Interviews tend to be passive events for candidates. You are asked questions about your experience, history and achievements. It is, however, important to show the potential employer that you are seriously considering the opportunity and that you value your own success as well.
The chance to ask questions usually comes at the end of an interview, which means that the questions you ask can have a huge impact on how your interviewers remember you. Thus, it makes sense to have a list of prepared questions to ask.
Prepare a selection of these questions and any other that you deem as being relevant written in a notebook or available for reference on your Smart Phone. After all, you are risking your career on this choice and the better informed the better the choice you will make. Let them know you are also vetting them.
I recommend to avoid questions about minor items, such as length of coffee breaks, as those question can diminish your professionalism and achievement focus.
Choose your questions wisely!
Here are ten key questions to ask together with other questions you may specific to the situation
1. How would you describe your company’s culture?
2. What employee qualities best support success here?
3. What percentage of your sales team are currently hitting targets?
4. What are your expectations for achievement for this role in the first 30 days.
5. What programs do you have in place to support and ensure my success here?
6. Do you have any hesitations about my qualifications?
7. Have I answered all of your questions?
8. When can we schedule the next interview?
9. If you could share one piece of advice for a new starter here what would it be?
10. Am I being considered seriously for this position and why?
Finally, there’s the question of how many of these questions to ask. Don’t ask them all!
There’s no perfect number of questions you should ask, but more than one is usually good.
If you feel that’s not enough to really find out all that you want to know, just check with the interviewer and they should be happy to tell you how many questions they have time to answer. When you have finished with your questions, always ask: “Since we are meeting would now be a good time to schedule the next stage?”