You already know that to prepare for a successful job interview, you need to be ready to answer your interviewer’s inquiries about your experience, your expectations, and your unique ability to contribute to an organization.
What’s just as important as your answers to these crucial questions? The questions you ask your interviewer.
Savvy inquiries about the company, the staff, and the position itself allow you to express your genuine enthusiasm for the role and strategically sell your singular skill set, unique qualifications, and invaluable expertise to lead the organization — starting on day one.
Impress Your Interviewer
With soft skills such as critical thinking and communication ranking among the most in-demand abilities for job seekers, asking perceptive questions about your prospective role and what you – and you alone – can bring to it, demonstrates initiative and resourcefulness – qualities prized in employees. These up-front inquiries help both parties assess if this placement is equally beneficial and built to last.
Here are the questions to ask that will showcase your insight, interest, and individuality when you need to stand out.
Questions to Ask About the Company
With organizational culture increasingly important to job seekers, it’s imperative that candidates get a sense of a company’s values and environment as much as possible before accepting a job offer. An effective hiring manager expects you to have questions about the organization and your potential role in it.
Thoughtful questions include:
- How would you describe the company culture?
- What type of person thrives in this organization, and what qualities are less successful here?
- What goals is the organization currently pursuing, and how will the person who fills this position and their team contribute to achieving them?
- What are the company’s long-term plans for growth?
- How has the company changed over the last few years?
Questions to Ask About the Team
Who you will be directly working with is a huge component of any role – after all, you’ll be spending a considerable chunk of your time with them and often responsible for their performance and growth. It’s helpful for leaders to quickly grasp not only the personal and professional goals of their team members, but also the individual idiosyncrasies so that they can ensure meaningful collaboration.
It’s also revealing to understand what common themes are found in an organization’s top performers to see if they align with your own skill set.
Good questions might include:
- What are your thoughts on the quality of the current team? What are their strengths and the team’s biggest challenges?
- Are there any current skill gaps on the team that need to filled?
- Where are the goals for the department/team 1, 3 and 5 years from now?
- What other departments or units does this team interact with the most?
- What qualities are most valued in team members in the company? What makes a person stand out?
- How does the company approach professional development?
Questions to Ask About the Position
Job descriptions can only say so much (and are often formulaic), so to really get to the crux of a role, it helps to hear it from someone on the inside.
These personalized inquiries will allow you (and the hiring manager) to envision yourself in the position, evaluate expectations, and weigh both the opportunities and challenges presented.
- What do you deem as the most important aspect of the job?
- How will you measure success in this position?
- What are some of the challenges you expect a person to face in this role?
- Are there any issues or problems that need to be fixed immediately?
- What is the most important goal to accomplish in the first 90 days?
- What are you hoping this person will accomplish in the first year on the job?
- How does this position interact with your role?
The opportunity to ask questions at the end of a job interview shouldn’t be squandered – if a first impression is essential, so is leaving a lasting impact via insightful inquiries that cement your interest, convey your key messages, and demonstrate your unique qualifications.
A Fail-Safe, Full-Service Formula for Successful Job Interviews
What if you could prepare for job interviews with an A-list team of industry experts? If you were armed with all of the information you needed to successfully sell yourself and able to practice these crucial conversations beforehand?
Retaining 20/20 Foresight’s Executive Marketing and Job Finding services ensures a 360-degree approach to your job search, including comprehensive interview preparation and guidance. You’ll be equipped with essential information on employers such as key executives, financial data, organizational structure, and in-depth profiles of your interviewer(s). Your career consultant then works with you on what to ask (as well as what not to ask) during your interview and conducts mock sessions to get you feeling comfortable and confident in any situation.
Ready to amplify your job search and become an ace at interviews? Contact 20/20 Foresight for the industry’s leading executive marketing and job finding services at foresight@2020-4.com.