CLASS BLOG (Demonstration): Book Extract - "Job Interviews For Dummies"

If you want a pdf copy of this book, just ask Adrian (and bring your flashdisk!)

Here's an extract from Chapter 11:

Looking Good with Questions You Ask

So you just finished answering a seemingly endless line of questions about your work history and your education, and you’re pretty confident that you held your own.

Now the interviewer turns to you and asks, “Do you have any questions?”

This question is your cue to ask how much money you’re gonna make at this outfit anyway, right? Wrong!

The types of questions you ask and when you ask them are the least understood parts of the interview. Your questions offer major chances for garnering curtain calls or being booed off the stage.

Sort your question opportunities into two categories:

Questions that sell you: These questions help you get an offer; they’re a way to sell without selling.
Questions that address your personal agenda: These questions about pay, benefits, and other self-interest items should be asked only after you receive an offer — or at least a heavy hint of an offer.
Keep your focus on the employer’s needs and how you can meet them.

Sell yourself by asking questions that are:

Work-focused
Task-focused
Function-focused

Ask about the position’s duties and challenges. Ask what outcomes you’re expected to produce. Ask how the position fits into the department, and the department into the company. Ask about typical assignments.

Here are examples of work-related questions:

What would be my first three goals if I were hired for this position?
What would my key responsibilities be?
How many and whom would I supervise? To whom would I report?
Will I be working as a member of a team?
What percentage of time will I spend communicating with customers, coworkers, and managers?
Will on-job training be required for a new product?
Can you describe a typical day?
If I produce double my quota will you double my base pay?
Was the last person in this job promoted?
What’s the potential for promotion?
How would you describe the atmosphere here?
Formal and traditional?
Energetically informal?
Where is the company headed? Merger? Growth?
What would my first project be?
What type of training would I receive?
What resources would I have to do the job?
How much would I travel, if any?
(If a contract job) Do you anticipate extensive overtime to finish the project on schedule?
Where does this position fit into the company’s organizational structure?
What results would you expect from my efforts and on what timetable?
What improvements need to be made on how the job has been done until now?

How much time should you invest in asking selling questions?

Five to ten minutes is not too much. We have never heard an employer complain about a candidate being too interested in work.

Don’t ask questions about information you can glean (or should have gleaned) from research.