OK – the hard work of researching the great job, the company and the harder work of getting your resume in to the right people has FINALLY culminated in a job interview. The interview is going on and your take is that you have a very strong fighting chance at being the in the final considerations … Great going! Then the interviewer(s) throw an opportunity at you – “Do you have any questions”. Here is an opportunity for you to showcase your thinking and how much of the position have you understood and potentially how you can garner more information about the position to make an informed decision whether or not to accept the position when the offer is dropped.

Also, don’t forget that having a good handle on some (or all) of these will also give you leverage on how you can negotiate your salary (or at least have a idea what to pitch for without pricing yourself out!). I will be posting on salary negotiation tips in a later post.

Paul Sloane has a good compilation of some questions on his post, which I am excerpting below with my comments inline:

1.  What exactly would my day-to-day responsibilities be? It is essential that you clearly understand your role and the tasks that you would be expected to undertake.  It is easy to make assumptions and get the wrong impression of what the work would be so it is vital for both sides that there is clarity in what is expected of you.  If the interviewer cannot give a clear answer then this is a worrying sign, so politely follow up with more questions.  Some people even ask to see exactly where they will sit. [Ed: Where you sit will give you an idea whether you are moving into a similar or better position as compared to you current/previous job]

2.  What are the opportunities for training and career advancement? This question serves two purposes.  It helps you to understand where the job might lead and what skills you might acquire.  It also signals that you are ambitious and thinking ahead. [Ed: Not to mention the possibilities or process of moving up the food chain]

3.  What is the biggest challenge facing the organization today? This sort of question takes the interview away from the detail and towards strategic issues.  It allows to you see and discuss the bigger picture.  It proves that you are interested in more than just the 9 to 5 aspects of the job.  It can lead to interesting discussions that can show you in a good light – especially if you have done some intelligent preparation.  If appropriate you can follow up this question with some questions about the objectives of the department and the manager who is interviewing you. [Ed: Like it or not, these challenges will affect your day-to-day working as well if/when you join]

4.  When did you join? After the interviewer has asked a number of questions about you, it can make a good change to ask a gentle question about them.  People often like talking about themselves and if you can get them talking about their progress in the company you can learn useful and interesting things.

5.  What are the criteria that you are looking for in the successful candidate for this position? The job advertisement may have listed what was wanted in a candidate but it is very useful to hear the criteria directly from the interviewer.  The more that you can discover about what they want and how they will make the decision the better placed you are to influence that decision. [Ed: This questions in my opinion should be positioned carefully - avoid if possible - at the risk of seeming unprepared for the ongoing interview. You may want to pad it before hand by saying "I am aware of the requirements as posted in the advertisement, but I would like to understand the view from the trenches ... " or similar]

6.  How do you feel that I measure up to your requirements for this position? This follows on naturally from the previous questions.  It may seem a little pushy but it is a perfectly fair thing to ask.  In sales parlance this is a ‘trial close’.  If they say that you are a good fit then you can ask whether there is any reason you might not be offered the job.  If they say that you are lacking in some key skill or attribute then you can move into objection handling mode and point out some relevant experience or a countervailing strength. [Ed: This is a gem of a question and should be held onto for the latter portion of the interview. It helps you to be politely aggressive with the interviewer]

7.  Would you like to hear what I could do to really help your department? If you want the job then this is a great question to ask at the end of the interview.  Most interviewers will reply, ‘Yes.’  Drawing on what you have learnt in the conversation, you can give a short sales pitch on why you fit the criteria and why your strengths and ideas will siginficantly assist the boss to meet their objectives.  Make it short, direct and clear with the emphasis on the benefits for them of having you in the team.  At the end ask something like, ‘how does that sound?’ [Ed: Yet another gem of a recommendation from Paul Sloane]

Source: Seven Great Questions to Ask at a Job Interview by Paul Sloane