I am on the hunt for a job. This means doing a variety of fun and exciting activities, but one of the ones I do enjoy is the interview process. It’s a great opportunity to verbalize how you’ll be a wonderful employee, but also a good opportunity to find out more about the position. It turns out that the more detailed and knowledgeable questions you ask during this process, the smarter the interviewer tends to think you are. Which brings up the topic: what to ask?

After researching the company and position, I try to make sure I have a list of questions written down before I go to the interview. I may also jot some notes about stories or talents/experience I think would be applicable to this position. Contact information and the name of who it is I’m meeting go across the top of the page so there’s no embarrassment when I walk into the lobby and a helpful secretary asks who I am there to see. Finally, make sure you’ve sat down and really figured out what your goals are both with the interview and why you’re applying for the position itself. Lots has been written about what the interviewer may ask you, one of the articles I like best is from a UK site which has questions and some things to think about. Preparation is A Good Thing.

The questions I bring tend to vary according to the position, but here are a few I often ask:

The Big Picture

• What are you looking for in a candidate? Why be shy about this? Ask the interviewer who it is they want to find and do it early in the conversation. No one has ever seemed put off or offended by this question, and while you have many wonderful aspects, this allows you to highlight the ones they care about.
• What are the success criteria for this position? How will success for this position be measured? This gives some good insight into what they’re expecting as well as how organized they are about HR type things. Do they have detailed metrics for this job? Is it just your boss giving thumbs up or thumbs down? Have they ever thought about this question before?
• What is the makeup of the team I’d be managing? How long have they been here and why do they work here? That last one has obviously given some interviewers pause, but I think that’s ok. You could ask this about teammates if you’re joining a team, I’ve asked it about the teams I’m interviewing to be leading. You might want to ask to meet a member of the team, although I skipped that in an interview where I was told they were hiring in part because their team was vastly overbooked and too busy to breathe.
• Why are you not hiring from within? I’m looking at some management positions, and for those it is good to ask, “why isn’t this position being filled by someone who has worked there for years?” Sometimes it’s lack of experience, often it’s because they’re looking for talent that their current team doesn’t have (why not? Do they not train, or is there a better explanation?). I’ve had some of my most interesting answers, and biggest red flags, from this question.
• How does this department fit within the organization’s business strategy? This is one I don’t always ask, but I like to keep it in mind. I’m looking mostly for IT support positions, so how do they view the support department? Are they there to fix customer problems? Develop long term partnerships with these customers? Are they a revenue source or a revenue drain?

Details, Details
I don’t usually write down these kind of questions, but they’re useful to ask. Obviously you’ll want to know about hours/travel/etc., but most of those are in the description or (hopefully) part of their “this is what the job is” spiel. Note that the hours on the West Coast are often vastly earlier than they were on the East Coast, in part due to communicating with offices around the country.

• Describe a typical day/week in this position. Note that this assumes it’s not a new position. Sometimes the person you’re talking to won’t know this kind of stuff, but it might get them to pull in someone who does.
• When should I expect to hear back from you? One of the best classes I took in my MBA program was one on “Power & Politics.” This question commits them at the very least to getting back to you, which is a good start. Probably best to ask this last, though.

Nothing too monumental here, but interviewing strategies aren’t something I generally discuss or hear a lot of about, so I figured I’d post while it was on my mind. Besides, it’s good to have this saved for when I’m interviewing for the next great opportunity.