Job Interview Questions

There is a wide variety of practice in this area, so be clear. Many company relocation policies address such points as:

• Do you provide reimbursement of closing costs for the sale of my old house?
• Do you provide reimbursement of closing costs for the purchase of my new house?
• Will the company assist in the sale of my current house?
• If I can’t sell my old house, do you have a program that will buy it?
• Can the company provide a loan for buying a house? If so, what are the terms?
• If I need to rent while looking for a house, will I be reimbursed?
• Does the company pay for house-hunting trips in the new community? How many?
• Does the company provide reimbursement for temporary living expenses? Any limitations?
• Does the company provide reimbursement for the shipment of household goods?
• Does the company provide reimbursement for the storage of household goods?
• Does the company provide reimbursement for the shipment of family vehicles?
• Does the company provide reimbursement for the tax gross-up of the taxable portion of moving expenses?
• In the event my landlord is unwilling to release me from my lease, will the company assume the obligation for the lease?

Before you ask questions, take a close look at the written letter of confirmation and compensation summary that the employer will give you. These materials will address most of your questions. If not, by all means ask to speak with someone in human resources to satisfy yourself. By the time you make a decision, you should have details on all of these issues.

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.
    

1. Corporate culture is very important, but it’s usually hard to define until one violates it.What is one thing an employee might do here that would be perceived as a violation of the company’s culture? This question reveals a sophisticated understanding of corporate culture as a force most easily observed in its violation. Typical responses are lying and other ethical breaches, but listen for other clues.
2. How would you characterize the organization?What are its principal values?What are its greatest challenges? This profound question demonstrates your deep interest in the organization’s makeup.
3. How would you describe the experience of working here? Here’s a question that goes to the interviewer’s experience of corporate culture.
4. If I were to be employed here, what one piece of wisdom would you want me to incorporate into my work life? This is a strong question that not only asks the hiring manager what he or she considers most important but also assumes that you are already on board.
5. What are a couple of misconceptions people have about the company? Every manager is frustrated by the way he or she thinks the world sees the company. Here is your chance get two pieces of critical information: how the hiring manager thinks the world perceives the company and what he or she believes to be the truth.
6. Work-life balance is an issue of retention as well as productivity. Can you talk about your own view of how to navigate the tensions between getting the work done and encouraging healthy lives outside the office? On one level, you want to find out how workaholic your prospective manager and the company are. On another, you want a clue about how the company handles the important issue of work-life balance.
7. How does the company support and promote personal and professional growth? This is another way to ask how the company culture promotes a healthy work-life balance.
8. What types of people seem to excel here? This will engender more conversation about personality styles and attitudes that mesh well with the culture and those that don’t. You bluff your way through this question at your own risk. Why would you want to go to work where you would be at war with the prevailing culture?
9. Every company contends with office politics. It’s a fact of life because politics is about people working together. Can you give me some examples of how politics plays out in this company? It’s a slightly risky question because “politics” has such a negative connotation. But the reality is that every organization is a political organization. The politics at family-owned companies is much different than the politics of large multinational companies. The issue is, with which are you more comfortable?
10. What have I yet to learn about this company and opportunity that I still need to know? A great open-ended question for the interviewer to elaborate on an important point you might not have considered.

This marvelous question, recommended by Irv Zuckerman in his book Hire Power, lets the candidate effectively seize control of the interview in a way that many interviewers find reassuring. Here’s a typical exchange (with comments) between an interviewer and a candidate:

INTERVIEWER: Thank you for coming. Can I get you a cup of coffee?

CANDIDATE: No, thank you. Perhaps later. (Leaving the door open softens the refusal to accept the interviewer’s hospitality. Avoid anything that might spill. Also you will need your hands free for taking notes on the important information you are about to receive.)

INTERVIEWER: Well, then, make yourself comfortable. Can you tell me about yourself?

CANDIDATE: I’ll be glad to. But first, may I ask a question? (Always ask permission.)

INTERVIEWER: Of course. (You will never be refused. The interviewer is now curious about what you are going to ask.) CANDIDATE: My question is this: By what criteria will you select the person for this job?

I NTERVIEWER: That’s a good question. CANDIDATE: Is it all right if I take notes? (Always ask permission.) INTERVIEWER: Of course. Now, let me see. I think the first criterion is…

Now listen. When the interviewer is done reviewing the first criterion, ask about the second. Then the third. Pretty soon you will have a list of the interviewer’s hot buttons, a recipe for the ideal candidate for the job. Your challenge is to underscore how your credentials and experience just happen to fall in perfect alignment with those very criteria.

Let’s back up a minute. Notice what else you have accomplished by asking this marvelous question. You have seized control of the interview. Suddenly the interviewer is working according to your agenda. The question-by what criteria will you select the person for this job-is designed to put you in the driver’s seat. Play with the wording at your own risk. Look at how the question parses:

By what criteria. This part of the question focuses the discussion where it belongs—on the job and its requirements, rather than your education, experience, age, gender, etc. What the hiring manager really wants is someone who can do the job and will fit in. Are you that someone? Can you prove it? That’s your goal in the next phases of the interview.

will you select. This acknowledges the authority of the decision maker. It is critical for you to know if, by chance, you are talking to someone who is not the decision maker, but merely a gatekeeper. In either case, you need to focus on the action verb in the clause and what you must provide in order to be selected.

the person. Only one person will be selected for this particular job. You want that person to be you. One of your jobs in the interview is to remind the hiring manager that you are a wellrounded, likable person who will fit in with the other people in the organization.

for this job. This phrase underscores the idea that the subject of this conversation is a job that the interviewer needs to fill because a vital organizational function is not being done. Furthermore, the ideal remedy for the problem is available and ready to start.

Absolutely. People like to talk to people. Most applicants want to know about the interviewer. One big question is how personal can you get without crossing the line? “Asking questions about the interviewer is fine if you keep the questions relevant and focused on the job,” says Bob Conlin, VP of marketing at Incentive Systems in Bedford, Massachusetts. Conlin says he is often asked questions such as:

What convinced you to come to Incentive Systems? What are some of the best attributes of Incentive Systems? Behavioral questions very similar to the type candidates are asked are also fair game to ask the interviewer, says Melanie Mays, president of Empyrean Consulting, a recruiting consulting firm in Dallas, Texas. These questions are best asked after a mutual interest has been established. They should go only to the individual with whom you might be working:

Can you tell me about a project that was successful and how you accomplished it as a team?

Can you tell me about a time when you encountered constraints and how you resolved them?

How do you think your employees would describe your management style?

Some hiring managers are perfectly comfortable with such questions, but others might get defensive, Mays warns. If that’s the case, back off, although the defensiveness itself will give you a clue about the situation. Other personal questions to consider asking the interviewer:

Tell me about your career choice. How did you get into recruiting?

What attracted you to this organization? What are some of the things you especially admire about the company? If you could change some things about the company, what would they be? How many layers of management are there between you and the CEO? When was the last time you had contact with the CEO? Avoid questions that are over the line. Personal questions that are clearly inappropriate would be ones such as: Are you single? How much money do you take home? What would it take for you to leave your job? Would you want to work for the guy I might be working for? What’s the worst thing you got away with at this company? Aren’t you a little young (or old) to be in your position? “I welcome questions about my personal experience that give me an opportunity to share my enthusiasm about the company,” says Beau Harris, a recruiter at Handspring, Inc., the Mountain View, California–based manufacturer of the Visor personal digital assistant. What questions would Harris resent? “There are a whole range of questions about marital status, religion, political views that I as an interviewer am not allowed to ask,” he says. “I believe the candidate should be held to the same standard. Questions like that should not be part of the decisionmaking mix.”

YES, THERE REALLY ARE DUMB QUESTIONS

A platitude popular in educational circles is that there is no such thing as a dumb question. After talking to hundreds of recruiters and job coaches around the world, I can tell you that, unfortunately, there really are dumb questions, and their articulation has cost thousands of people jobs for which they might otherwise have been qualified. Job candidates ask dumb questions every day. These questions prove they haven’t done their homework, haven’t listened, or have a tin ear for context.

So what kinds of self-deprecating joking can pass the humor test? Dialect is too risky. Leave it at home. Sarcasm may be misinterpreted. Deep-six it. Personal anecdotes can sometimes work. But make them personal, short, and to the point. One candidate reports that the following line, delivered tongue in cheek with a broad smile, sometimes led to a laugh and real feedback: How do you like me so far?

A line like this can work, concedes Nancy Levine, VP of client services at San Francisco–based Pacific Firm, but the risks are too high because it is so obviously a line. “If I happen to feel that the candidate and I have created a close rapport, that our senses of humor are on the same wavelength, then it’s great. But there is nothing more irritating to me than someone trying to be funny whom I don’t find funny. Proceed with caution if you want to use humor. And then, use it sparingly, just to add spice, like pepper on the finest filet mignon.”

Another candidate got some mileage out of a similar expression, by finding just the right time in the interview to say, in a dead-on New York City accent:

As Ed Koch used to say,“How’m I doing?” (Ed Koch is a former mayor of New York who managed by walking around the city and offering that phrase in order to get feedback from citizens.) How about jokes? Is it ever useful to tell a joke in a job interview? Jokes are probably too risky, but it may pay to memorize a couple just in case. I know one HR director who is known to ask candidates to tell him a joke as a test of how nimble the candidate’s mind is. Every once in a while—perhaps if the interview is at a more informal setting such as a restaurant—it may make sense to offer a joke. The quasi-social nature of the event might allow for more flexibility. But even here I urge caution.

Some interviewers will tell you a joke, either to break the ice or to illustrate a point. Occasionally, unprepared or unprofessional interviewers tell jokes because they are uncomfortable or don’t know what else to do. In either case, resist the temptation to create a false rapport by exchanging jokes. It doesn’t advance the interview, and little good can come of it. Do listen to the subtext of the joke and come back with a question that indicates the joke gave you a serious insight into the situation:

I appreciate the way you said that. It’s true, isn’t it, that communication breakdowns come in the most unexpected ways.And while it can sometimes be funny, communication breakdowns impose real costs on the organization. Companywide intranets offer real benefits to crossdepartmental communications.At my last job, I led the team that developed . . . If you must tell a joke, make sure it is short and pokes fun at yourself or some general issue of work. If it’s about the job interviewing process, so much the better. Never tell more than one joke, no matter how much you are coaxed. This joke, for example, has made the rounds of the HR chat boards.

Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT what kind of a salary he was looking for.

“In the neighborhood of $140,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.”

“Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company-matching retirement fund to 50 percent of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years . . . say, a red Corvette?” “Wow! You’re kidding!” the young engineer said. “Yeah, but you started it.”

Five Rules for Using Humor

1. Poke fun at yourself only, nothing else.
2. Follow the interviewer’s lead.
3. Don’t force it.
4. No sarcasm at any time.
5. If in doubt, don’t.

You can guess what happened next. The CEO looked up with a tight smile and slowly informed Handler that graphology was his hobby and that he thought the practice had substantial merit.

The good news is at the end of the day, the wisecrack didn’t hurt Handler. He still received a job offer. But it did teach him a lesson. “Think twice about making a joke or a wisecrack,” he says. “Any subject you choose, no matter how seemingly innocuous, has the potential for alienating the interviewer.”

On the other hand, humor elegantly framed and sharply focused can be effective and advantageous. But it must come naturally to you. Nothing is as risky as forced humor. Amateurs shouldn’t try this at the office. A half-baked attempt at humor can seriously backfire on you, and if you offend the interviewer—a possibility less and less discountable in these politically correct times—you will never recover. For that reason many job coaches advise against any attempt at humor, sarcasm, or teasing. Just play it straight, they say, and you can’t go wrong.

Some hiring managers welcome humor because it demonstrates you can keep work in a proper perspective. “The ability to laugh at yourself is a great attribute,” says Susan Trainer. “It means you don’t take yourself too seriously, which is a very attractive trait.”

Other recruiters are skeptical. “I want my questions taken seriously,” warns Bryan Debenport, corporate recruiter at Alcon Laboratories, a 3000-employee manufacturer of ophthalmic products in Fort Worth, Texas. “Humor may be appropriate at the start and finish of interviews, but use it sparingly.”

The goal of using humor is to bond with the interviewer, to use your shared senses of humor as a way to underscore the prospect that you will fit into the organization. Of course, if your perspective and that of the hiring manager seriously differ, then your attempt at humor will only underscore the disconnect.

At the same time, when people laugh, certain physiological changes take place that make people more flexible, relaxed, and—this is what you most want—agreeable. Humor is also synonymous with wit—and wit is born of intelligence. No wonder recruiters look for candidates with this quality. Let the interviewer set the tone. If the interviewer starts with a joke and seems to be in good humor, you can try for a little self-deprecating humor.

In fact, Bryant Howroyd’s practice is to ask just one question, and then immediately throw the ball to the job seeker. Bryant Howroyd’s first question, after greeting the job seeker, is:

What is your understanding of our meeting today?
How’s that for turning the interview topsy-turvy?

But Bryant Howroyd understands she can tell more from candidates by the quality of their questions than by the quality of their answers. So the next instruction is:
I would now like you to ask me seven questions.

Depending on the quality of the applicant’s response to the first query, Bryant Howroyd invites the applicant to ask her from three to seven specific questions. The higher her initial estimation of the applicant, the more questions she requests. What’s more, Bryant Howroyd gives the applicant permission to ask her any questions at all. No limits. And then she listens. “I learn a lot more about people by allowing them to ask me what they want to know than by having them tell me what they think I want to know,” she says. True, the hiring company ultimately selects the applicant, but “the applicants I most admire insist on being full partners in the selection process,” she says. Now, are you really ready for an interview with Janice Bryant

Howroyd? Robin Upton is a career coach at Bernard Haldane Associates, the largest career management firm in the United States. Based in the firm’s office in Dallas, Texas, Upton coaches her candidates to ask two questions of the hiring manager. The first question is:

Now that we have talked about my qualifications, do you have any concerns about me fulfilling the responsibilities of this position?

Does it seem counterintuitive to ask the interviewer to articulate his or her concerns? Many candidates think so. But they are being shortsighted, Upton argues. Once objections are stated, the candidate can usually address them in a way that is satisfactory. Unstated objections will doom the candidate every time. Upton’s second question is:

As my direct report in this position, what are the three top priorities you would first like to see accomplished?

This question, she says, effectively determines the hot buttons of the hiring manager, demonstrates the candidate’s understanding that every hiring manager has priorities, and underscores the candidate’s commitment to action by the final word in the question. Remember, “accomplish” is a term dear to the heart of every hiring manager.

If you don’t ask questions in the interview, many recruiters will wonder if you will avoid asking questions on the job. “If I set up a scenario for a technical candidate, and they don’t ask qualifying questions, I really wonder if that is how they would approach an application development project,” says Kathi Jones, director of Employee Central at Aventail, a Seattle-based provider of extranet services. “Are they letting ego get in the way of asking the hard questions? Do they play on a team or play against the team? I think you can learn as much from someone’s questions and their thought process as you can from the answers,” she adds.

Here’s another wrinkle. Recruiters expect candidates to ask enough questions to form an opinion about whether they want the job or not. If you don’t ask enough questions, recruiters who may otherwise be willing to make you an offer may nevertheless reject you because they have no confidence you know what you would be getting into. “At the end of the day, as the interviewer, I need to feel satisfied that the candidate has enough information on which to make a decision in case I make an offer,” says Richard Kathnelson, VP of human resources at Syndesis, Inc., in Ontario, Canada. Open-ended questions that generate information-rich answers signal to Kathnelson that he is talking to a resourceful candidate who knows how to make informed decisions, a skill vital to any job.

There are great questions and dumb questions and, worst of all, no questions at all. This website prepares you for the most neglected part of the job interview: the opportunity for you to ask questions. Part I outlines some rules and principles you can apply in your questioning so that you ask more of the former and fewer of the latter. But first a quiz. Of the following five candidate behaviors in the job interview, what behavior do you think recruiters find most unforgivable?

1. Poor personal appearance
2. Overemphasis on money
3. Failure to look at interviewer while interviewing
4. Doesn’t ask questions
5. Late to interview

The answer is number 4. Surprised? Candidates who do not ask any questions represent the number one behavior that causes recruiters to lose confidence, according to my admittedly unscientific survey of over 150 recruiters, job coaches, and hiring managers. Still, it’s not too bold to make this statement: You cannot succeed in a job interview without asking a number of wellconsidered questions.

Of course, even great questions will not get you a job offer if you come in with other problems. Here, in order, are the 10 attitude strikeouts that most often condemn job candidates:

1. Doesn’t ask questions
2. Condemnation of past employer
3. Condemnation of past employer
4. Poor personal appearance
5. Indecisive, cynical, lazy
6. Overbearing, overly aggressive, “know-it-all”
7. Late to interview
8. Failure to look at interviewer while interviewing
9. Unable to express self clearly
10. Overemphasis on money