Question:

What sorts of questions should I ask during and at the end of the interview?

First Answer:

You may not be given the opportunity to ask questions until the end; if not, the only questions you should ask are about clarification of any question that was unclear, or if you answered the question completely. Be sure to ask this one if the interviewer allows a silence to build after your answer, rather than blurting out something just to fill the silence. This can be a stress technique to see how you handle stress; don't blather.

Start with the outcomes you need from this interview, and ask what you did not learn earlier in the interview. Here are some suggested questions:

Why is this position open? (The only way you can find out if people have been promoted from it without having the interviewer think you want the job only as a short-term stepping stone. If it's a new position, it's an opportunity and a risk: how long is it funded for?)

How will performance be measured in this position? (Do they know? Will it be objective or subjective? Will I get good feedback for my own career development?)

What do you consider the biggest challenge in this job/to this company/in this industry in the next year? (Caution: you may be asked this question yourself, to assess your level of research, knowledge, and your perceived fit in the role.)

What do you expect to be done in the first three months? (Am I walking into a cesspool? Will I have the staff/budget/credibility/resources to accomplish these things?)

What do you consider the most important factors (skills, traits, experience) the successful candidate for this position will have? (If they will tell you, you get to sell your qualifications in these areas most important to the employer, a "must-have" outcome for you.)

Do you have any unanswered concerns about my candidacy? (Interviewers are usually unprepared for this question and may blurt out an objection you would not otherwise have had an opportunity to address.)

Where are you in the selection process and what are the next steps? (Who will call whom and when, so you know what to do).

Memorize these questions so you don't forget them; taking notes into an interview suggests you can't hold more than one thought in your head at a time, and you won't be focusing on the interviewer.

-- Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City;

Second Answer:

The questions you ask an interviewer can set you apart from other candidates for the same job. Your questions give you a chance to show off any of the research you've done about the employer beforehand. And because so many employers are so uncomfortable (or just plain inept) at interviewing applicants, a good set of questions from you can take the burden off an interviewer who doesn't know what to say next.

During an interview, you can ask such questions as these:

• "Are there any parts of my résumé you'd like me to elaborate on?"
• "May I tell you a bit more about (insert a strong part of your experience here)?"
• "Could you explain how this job fits into the overall structure of your company?"
• "What's the single most difficult problem facing your staff right now?"
• "What results would you like to see the person in this job produce?"
• "Have you considered (insert a suggestion you've come up with during your research of the company/industry)?"

Following the interview, the most important thing you can do is send a thank-you letter to everyone you met. Get their names, titles and mailing addresses from the receptionist as you leave. Doing so will put you ahead of 90 percent of other applicants, who don't take the time to do this. Best: bring some blank cards and envelopes to the interview and write your letters in the lobby, while the interview is still fresh in your mind. Then drop them in the nearest mailbox -- they'll likely arrive first thing next morning and make a tremendous impression.

Best of luck to you!

Kevin Donlin, Guaranteed Resumes

Third Answer:

Some jobseekers approach the job interview like a meeting with the Pope. The reality of it is that you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. Given that perspective, does that change what you might want to ask?

Sure it does.

Indeed, most of our waking hours are spent in the pursuit of our careers. The job interview is the one opportunity to express honest concerns about how you account for that time. It allows you to explore how the job will affect your life both positively and negatively. The job interview allows you to ask pertinent questions on an equal level with the employer. At this point in the relationship with an employer you are not beholden to them-- and they are not beholden to you. So ask about those things that are important to you.

Too often, the most important thing to a jobseeker is just to get a job. They communicate this to the employer and give up pursuing anything else as long as the employer expresses an ability to meet that singular need. This is a recipe for disaster. The time spent on the job-- any job-- is more important that just showing up and collecting a check. And we all know it.

So in essence you become the interviewer. Who is the employer? What do they do? What are they looking for? Why? What happened to create this job? What is the single most important thing you can accomplish for them if hired? What about me-- how does the company see me fitting in and where can I go? What about my goals and ambitions-- how can the company contribute? Why would a person choose to work for this company and not a competitor?

You will find that once you start asking these kinds of questions a flood of whole new issues will be uncovered. These are the kinds of interviews that serve both the jobseeker and the employer the best. They reveal the best opportunities-- and help avoid situations that simply do not match the needs of either party.

Simply put-- you want a job you love. The key to finding a job you love is not the job itself. It's about what you love. And you have to ask questions to find it.

-- Kelly Stone, myjobsearch.com

Fourth Answer:

I tend to favor asking what I term "soft" questions, or questions that make you look good, since especially in the first interview, you are still being evaluated even thought the interviewer is asking for your input. The questions I would ask, if I were on my first interview as a beginning employee just out of school whould be as follows:

1. I would appreciate it if you could tell me a little about your background and how you got to where you are?
2. What skills or experience are you looking for? (This question allows you to show interest in the opinion of the interviewer while learning if the specific skills or strengths you mentioned earlier in your interview match what the interviewer is looking for).
3. I wonder if you could tell me a little about the background of the other employees you have hired for the position and how they have progressed within the organization?

Hope that this is helpful.

Cordially,

-- David E. Gordon, Advertising/Promotions Internship Office, Columbia University in Chicago, Illinois

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