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The Interview - What Questions Can I Ask?

By: Ray James

Considering that you are not the interviewer, you may be thinking, "What questions can I ask?" at the job interview. Once you have answered all the questions asked by the interviewer, it is usually expected that you too will have some questions to ask. Before finalizing the interview, an interviewer will always ask one last question: "Do you have any questions?" Many job applicants get into the habit of saying "No", which is a mistake as this is telling the interviewer that you are not really interested in the company or the job. If you don't have any questions to ask at the interview, it may be deduced that you won?t ask for clarification on the job if there are any problems.

Prepare a list of suitable questions that you would like to ask before going to any interview. It is not appropriate to ask questions about vacation time, salary, employee benefits etc in the beginning. Instead questions that show your zeal and keenness to work for the company are preferable.

You should ask questions that are directed towards your interest in the job and also those that are likely to give a good impression of you to the interviewer. As a hypothetical example, you may care to tell the interviewer that you have read an article in a magazine that mentioned that the company is planning expansion of its operations. The question that would follow would be something like: "Into which regions is this expansion likely to occur?" You can also ask specific questions about the particular job for which you are being interviewed.

Further examples of questions to ask at the job interview can be as such: "Why has this position become available?" "Is this position a new one?" If it is not newly created then you may ask, "For how long has this position been in existence?" and inquire about the number of people that held this same position in the last year. You can also ask questions regarding the identities of those people senior and junior to you in the organization. Questions such as "Who would I be supervising?" or "Who will be my supervisor?" provide information about other members of the company. You can also ask about financial details of the company.

Enquire about the assignments on which you will be working and about the company?s culture such as "Is the company's culture formal and severe or flexible and relaxed?" You can ask whether there are any problems facing the company or your department and if so, what methods have been implemented to overcome the problem. Ask about the number of people working in the department and about the ethics, philosophy and working environment of the company. You may care to ask the interviewer about the company's possible weaknesses and obvious strengths, its major competitors, its process by which it measures the performance of an employee and the short and long-term goals of the company. Ask about the promotional policy of the company and about the best opportunities for new employees. Ask the interviewer their personal opinion of what constitutes the qualities of an ideal employee.

Wind up the interview by emphasizing that you are very much interested in this job.

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