Work Coach Cafe

I have quite a few posts on answering those annoying job interview questions like What’s Your Greatest Strength, What’s Your Greatest Weakness and Where Do You See Yourself Five Years From Now.

But up to now, I haven’t said too much about what questions you should ask your interviewer. And so now I will.

I’m inspired by a comment I just got from Terry B. on my post How to Make a Job Search Totally Exciting. He brings up the whole question question and suggests:

Asking questions—about the company, the job, the sailfish on the wall behind your interviewer—is also good. Getting the interviewer talking is a great way to connect and to not be doing all the heavy lifting yourself for the whole interview.

It’s important to listen carefully to the interviewer and be totally in the moment (rather than thinking about what you just said or what you will say next and therefore radiating some vagueness or distance). And it’s also important to let the interviewer lead the interview as much as possible; it is his or her show.

But, as Terry B. says, asking questions can help you connect and also show that you’re an active participant in the interview process and not just someone who responds only when asked and has nothing original to add to the mix. (This sometimes translates to how you’d be on the job.)

Some interviewers run a very strict format interview, and for them, you may have to wait until the end for your questions. (This may also vary by industry type.) But as the interview proceeds, if a question does pop into your head, it can be a plus for you to ask it.

Great questions can come from the research you do. One of my readers, Tom, wrote a terrific post about his own interview experiences: 10 Things I Learned in My 3 Month Job Search. Here’s his take on how to prepare so you can ask intelligent questions - and also answer any of theirs about the company:

READ ABOUT THE COMPANY. Read as much as you can about the company’s background. Check finance sites if it is a publicly traded firm and read the “News” section. Did this company recently merge with another firm? Are they developing some new drug that is soon to hit the market? Being armed with this sort of knowledge is

KEY. One interviewer told me “did someone give you a cheat sheet on our company? You know more about it than I do! That’s impressive.”

So do your research ahead of time. And prepare some questions ahead of time too so you don’t have to be thinking them up while your interviewer is telling you something you should be listening to. But also, during the interview, you can come up with questions that show you’ve been listening. Or, as Terry B. mentions, you can even react to the environment if there’s an especially interesting painting, sailfish or whatever on the wall.

If you can get the interviewer talking about something they enjoy, that only adds to the impression you make. Plus it shows your people skills. And, maybe even more important, it may help you stand out from all the other people they’ve interviewed. A safe and steady interview may not get you rejected outright, but it also may not get you remembered!

But, so I don’t mislead you…if they answer your question quickly and seem eager to get back to their own agenda, take that as a clue to maybe save your questions until the end. Most interviewers will welcome a few questions along the way (note the word “few”; you don’t want to lead the whole interview), but you do have to be flexible enough to see when you get one who prefers to lead the whole way. (And if this is a potential boss, make a note of that fact to help you think about whether you actually want to work there.)

Finally, and I can’t say this often enough, I just want to remind you to be yourself. Let go of your “interview man” or “interview woman” persona. The interviewer wants to see who you really are, and most of the time any effort you make to be what you think they want you to be or what you read somewhere is the “right way to interview” just comes off as phony.

I wish you all the best finding the job you want. Good luck!