Job Interview Questions

1. How many approvals would it take (and how long) to get a new $110,000 project idea of mine approved? What percentage of employee-initiated projects in this job were approved last year? Ask for examples. If you want to be part of a nimble organization, this is a great way to ask.
2. How many days will it take for you (and the company) to make a hiring decision for this position? The superstar might as well have said “hours.” Organizations these days know they have to move quickly to snag the best candidates.
3. Who are the “coolest” people on my team? What makes them cool? Can I meet them? Who is the best and worst performer on the team, and what was the difference in their total compensation last year? Sell me on this team and the individuals on it that I get to work with.What makes my closest coworkers fun or great people to work with? A complicated question, but all focused on understanding the makeup of the team you will be joining. These are the people who will determine whether you succeed or fail.
4. What is your “learning plan” for me for my first six months? What competencies do you propose I will develop that I don’t currently have? Which individual in the department can I learn the most from? What can he or she teach me? Can I meet that person? Does the company have a specific program to advance my career? These questions pin the company down on resources for advancing your portfolio of skills.
5. Assuming I’m current with my work, how many days could I not show up at the office each week? Could I miss a day without your advance permission? What percentage of the people in this position telecommute? Has anyone in the group been allowed to take a month off (unpaid) to fulfill a personal interest? If personal autonomy is important to you, get it on the table and determine if there is precedent for what you want. It’s much easier to follow precedent than to create it.
6. Give me some examples of the decisions I could make in this job without any approvals. Can you show me the degree of autonomy and control I will have in this position? This is another way to ask how the company values personal autonomy.
7. How many hours a week do you expect the average person on your team to work? How many hours does the average person in fact work? Are there work-life programs in place to promote a healthy work-life balance? As a superstar, you are prepared to put in the hours-you just want to know what they are.
8. How will my performance be evaluated? What are the top criteria you use? What percentage of my compensation is based on my performance? Is there a process where the employees get to assess their supervisor? If I do a great/bad job in the first 90 days, how, specifically, will you let me know? What are the steps you would take to help me improve? How do you discipline team members? The answers to this complicated set of questions should tell you how the company evaluates and motivates performance as well as how it corrects lack of performance.
9. What is the first assignment you intend to give me? Where does that assignment rank on the departmental priorities? What makes this assignment a great opportunity? You want to know if you will be immediately contributing to an important, visible project.
10. How many hours of your time can I expect to get each week for the first six months on the job? How often will we have scheduled meetings? You want to know how much face time you will have with your manager.
11. If I were frustrated about my job, what specific steps would you take to help me overcome that frustration? How about if you were frustrated with me? Can you show me examples of what you have done for others in your group in the past year to overcome any frustration? This is a supremely confident question that is frank in assuming there will be occasional frustrations. The bigger issue is what services are in place to help resolve frustrations.
12. What are the wows! of this job? What are the worst parts? And what will you do to maximize the former and minimize the latter? If I asked the incumbent what stinks about the job, what would he or she say? Can I talk to him or her? This balanced but nevertheless threatening question asks for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Every company is made up of all three qualities. The bigger issue is whether the hiring manager has the spine to be up front about it.
13. What will make my physical work environment a fun and stimulating place to spend time? If the physical workspace is important to you, ask. This general question is better than asking about air hockey tables or company masseurs.
14. What inputs do employees get in departmental decisions? In hiring and assessing coworkers? You’ll want to know about all-important team processes. Make sure you ask for specifics.
15. Could I get a chance to see the team in action? Can I sit in on a team meeting? Shadow someone for a day? Is the interviewer willing to make the company more transparent to you? This is a good way to find out.
16. What are the biggest problems facing this department in the next six months and in one year? What key competencies have you identified that I will need to develop in the next six months to be successful? Here you’re looking for the hiring manager’s hot buttons. These are the issues against which your initial performance will be evaluated.
17. What do you see in me? What are my strongest assets and possible weaknesses? Do you have any concerns that I need to clear up in order to be the top candidate? What is the likelihood, in percent terms, that you will make me an offer? This is a bold and confident bid-for-action question that also asks for any objections.
18. What is the best/toughest question I could ask you to find out about the worst aspects of this job? How would you answer it? If you were my best friend, what would you tell me about this job that we haven’t already discussed? A last-ditch attempt to reveal negative information about the company.

1. What’s the gross profit margin of the division I will be working in? What percentage of the total profit from the company does it generate? Is it increasing or decreasing? It’s critical to know the contribution of your division or department to the total profit of the organization.
2. What’s your company’s “killer application”? What percentage of the market share does it have? Will I be working on it? Every company has a core product that often generates the lion’s share of the revenues. If that’s where you want to be, make sure that’s where you will be placed.
3. Can you give me some examples of the best and worst aspects of the company’s culture? Does the hiring manager have enough insight to know that every corporate culture has both positive and negative qualities?
4. What makes this company a great place to work? What outside evidence (rankings or awards) do you have to prove this is a great place to work? What is the company going to do in the next year to make it better? This is a fairly aggressive question, but if it’s fair for the company to ask you to prove you are the best, the reverse is also true.
5. What would I see if I stood outside the front door at five o’clock? Would everyone be smiling? Staying late or leaving early? Would everyone be taking work home? Why not conduct this experiment before you ask the question? See if the interviewer’s answer squares with your observations.
6. Lots of your competitors have great products and people programs.What is the deciding factor that makes this opportunity superior? Are you willing to make me some specific “promises” on what you will do to make this a great experience for me if I accept the position? The superstar is asking for the interviewer to “sell” the company.
7. Can you show me that the company has a diverse workforce and that it is tolerant of individual differences? Does it have affinity groups or similar programs that I might find beneficial? Is there a dress code? Can you give me an example of any “outrageous conduct” this firm tolerates that the competitors would not? How tolerant is the company for the kind of chaos that many superstars generate in the course of greatness?
8. Does your company offer any wow! benefits? Does it pay for advanced degrees? Does it offer paid sabbaticals? On-site child care? Relocation packages? Mentor programs? How are these superior to those of your competitors? What about job sharing? Flex-time arrangements? Telecommuting? Workout facilities? If these practices are important to you, by all means ask.
9. When top performers leave the company, why do they leave and where do they usually go? This is tough for the interviewer to answer because he or she doesn’t want to give you names of other employers to consider. But if the interviewer is confident in her case, she will.
10. When was the last significant layoff? What criteria were used to select those to stay? What packages were offered to those who were let go? Layoffs are a fact of life even in the most stable companies. It’s fair game to talk about the company’s management of layoffs.
11. Does the company have a program to significantly reward individuals who develop patents/ great products? Is there a program to help individuals “start” their own firms or subsidiary? Will I be required to fill out noncompete agreements? You plan to generate great intellectual property for the company. It’s fair to know how those assets will be managed.
    

“Even if you aren’t a superstar (yet), it’s important to be skeptical because recruiters and hiring managers, on occasion, make jobs appear better than they really are,” Sullivan says. “You need an accurate job preview, and it takes hard questions to your future manager to get it. The hiring manager’s ability and willingness to answer these tough questions should be a major factor in your decision to accept an offer.”

There’s no reason why you cannot act like a superstar and put some of these questions in your portfolio. Who knows? Maybe if you act like a superstar, they will treat you as one.

These four closes put a little heat on the interviewer:

1. I have other offers pending that afford me tremendous potential. But I like what I see here, and I know I’m the right person for you. If you agree, can we talk turkey?
2. Is there anything I have said that indicates I am not the perfect candidate for this job?
3. I am in final-stage interviews with other companies, but I like what I see here. I’d like to have an offer from you so I can make a decision.
4. Based on my family’s needs and other interviews, I am committed to making a decision by next Friday. What do we have to do to speed up the decision-making process so that I might consider an offer from you by that time?

1. Is there anything personally or professionally that you believe would prevent my being a solid contributor in this role? If not, you can assume that the next step is working out the hiring details. If yes, then you are positioned to address the objection.
2. Mr. Employer, your search is over.You will not find anyone else more qualified to do this job than I. If I were you, I’d cancel all the other interviews and make me an offer. This approach can be considered either confident or cheeky. But in the right tone of voice, it can be effective.
3. Mr. Employer, I’m not going to keep it a secret. I really want this job, and I know I will be fantastic in it. Now shut up and listen. Resist the temptation to justify this bold statement. If you are in a dead heat with two other candidates, all other things being equal, you can bet that the most enthusiastic job seeker will get the nod.
4. Until I hear from you again, what particular aspects of the job and this interview should I be considering? Notice how confident the question is. It’s not “if” but “when.” The question deftly reminds the interviewer that just as the company is considering you, you are considering the company.
5. I know I can meet the demands of the position and would make an outstanding contribution. Can I have the offer? Confronted so directly, the interviewer must make a statement about your chances of being hired. If the interviewer doesn’t, he or she isn’t interested in you at all.
6. What will be your recommendation to the hiring committee? Phrased like this, you are flattering the interviewer that his or her recommendation is valuable.
7. I’m ready to make a decision based on the information I have. Is there anything else you need to make me an offer? An effective one-two punch of a question that combines an expression of interest with a subtle invitation to see an offer.
8. I am very interested in this job, and I know your endorsement is key to my receiving an offer. May I have your endorsement? Phrased this way, the question does not request that the interviewer offer a job, but merely the endorsement. It also flatters the interviewer by making it clear that his or her recommendation carries considerable weight, whether it does or not.
9. It sounds to me as if we have a great fit here.What do you think? Note that this is very aggressive phrasing, perhaps best suited for a sales position.
10. It has been an interesting and fruitful discussion. I would very much like to take it to the next step. This is a statement rather than a question, but it closes the interview very effectively by not only requesting a next step, but assuming that there will be one.

For sales interviews, phrases like these may be appropriate:

• I really want this job. Am I going to get it?
• I think I earned this job. When am I going to receive an offer?
• Did I get the job?
• I’d like to start right away. When can we get the paperwork out of the way?

The following bid-for-action questions give you some wordings to ask for the job with varying degrees of directness. Each one of the questions can serve as a proactive close to the main part of the interview. Each of these questions has been field-tested and, in the right circumstances, has been shown to work. In other cases, the questions may backfire. The risk is that the interviewer may regard you as cheeky or insolent. Study the situation well and tread lightly.

It’s good to be direct when asking for the job, says Tony Stanic, resource manager at CNC Global, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. “I think it is good to come across as enthusiastic and direct as possible. The person that appears to want the job the most will get the offer. Try to find out their level of interest in you by asking them directly.” Stanic has been impressed with candidates who could deliver lines such as:

• Do you feel that I am suitable for the position?
• Do you have any reservations about my ability to do this job?

“Don’t be afraid to ask these questions,” Stanic continues. “You may be able to overcome any objections that they may have. It may feel a bit uncomfortable but it’s better to find out what their concerns are than it is to find out that you did not get the job. Asking for the job can be a crucial factor in the interviewer’s decision-making process.”

“There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance,” says KnowledgePoint’s HR director, Rich Franklin. To be successful in some jobs, you need to be pushy and demonstrate in the job interview how aggressively you can sell. For example, Franklin recruited stockbrokers for Dean Witter for 10 years before he joined KnowledgePoint. Stockbrokers, of course, are salespeople who sell securities. One question from a sales candidate that that impressed him was:

• I’m the person for the job! Can you tell me when you can make me an offer?

“In the software industry where things are more laid back,” Franklin continues, “I’d be a little less comfortable with a guy coming on that strong.” The Pacific Firm’s Nancy Levine also urges caution. For her, such direct questions are indications of too much thinking inside the box. What Levin likes to hear from candidates are more subtle probes for objections:

• I am very interested in this position. Do you have any questions or concerns I can address?
• It has been a pleasure meeting you. I really want this job. Can you tell me where you are in your process?

“Then, hopefully, the interviewer will cough up objections that the job-seeker can address and overcome,” Levine says. The important thing, she says, is not to appear like you’re trying too hard. For example, Levine criticizes a formulation such as this:

As I understand it, the successful candidate will be someone with x education, y qualifications, and z experience. Do I understand the opportunity correctly?

“For me this formulation is too cookie cutterish, too car salesman-y, a bit transparent in terms of trying to close,” she says. “It may work as a line of questioning in a first phone call, but not to close in an interview. I would expect that our discussion would pinpoint what we’re looking for.”

Susan Trainer Senior Information Systems Recruiter RJS Associates Hartford, CT “There has to be a certain chemistry between me and the candidate for those kinds of questions to come off well,” agrees Kimberly Bedore, director of Strategic HR Solutions at Peopleclick, Dallas, Texas. “You have to know the interviewer is really interested; otherwise it makes the interviewer uncomfortable.” Don’t put the interviewer in a defensive mode, she adds. “Just demonstrate that you understand the company’s greatest business problem and that you have what it takes to solve it. Asking for what the next step will be is always okay.”

So the burden is on you to call it right. If your timing is even slightly off or your voice is a little too shrill, you will come off as grasping, clumsy, or, worst of all, desperate. If you’re going to ask for a job, please practice these questions with a trusted friend or mentor. Use a video camera to record yourself uttering the questions. Until you can pull off a vibe of relaxed confidence, I’d avoid these questions.

So it is with each job interview. Each time you meet with a hiring manager, you have an irreplaceable opportunity to ask for the offer.

“When I’m interviewing a candidate for a sales position, I want them to close me,” says Bob Conlin, VP of Incentive Systems in Bedford, Massachusetts. “If they give me a soft close, or, worse, no close at all, I get concerned.” Here’s an example of what Conlin considers to be a hard close:

Bob, every year I’m going to be your number-one guy. Every year I’m going to beat quota. I’m your candidate.When can I start?

“I know I’m being closed here,” he says. “The candidate is speaking my language. His confidence is infectious.”

But Conlin also wants to see evidence that the candidate is mindful of the organization’s goals, not just the salesperson’s goals. The following question is even more thoughtful because it demonstrates that the candidate is already thinking as a member of a team:

I know I can drive the revenues and net the customers.What kinds of processes are in place to help me work collaboratively?

Besides asking for the job, bid-for-action questions ask for an indication of how favorably the interviewer assesses you. One way to assess a company’s interest is to see how hard the interviewer tries to sell you on accepting the job when you ask these questions. Some candidates grow pale at saying something as blatant as:

Are you ready to make me an offer now, or do I need to sell myself some more?

But what do you have to lose? If the job you are applying for has any marketing or management quality at all, the interviewer will be impressed by your confidence. Every great salesperson knows to “ask for the order.” Here’s how to ask for the job in the final interview. Begin with a statement of your understanding of the opportunity:

As I understand it, the successful candidate will be someone with x education, y qualifications, and z experience. Do I understand the opportunity correctly?

Here your purpose is threefold. First, you are testing to see if you indeed understand the situation. If you missed something, or, more likely, the interviewer forgot some important requirement, now is the time to get it right. Second, assuming you summarized the position correctly, the interviewer is impressed by your organizational skills. Third, asking for agreement at this point is a strategy for getting the interviewer into the habit of saying yes. Yes is the answer you want to the next question, and it’s good to have the interviewer in a yes mood. The critical next question is:

Do I meet the requirements?

Now wait. That’s the hard part. The interviewer is making up his or her mind. The answer will tell you if it is time to close or if you have more persuading to do. If the interviewer is positive and says that, yes (there’s that word again), you have all the qualifications, you can now deliver the strongest closing line there is:

I’m glad we agree. I feel that way, too. So I am certainly interested in receiving your strongest offer.

But I must issue a fair warning. You are on dangerous ground here. Your decision to ask for the job must be pitch-perfect. Before asking for the job, you must have created a good rapport with your interviewer, established that you are a good fit for the job, and extracted at least some expression of interest from the interviewer. Your timing must be so perfect the interviewer could set her watch by it. In other words, unless you have a high degree of confidence about each of these points, I wouldn’t take a chance. It’s a risky move for two reasons:

First, while asking a prospect to say yes to an order for a gross of pens with the business’s logo emblazoned on them might occasionally get the prospect to sign on the bottom line, it’s highly unlikely that you will actually get a hiring manager to say, “Sure, you want the job? You got it! When can you start?” Even the hiring manager has a process to go through and must consult with others. Still, asking for the job might move you up in the crowd.

And second, it might blow you out of the water. That’s because in contemporary American business culture, asking for something as important as a job is loaded with a lot of emotional baggage. It’s very much like talking about money. Talking directly about money is taboo. Everyone knows it’s the most important part of the conversation in a job interview, yet the pretense we all have about money relegates it to the end, almost as if money were an afterthought.

So it is with the business of directly asking for a job. Still, the benefits usually outweigh the risks. If your tone is pitch-perfect and your timing is right, asking for the job will help differentiate your credentials from the crowd, reinforce your value proposition, and in extremely rare cases, even land you an offer on the spot.

1. How do you like me so far? A cheeky question at its best, but if said with a smile and a light tone of voice, it might work.
2. Do you have any concerns about my ability to do the job and fit in? This is an important question because it shows humility and gives you the opportunity to both address and eliminate an objection.
3. Is there anything standing in the way of us coming to an agreement? Notice the question isn’t about the offer, it’s about agreement.
4. Do you have any concerns about my experience, education, skills? This is a direct question about any objections the interviewer might have.
5. How do I compare with the other candidates you have interviewed? Here’s another way to look at where you stand, and it’s always good to get information on the competition.
6. Describe your ideal candidate.What do my qualifications lack compared with those of the theoretical ideal candidate? If you get a sense that the interviewer thinks you are underqualified, here’s a question that might give you a shot at persuading him or her that you have what it takes.
7. Is there anything else I can elaborate on so that you would have a better understanding of my qualifications and suitability for this position? The answer often reveals where the interviewer is less than totally comfortable with your credentials.
8. Are there any areas in which you feel I fall short of your requirements? You’re making a direct appeal to the interviewer to talk about your shortcomings. Now show the interviewer how you can listen to criticism without getting defensive.
9. Can you give me any feedback that would make me more attractive to the company in the future or that I could benefit from next time? If you don’t get the job, maybe this question will at least give you some vital feedback you can use for next time.
10. Is there anything else you need from me to have a complete picture of my qualifications? This is an alternative and elegant formulation of the central feedback question.

It is often extremely difficult to learn what the interviewer doesn’t like about you. In many cases, company policy or fear of litigation prevents interviewers from giving you information that is critical for you to know if you are to improve your interviewing techniques. “Candidates need to understand that providing honest feedback is really tricky for recruiters and sometimes impossible,” says Janice Brookshier of Seattlejobs.org. “If you received a bad reference, for example, I can’t tell you.”

However, you must uncover doubts, if they exist. I believe that the facts are friendly. They may not always be convenient. If you have been fired or been in jail or have a big gap in your work history, these facts are not pleasant. But they are friendly because you have control over their disclosure. You are always better off dealing with the facts than hoping they will be ignored. Facts may not be discussed, but they are never ignored.

The point is that you can’t address an objection you don’t know about. These questions require courage. Don’t be afraid of letting your weaknesses surface. You want to be in the position of overcoming objections since this is when selling occurs.