Sample questions:
- "I understand your hobby is skiing, so is mine. What's your favorite ski area?"
- "I hear you graduated from State University. A good friend of mine named John Smith graduated from there about twelve years ago. Did you know him?"
- "I discovered we have a mutual friend, John Smith. He says you are quite a painter. I do watercolors myself. Do you paint in water-colors or no?"
- "How long have you been with this company, and why did you decide on this company versus any of the others you interviewed?"
- "How long have you held this job and what was your previous position?"
- "What do you especially like about your job and this company? What don't you like?"
- "What are your future career plans? How long until you expect to be promoted?"
1. "What are the prime responsibilities and duties of this position?"
2. "What kind of person are you looking for?"
Although these two questions may seem somewhat trivial, detailed answers to them can be powerful bits of information if they are obtained early in the interview or even before the interview, perhaps on the telephone when arranging the interview. If you have this information sufficiently early, you then can answer the interviewer’s questions more to your benefit. The answers to these questions can provide clues as to which information should be emphasized in your background and which should be de-emphasized or avoided altogether.
In fact, a consultant friend of mine once did a study for an employment agency client and concluded that the interview success rate for job hunters who had early detailed answers to those two questions was dramatically higher than for those who did not Therefore, get as much detail as possible before the interview or early in the interview and slant your subsequent responses accordingly.
3. "What happened to the last person who had this job?"
Was he or she promoted or fired? Or did that person quit? How long was that person in the job? If the previous job holder is still with the company, arrange to meet with him or her at a future date.
If the previous job holder is gone, find out where he or she can be contacted, remembering that any information you obtain from that person will be likely negative, or else he or she would still be with the company. In any event, the previous job holder can give you a good overview as to the attractions and pitfalls of the job and the company.
If the job is a new position, ask if it is due to expansion or reorganization. Companies that are expanding usually present good advancement opportunities. Companies that reorganize every year are usually running in circles.
4. "May I meet my potential co-workers and see the office, especially my workspace?"
If you can get a positive response to this seemingly innocuous question, you can gain a significant advantage over your competition for the job. Simply being in the interview for a longer period of time to meet others and see the office is an advantage because you have more time to establish rapport with the interviewer. Meeting the co-workers gives you a chance to evaluate the total inter personal chemistry of the office, which will be a primary factor in your ultimate level of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Additionally, if one of the co-workers whom you meet subsequently makes a favorable comment to the interviewer, you have obtained an important and valuable ally within the company who probably is unavailable to your competition because they’d not ask for an introduction. Seeing your potential workspace will give you a more complete picture of the environment that awaits you, especially whether the company will view you as a desk-in-the-comer-of-a-crowded-room type or a private-office type. In general, the more time you spend in an interview and the more people you meet, the more advantageous it is for you.
If, however, the interviewer lamely declines your request to be introduced around, it is usually a valid clue that the interview is not going well.
