Questions to Ask During a Job Interview

How to Look for a Good Job? It may appear that finding a good job is difficult these days. You could spend hours sifting through job postings, applying for a variety of positions, and tailoring your CV to each one. CV revision is one method of securing a job interview and ensuring that your future employers understand how you fit the role they’ve advertised.

Now it’s just a matter of going to the job interview! Are you ready?

Consider how long it has been since you last sat for a job interview. If it’s been years, you’ll need to prepare because this is your first one in a long time. If it was last week, ask yourself why you’re still going to job interviews and not working! In any case, you must perfect your job interview technique because it is the final stage before an employer commits to you and will have a significant impact on their opinion of you.

Tasks on a daily basis and asking the right questions in the right way

Return to the initial job description and break it down into a table of responsibilities, which you can then translate into day-to-day tasks. What does it mean, for example, if the job description states that you will be “… updating the internal newsletter and contributing content and title ideas to internal publications”? Is your job title implying that you are the sole editor, or that you are part of a larger team? Will you be the sole author of the newsletter, or will others contribute? This means that when you sit for the interview, you should present yourself as someone who has worked with an editorial team to produce a publication on time.

What do you expect you’ll be doing here on a daily basis?

This is one of the most frequently asked job interview questions.

1. Formalized paraphrase “At XYZ, I was part of a five-person team that created our quarterly newsletter. How many people are involved in the newsletter at this location?”

Take note of how much better this is than:

2. formalized paraphrase “How many people are involved in the newsletter at this location? I only ask because, in my opinion, it works better with a team.”

Because the phrasing in statement one places the question second and some information about your experience first, it appears as if you are inquiring about the team with which you will be working. In the second example, putting your question first can make you appear arrogant.

The simple technique of turning questions into two-part statements, stating your experience first and the question you want to ask second, is a great way to talk through the job description’s statement of duties AND convey the valuable experience you bring to the role.

Watch out for the following phrases:

You’ll be in charge of… Customer Service Issues.

This is a code of conduct for dealing with customer complaints. A smart way to prepare for a job interview is to have a few anecdotes about how you have dealt with customer complaints and successfully resolved them on hand. After you’ve gone over these, ask the following: “Do you have a policy for escalating a serious complaint?” This demonstrates that you understand you can’t solve everything, and it may give you a hint as to who in the room will be your day-to-day line manager.

You’ll be… Making Sales Presentations OR Assisting in the Making of Sales Presentations.

This could include anything from creating PowerPoint slides to typing up conference notes for salespeople. You might be asked to book the sales team’s event stand at a local exhibition, source signage, posters, and leaflets from a local supplier, and do a lot of sales administration work in general. If you suspect you’ll be overburdened by all of this, figure out how much of your role this will take up. Using the experience-first method:

“I’ve worked on sales presentations and events as part of a previous office team; I’m curious what percentage of the role is dedicated to assisting the sales team with this?”

If you put it in percentages and notify the interviewing team that you are aware of potential conflicts with day-to-day responsibilities, you will usually get an honest response.

You’ll be working with some interesting people.

The world isn’t perfect, and neither are your coworkers. What the job will be like in terms of people is one of the most difficult things to glean from job interviews. If one of the interviewers uses this phrase, it is a red flag that someone in the office is difficult to work with. In response to this, you should ask the following question (again, putting your experience first…):

“In my previous job, I witnessed some colleagues facing disciplinary action. Is there a current problem?”

This will elicit a defensive response such as “Oh, nothing that bad,” or “well, actually, we are looking into this right now.” Remember that a job is frequently advertised when an organization wishes to replace someone who has proven to be unsuitable for the role. The employee may be extremely dissatisfied with the company and causing everyone else to be dissatisfied as well. If you’re stuck with them, this type of question will elicit an answer. Once they’ve answered this question, the best response you can give is something as simple as “I’ve taken note of this.” Resist the urge to say something like, “Oh well, it takes all kinds to make up a world!” Because this makes you sound as if you can deal with the difficult person while no one else can. You might end up being lumped in with them!

End-of-interview questions that are difficult to answer and smart responses to go with them

When I look back on interviews I’ve been to, mock interviews I’ve held (as an employment trainer), and interviews I’ve attended, I notice a pattern of difficult end-of-interview questions.

1. Formalized paraphrase “What are your strong points AND/OR weak points? (Groan). “I’m a comedy superhero allergic to Kryptonite,” don’t say. Consider the strength “genuinely interested in people,” which indicates that you are friendly and sociable. For a weakness, say something like, “I’m trying to learn more about XXX right now,” with the topic being job-related, as in, you are studying more about the role you want to do every day. One of the worst answers I’ve ever received for a weakness was, “I suffer from excessive ear wax,” and the candidate then proceeded to stick their finger in their ear!”

2. “How do you see yourself in five years?” I know you want to say, “I just want to NOT be unemployed in five minutes,” but resist! This is a personal response for each person. If you want to advance in your role, industry, or company, and this is something that most people in your industry do, then say so. From salesperson to sales manager If it’s a stand-alone position, you could say you’d like to do a long-term stint with one company and work environment because you’re a team player.

And, finally…

3. “Can you tell me about your availability in the coming weeks?” This is a coded reference to how soon you can begin. Be cautious, as stating that you are free immediately may indicate that you are unemployed, leading to questions about how long this has been the case. It’s better to start by asking, “Did you want an immediate start?” and then offer this if the answer is yes. If they say they need time to set up their system or whatever, tell them you’ll know within a week or two if the job is yours, and that should suffice.