Your Questions

Every interview will conclude with the interviewer asking you if you have any questions. It’s expected that you will have a couple. Remember that you’re still being interviewed at this point, even though you’re asking the questions.

Five things you want to accomplish with the questions you ask:

1. Get a better understanding of the position and the opportunity

2. Learn more about the company

3. Learn more about the culture and working environment

4. Build a closer relationship with the interviewer

5. Demonstrate that you have done your homework and prepared for the interview

Four common question types:

1. Review the company’s website and read recent press releases. Ask a question about a new initiative the company is pursuing and how it will affect the company.

2. Ask a question about an aspect of the job description not covered by the interviewer.

3. Ask the interviewer to discuss why they joined the company and why they’re still there.

4. Ask the interviewer to explain the key challenges that the position you are interviewing for needs to overcome.

One thing that many job seekers don’t consider is asking the same question to each interviewer. There’s no reason why you can’t get different perspectives. If you have a couple questions prepared, you may be able to use them through a full day of interviewing. Just remember, the questions need to be related to the interviewer – for example, an engineer shouldn’t ask technical questions about the position to interviewers from non-engineering fields. On the other hand, you could ask each interviewer how they feel about a newly announced plan for a corporate merger.