Securing your dream role with a top company has become increasingly competitive over the last few years and the days where you can simply attend an interview are over. We are seeing much more comprehensive preparation by candidates prior to attending interviews at all stages of the process. This simply means in order for you to compete favourably you must present yourself in the best possible light when interviewing. A big part of this is having some quality questions to ask during or at the end of the interview. There is nothing worse than being asked by your interviewer if you have any questions and you sit there with no questions at all. Actually, the only thing that could possibly be worse is if you ask questions that have already been covered or are not relevant to the position or company. The questions you ask can be a real differentiator between you and the other applicants so make sure that they count!
In order to ask relevant questions you really need to do some research into the company. This alone shows that you have taken the time and therefore have interest in the role. At a bare minimum you have to work your way through the company’s website. It can be really worthwhile to make a document and take some notes as well. This will help you formulate some good questions. It also can help if you create a document that has your questions on it and you can then put a line through any that are answered during the meeting. This really demonstrates a high degree of preparation.
Your questions should fall into at least some of the following categories:
- Questions about the Role
- Questions about Training and Development
- Questions about Performance and Expectations
- Questions about the Interviewer
- Questions about the Company
- Questions about the Team and Environment
- Questions about the Culture
- Questions about the Next Steps
Questions about the Role
What does a typical day look like for someone performing this role?
What are the major objectives to be achieved in the 1st year?
What are the biggest challenges for the role?
What attributes make your best performer so successful?
Questions about Training and Development
What is the onboarding and initial training process?
How to you develop your people?
Can you tell me about successful promotions within the company?
Does the company encourage people to do training courses?
Questions about Performance and Expectations
What milestones do you want achieved in the first 30, 60 and 90 days in this role?
What Key Performance Areas do you measure?
What does success look like after 1 year in this role?
Is there a formal review process?
Questions about the Interviewer
Why did you join the company?
What’s the best part about working for the company?
How long have you been employed here?
What’s the biggest challenge you have working here?
Questions about the Company
What are the plans for growth over the next 5 years?
Are current company objectives being achieved?
What excites you most about where the company is going?
I noticed ……. on your website. Could you tell me more about that?
Questions about the Team and Environment
Can you tell me about the people I will be working most closely with?
What attributes do people need to be able to work successfully with the team?
Is there a collaborative work process?
What are some of the ways the company celebrates success?
Questions about the Culture
What is the company culture like?
What is your favourite thing about the culture here?
What was the last team event?
How has the company changed since you have joined?
Questions about the Next Steps
Do you have any concerns about my ability to perform this role?
Are there any questions you would like me to ask that I haven’t?
What are the next steps in the process from here?
Is there anything else that you need from me that will assist your process?
Of course there is no absolutely definitive manual on what you should and should not ask. The real challenge is to ask questions that are significant and have genuine relevance to the interview. We encourage our applicants to have a pen and paper available during the interview to jot down any questions or prompts for questions as they arise. Too often we take feedback after an interview where the candidate comments that they forgot to ask a key question or wished they had asked a question but they failed to recall it when the interview went in a different conversation pathway.
So ask questions! Most importantly ask relevant questions that make you standout and ask questions because you want to know the answers so you can make an informed decision about whether the company, the team and the role are for you.
