Preparing for a job interview – arm yourself with questions to ask THEM

When preparing for a job interview, remember that this whole game is far from being a one-way street. Just as they are checking you out, so are you checking them out too. And remembering that fact should help you melt at least some of the stress away!

You need to ask questions that can help you determine whether you want the job or not. Here are a few examples of such questions.

* Why is this position open at the moment?
(You want to know the answer to this one. Was the last person to hold the job terminated? If so, why? What implications does that have for you?)

* What are the specifics of the job? What do you expect me to be doing on a day to day basis? Can you identify the most important two or three specifics of this job?

* Who will I be reporting to?

* How is my performance measured? How often is it measured?

* How much of my remuneration is tied to performance? How is this reward system implemented?

* Based on my research and what you have told me, I am interested taking the next step. When could we meet again?

You can think of many other questions specific to your situation that you could ask. Cook up a few. And for fun, maybe post some here too!

Does preparing for a job interview mean preparing to sell yourself?

Many people advocate a “salesy” approach during a job interview. So should you be polishing your sales pitch when preparing for a job interview?

Well, I think this approach can backfire badly in many situations. If you think about it, what is a job interview all about?

It is an occasion where you talk about your work and the employer talks about the organization and position. The idea is to find out if you are right for each other.

If you keep pushing for an offer, repeatedly asking for the job, it will usually end up making the interviewer uncomfortable and pressured. In addition, most candidates don’t do a good job of selling anyway.

There might be some exceptions to this. For instance, hard-core sales jobs might actually require that you “ask for the order” in order to qualify for the job. But most jobs out there do not fall in that category, so be wary of pushing too hard at the job interview. So be cautious about adopting this approach when preparing for a job interview.