12 Question To Ask During Your Next Interview

Job interviews are terrifying, simple as that.  We sit in a room with a group of high ranking people who have to decide, are you worth their time?  Or are you just another flash in the pan?  In preparation for a job interview a friend asked what should he do to get ready, what tips would I have to help him not just ace this interview, but nail that interview to the ground, and making that company need him and not just write him off as another excellent candidate.  In the process I stumbled upon an article by our own co-author Jimmy T that he wrote over on Spiceworks  titled "12 questions to consider asking during your next interview."  Its a GREAT article and has some very intriguing information in it.  It was a widdled down version of "12 questions to ask your next employer" from 99u.com.

It got me pondering, how many of us make this mistake when it comes to getting a new job?  When the job interviewer asks that crucial question of "do you have any questions for me?"  I know in the past I've frozen, stared blankly into the abyss and said "no."  And... in short that was a huge detriment and dark mark on any job interview, it shows lack of enthusiasm or interest, lack of skill or knowledge.  It really hurts any attempt to obtain a interview, or getting past the "you got all our questions right" portion.  Of the handful of people getting at least a shot at an interview, most of them will ace that interview, and sadly you'll be the same cut and dry person they've seen hundreds of times before.  Standing out is going to be the struggle and the differentiating factor.

Let's go over a few of the questions posed by Jimmy.

• What's the biggest thing you're working on solving right now?
• How does this job currently get done?
• What could I do immediately to make your job easier?
• What's your morning schedule, and what time do you wake up in the morning?
• If I could free up time for you to do anything, what would you do with that free time, personally or professionally?
• What else are you learning right now?
• What would your last five hires say about the company?
• Who are your most recent hires, and have hired not worked out?
• How would you feel about me taking risks and experimenting with new processes, if the work results showed up and improved over time?
• What's the biggest obstacle you're facing in fulfilling this positions?
• If you're being honest, what's the biggest hesitancy about adding me to your team, and what could I do to alleviate this?
• What could I do to delight or surprise you?

The goal of these questions isn't just to show you're interested in the job, but there is also a desire to help, there is a fire under you to get things done and you're preparing for what may come.  For some reason this seems to be the crutch of many of us, the job interview functions in a linear one way fashion.  But it's not supposed to be that way, the job interview should be 50% them interviewing you, and 50% you interviewing them.  By treating this street as a two way, you'll increase your chance at landing that new gig, and getting that pay raise you deserve.  If you're feeling really gutsy you can always ask "when can I start?" maybe the tenacity will get you on the payroll sooner.

Once again I'd like to thank Jimmy T for his post over on Spiceworks, if you can't tell we love Spiceworks here, so much that we even wrote a Spiceworks Review, the article was great and thought it was worth sharing with you guys.  If you have an questions, comments, or concerns, let us know in the comment section below.  And as always, be safe my goblins.

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