It’s not a revelation, interviews are typically all about the potential employer throwing any range of questions at you and your role is to be ready! Have prepared responses, be engaged and ready to think on your feet to come up with great examples of how your experience and skills will best be utilised by the company. But what about when you are asked: “Do you have any questions for us,” or even further, when you aren’t given that opportunity? Many job seekers are reluctant to ask questions at this time, fearing any questions they do ask may appear irrelevant, brash or even annoying to the interviewer.
Nothing could be further from the truth and here’s why.
Having interview questions prepared, or which have come into your mind as a result of the discussions during the interview, clearly demonstrates to the interviewer that you are thinking carefully about where you would fit into their team, and are considering the opportunity on offer and your suitability for it. This is definitely not a bad thing. For any new employment relationship to be successful, both parties must be sure that it’s right for them. Employers take their side of this equation very seriously. They go to the market via advertising looking to gather a pool of interested applicants; they interview many of these applicants and ask them a barrage of questions about their skills, experience, knowledge, qualifications, motivations, work styles, learning capacity and personality; they talk to your previous managers and colleagues via reference checks to ask whether you have been telling the truth; and they put you through a series assessments and tests. That’s what the employer does to tell whether you are the right person for their business.
But what about from your end? What can you do to tell if this is the right role for you?
Aside from reading the job advertisement and possibly having access to the Position Description, often your only chance to check your suitability and interest further is by the questions you ask at the interview, so use the opportunity wisely. These are some of the questions which may be of interest for you to ask the employer at interview:
- What is the next step from here? Having a clear understanding of the employers recruitment process and timeframes allows you to prepare for that process and manage your post interview thank you and responses accordingly.
- Tell me about the team and structure. If you don’t already have an understanding about the team, reporting structure and even company structure, now is a great time to ask. This information can sometimes be very important to your satisfaction in the role, and help to paint a picture of how the team sits at present.
- Why is the position vacant? This can be a confronting question for the employer to answer, but can tell you so much as a job seeker and the situation you may be walking into should you successfully secure the role.
- What are the key criteria you are looking for in your ideal applicant? This gives you an opportunity to add anything that may have been missed through your interview responses in relation to these critical decision making skills and experience areas.
- What will the day to day duties of the role involve? This question is only relevant and helpful if it truly has not already been covered off. If you ask this question after the employer feels that have already detailed this at interview, asking this question will do more damage than benefit to your answers.
- How would you describe the culture of the organisation? This can also sometimes be tricky for the interviewer to answer, but at the very least, if you have no clue what the general ‘vibe’ and feel of the organisation or team is, this question will most likely give you an idea.
- Is there anything I have not already told you about my skills, experience or suitability for the role that you would like to know? This allows the interviewer to confirm, clarify or ask anything which may not have yet been answered. By asking this, you are allowing the interviewer to make sure they walk away with no doubts or uncertainty in their mind.
