“Do you have any questions for me?” Usually induces a sense of dread and sweaty palms during a job interview, especially if you go into it unprepared. In order to ascertain whether you want to work for a company or not, you need to come armed with the right questions. Most importantly, you’ll want to know if you’ll fit in, and if it’s the right job for you. It’s also a chance to show your assertiveness and that you’ve done your homework. If you don’t have the right questions prepared, you could risk looking disinterested, or even daft. In order to help you ace your next interview, here’s a list of the four top questions you need to ask.
1. Describe your ideal candidate
According to Inc.com, you need to show that you’re willing to go the extra mile, and that you’re in this for the long haul. You can get this message across by asking about the qualities that the top achievers possess. You can also use this opportunity to describe yourself doing the exact things that the interviewer mentions. For example, if the ideal candidate needs to be excellent at multi-tasking, you can sneak in a related example from your past work experience.
2. What about you?
According to Forbes, interviewers don’t want to hear only about you; they want you to ask about them (i.e. their organisation). By this stage of the interview, they would have already gleaned a fair amount of information about you, so you should turn your focus onto the company. For example, you can ask about the company’s five-year plan, or what they expect you to achieve in the next six months.
3. Why is it great to work here?
In order to get a better idea about the company culture (and whether or not you’ll fit in), you’ll need to find out more about how people feel about their jobs. According to FoxBusiness.com, you should ask your interviewer why they decided to work for the company in the first place, and what aspects of the job they like best. Sometimes interviewers may self-moderate (especially if they don’t actually like their job!), so it’s always a good idea to take note of the general atmosphere, and listen to your gut.
4. What challenges do you face?
According to Lifehack.com, you should ask about the organisation’s overall strategy, and see where you could fit in and how you could contribute. This will show that you’re interested in more than just the job itself, and that you’re willing to add to the organisation as a whole. It’s advisable to do some research about the company/industry beforehand, so that you can ask the right questions. You can also gauge whether accepting the job offer will be risky or not, as sometimes the challenges may be too big – even for the company itself!
In order to nail an interview, you need to be as thoroughly prepared as possible. Many people focus too much on the questions that will be directed towards them and then draw blanks when it’s time for the tables to be turned. Use this question time to your advantage: it could mean the difference between a rejection and a follow up.
This guest post was written by Ang Lloyd on behalf of Dynamics Careers, a specialist job search site that advertises MS Dynamics jobs for Axapta and NAV developers, among others.