Your Interview Questions

I have talked at some length about some of the questions that can crop up in an interview.  I hope you will find the techniques useful in your job search.  They are proven, and if employed correctly, will help ensure you make a good impression.  However, another sure-fire way of helping create the right impression, is to make sure you have interview questions to ask your prospective employer

Now, if you think I mean, “Where’s the car park?”, then think again!  You have to have a series of questions that relate to the situation you are in.  Yes, you do need to know operational issues like the car parking, when pay-day is and what the lunch arrangements are.  But, what the hell use are the answers to those questions if you are not going to be offered the job?  Good point.

Interview Questions To Ask

So, the point here is to make sure you have questions prepared that are concerned with the job itself.  I have mentioned many times, the interview should be as conversational as possible, and asking questions of your own is a certain way to make that happen.  So you should have prepared questions about the company’s products, the way the department works, the company’s performance, the programming standards of the IT department, what sales techniques the Sales Manager prefers.  In short, whatever is important to:-

• The day to day running of the potential job.
• The company’s standards and practises.

It is also worth using questions which further probe points being discussed during the interview.  For example…

“Oh, that’s interesting, how exactly does this work in ABC?”  These questions are designed to gain further information, and should always be asked beginning with;-

• Who
• What
• How
• Why
• When
• Where

These words on the front of questions make them very powerful.  They will be extremely effective in gaining extra information for you.  They will also make the interviewer feel that you have taken a keen interest in the job on offer, and make you seem like a person with excellent people skills.  At it’s most simple level, people skills are really all about getting others to talk about themselves and their situations.  These techniques are very powerful, and will be another major advantage for you, over the competition.

Powerful Interview Questions

So, to conclude, have your operational and company information gathering interview questions prepared, and make use of further “subsequent” questioning during the interview.  The other benefit of using questions is simple.  It will cut down the amount of talking you have to do during the interview as well!