Interviews aren’t only a time for employers to ask questions, as a candidate you should also be taking the opportunity to ask some questions of your own. In fact, not asking questions is often seen as a sign of disinterest in the position.
Amy Carpenter, Vice President at Ticket City and frequent interviewer has said “in today’s economy with an abundance of job seekers, I’ve found some candidates more hesitant to ask questions. Maybe it’s due to the fact they fear they’ll question themselves out of a job by coming across as too particular or aggressive. In either case, what they’re actually displaying is indifference of disinterest.”
So in the interest of getting the IT jobs you’re interviewing for, here’s some helpful hints as to how to craft the best questions to ask at interview…
- Don’t be shy
Being shy won’t do you any favours – show you’re interest in the company, the position, your potential new colleagues. Interested employees are often the most highly motivated and this is a very appealing quality to employers.
- Do your research
To be sure the questions you ask work in your favour, make sure you do your research before you go to interview. Try and craft questions that show you know a little bit about the industry and the company itself – asking “so what exactly is it you do?” should be avoided at all costs!! The more in depth your knowledge the better.
- Avoid certain topics
Although you probably will have questions around the salary, benefits or holiday allowance, a first interview is not the time to bring up these sorts of questions. Concentrate on demonstrating what you have to offer them and keep your questions focussed on the role itself, the company and the team.
Here are a few questions that you could add to your repertoire:
- Is this a new position? If so, what was the reason for creating it?
- Do you have any concerns about my background?
- How would my performance be measured if I were to get this position?
- What do you see as the key challenges that the person in this position would face?
- If you were to evaluate my performance in 6-12 months time, what would make me score highly?
- What are the key challenges facing the company at the moment?
Have you got any “go to” interview questions that you ask? if so, why not let us know about them in the comments below…
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As a contractor my interviews look slightly differently. In all my contract interviews (over 20) I have never been asked to tell anything about the company itself…. and 50% of cases someone would straight away describe the project (which I like).
Questions I ask for contract are mainly: What you do and how you do it. In 50% it gives bad impression but this is 50% I’m not interested in and in the rest it gives good impression.
My interview is not about getting a contract it is about getting a client with a project where I can use my skills and enjoy it. If someone enjoys the work than the results are always very good
Regards
Emil