to ask a prospective employer - maybe, just maybe, I could have landed a decent job despite my age (or maybe not...?).
I know different industries have different requirements, etc., so FYI, I am a former legal secretary. I may be wrong, but I think that industry is particularly difficult.
Long story short: I lost everything - my home, all my material possessions, etc. I ended up homeless and hungry. Now I'm living on social security, which is barely enough to keep myself alive. At least the experience has taught me humility and to be grateful for what I have.
Alison, please tell me: Why is maturity and experience, along with top skills, including excellent references, not valued anymore in our business society? Three HR people have told me that they were instructed not to hire anyone over 40. Does that comport with your knowledge of the hiring industry?
Thank you for any light you can shed on this subject. And thank you for being who you are. Your special brand of wisdom is so rare in the hiring industry. Take it from one who knows.
On a lighter note: I laughed out loud until my belly hurt over your article about things candidates have said to you. Thank you for that - I really needed it!
With respect and thanks,
Sarah Catherine

Sarah Catherine of CA 8:46AM March 29, 2011

I'm a recent college graduate as a dental assistant and my instructors were constantly stressing how important it is to ask questions directed toward the potential employers. That being said, I always wondered what some of the best questions would be. I have taken notes on this article and plan to utilize this material for my next interview!!!

Elizabeth Rayman of KY 2:30PM February 09, 2011

First, I can see that Alison has some good points where we can ask some if not all of the questions to the employer/interviewer to "feel each other out" and see what goals and targets that the employer and potiential employee can reach and hopefully gain the job.
However, I agree with the other 3 replies to ask this, when will this game stop? This game of cat-and-mouse between employers and prospectives that can either lead to misunderstanding when the questions are asked by prospective employees or be used by human resource managers and higher-ups as a smoke-screen to "go through the motions" when they may have who they want lined up, but do the interview to make a good showing, so-to-speak.
We need to get back to honesty from both parties. Employers need workers and people need jobs, not posturing or stupid games that can frustrate both sides, especially the job-seeker.

Mike of PA 10:54AM December 29, 2010

I need a job ....... why is that bad? Why do I have to pretend that I am being picky? I am not. I need a job ... period. No, I don;t care how they get along, or what the company atmosphere is like. I want and need to work, and right now, there are so few jobs, I will tolerate whatever I need to in order to feed my family.
I am sick of you all making it even more difficult than it needs to be - I need a job.

tonja levee of MO 5:26PM December 21, 2010

I think some of your answers to these questions are extremely pessimistic and cynical and I seriously doubt most hiring mangers are going to think with your mindset. So I guess it's a good thing you're not a hiring manager! It's easy to find flaws with someone's ideas, but I don't see you putting questions out there that are any better...

Jack of VA 10:51AM August 20, 2010

I'm not a manager or a supervisor - just a job-seeker - but these are the reasons I sometimes hesitate to ask these questions. I never ask the questions I really want to ask, because whenever I do, I get vague answers that feel like the interviewer is lying to me, or the answers suggest the interviewer thinks I'm digging too deeply. I am quite realistic about what might be appropriate and what might not (for example, "How would you describe the culture here" versus "Is there a lot of infighting and underhandedness here?"), and so I don't think that these questions are unreasonable to ask. BUT, I do think that employers/interviewers are unwilling to answer them honestly, and alternatively, I think employers/interviewers could easily interpret them in a way that I didn't actually mean. Taking a cue from Aaron, if I ask, "Can you describe a typical day or week in this position?", I imagine the employer/interviewer response could be, "You mean you don't have a good idea already of how this is supposed to go?"
Perhaps I am paranoid, or maybe the people in my industry ARE highly adversarial. I just imagine that the interviewer suspects everything that I say to be either manipulative or designed to make me seem more qualified than I actually am - even though I never set out to do EITHER of those things! - and that it is then their job to wade through my answers and pick out what they think the kernels of truth are. Thus, asking questions like these does not always go the way I hope it does.

Andrea of CO 12:38PM August 11, 2010

The problem I run into when interviewing is I tend to ask questions throughout the entire interview. I feel more comfortable that way because its more of a conversation. So unfortunately, by the end of the interview if and when the interviewer asks if I have any questions, I don't have any more that they haven't already answered. My response is usually something like, " No, I think you have answered all of the questions I have right now."
Does this come across as if I'm "just looking for a job", or haven't thought much about the position?

Paul M. of AZ 1:45PM July 27, 2010

dear unemployed
It might be a good idea to check your attitude at your car, use correct spelling always, (waist - is where your belt goes, waste - is trash or useless). Going into a situation with total pessimism is a waste of your time as well as that of a possible employer.
Is it possible that when "the Director said “oh, I see where you are.." ", his observation was that you were belligerent and judgmental.

Marie W. of NE 12:48PM July 20, 2010

Just to get this out of the way, the first hiring manager most of us meets will be the first one we've ever met. It seems to me that the typical person's experience is that HR is used as a clearinghouse for resume submittals, after which interviews are (thankfully) conducted by the people the prospect will actually be working with. HR will give you a 15-minute overview of the benefits in general because you have no expectation to get any specifics unless you're offered the job.
Regardless, I am thankful to have these questions from which to draw. I'm generally concerned with the job I'm interviewing for, and most things that the newbie might ask are things I either already know the answer to, or have been able to deduce through the series of interviews I'm going through. The problem with some of these questions, as I see it, is that interviewing has almost become contentious these days, and genuine curiosity is commonly held against the person being interviewed.
Here's how interviewers often translate some of these questions:
3. Can you describe a typical day or week in the position?
- Can I be a clock-watcher who is simply looking to put in my 8 hours and go home with a fistful of free pens and stationery? I'm never going to have to be here after 5 p.m., right?
5. How will the success of the person in this position be measured?
- How soon before my first raise, and how much of a raise will I get annually?
6. Thinking back to the person whom you've seen do this job best, what made their performance so outstanding?
- Can we keep focusing on the person who used to hold this job? There are good reasons I don't want to flesh out my resume by talking too much about myself.
7. How would you describe the culture here?
- Could you please lie to me about there being a "good mix of people here, both locally grown and from throughout the U.S.," how I'll find that "everyone here is pretty laid back" and how "pretty much everyone seems to enjoy it here?"
8. How would you describe your management style?
- You're not going to ask a great deal of me, are you? I don't want someone constantly giving me things to do.
9. Are there reservations you have about my fit for the position?
- I don't care where you are in the interview process. Why haven't you made me an offer yet?
10. When do you expect to make a hiring decision?
- How should I expect to squeeze your decision into my personal schedule?
Also, asking about management, the culture, etc., areas of improvement is just asking the person to lie to you because they will never be straight up with you about the companies' weaknesses, the manager no one likes to deal with, the clueless-but-micromanaging CEO/CFO/Founder, or that your schedule is going to revolve around that of some half-wit senior part-timer with OCD who is only around because she does the stuff no one wants to bother with.