Questions to Ask in a Job Interview

Countless job candidates come to an interview beautifully prepared to answer questions. The biggest mistake they make? They're not prepared to ask them.

At some point in every serious professional job interview, you're going to be asked if you have any questions of your own. This is not the time to ask about salary and benefits. Your tactics aren't to probe for information on your personal needs. This is the courtship phase. You're still a long way away from any permanent relationship. You have to make sparks, differentiate yourself, show your people skills and be perceptive.

Question: Do you know what kinds of job interviews your interviewer really likes?

Answer: The ones where the interviewer feels confident enough in the candidate to recommend him or her for the job. There are so many, many interviews where they don't. Successful candidates are the interviewer's handpicked selections, and interviewers root for their choices the way handicappers root for their horses.

Interviewers serve as the gatekeepers not only of the company's personnel but also of the company's values. They are there to screen out candidates who don't fit and to be the first to tattoo "company" on the foreheads of those who do.

Give them the chance to do the fun part of their jobs -- reveal the corporate soul. Here's how:

• Ask about the company's values. Nothing is dearer to a company than its values. If you can ask a positive question that links the company's values to its performance, you've already gone a long way toward demonstrating that you're with the program. For example, "Last week I read in the Modern Envelope Reporter that your quality program is knocking the industry's socks off, and your sales prove it. Isn't it pretty tough to maintain that standard of quality day after day?"

   

• If the company is one of the industry leaders, have them tell you more. Successful companies, just like successful people, usually do not count modesty among their greatest virtues, and they're not immune to skillful flattery. Ask them how they got to be so good at what they do. "What does the competition see when they look at you?" is a good place to start.

   

• And then, there's the dark side of the moon, when the company's performance is the pits. Companies in trouble are like people in trouble; they want solutions. They're looking for role models, action plans and action people, to help transform them into winners again. They're hiring because they've got some ideas about what it will take to put them back on their feet, and they need people who can help them execute those ideas -- and provide some ideas of their own. Ask, "Which companies in your industry do you feel you'd most like to resemble?" and "How do you plan to achieve that?"

Listen to the answers. Don't make it appear that you're more interested in your own clever questions than you are in hearing and reacting to the responses.

Be perceptive, not contentious. Don't show off by asking for the interviewer to act as a company spokesperson and explain some embarrassing gaffe, such as an environmental fine. You're not there to sit in moral judgment. If the company's behavior has offended you, this probably is not the place for you to seek employment. Be an interested and respectful listener.

Don't forget to scan the walls and desks. You may be talking to the consummate company person, but he or she is still a human being. Is there a 3-year-old's finger painting framed and propped up on the desk, perhaps next to a team photo or a Rotarian award on the wall? You should somehow be able to relate to one of these.

The late Victor Kiam told of a young man who wanted to work for him at Remington. After looking over the applicant's resume, Kiam said there was nothing available. Rather than ending the interview, the young man offered Kiam a plan. He would work for free for a month, betting his free labor that he'd find a position for himself at Remington. You guessed it -- he found some problems during those 30 days, and devised a plan to solve them. He got the job.

Mackay's Moral: Even if you're not interviewing for a sales job, your interview must be a great sales job.

Harvey Mackay is author of the New York Times best seller, "Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top" (Ballantine Books).

Source: Tulsa World. Powered by YellowBrix.