Nine Questions You Should Ask During An Interview

Asking questions at an interview offers explanations about the position and the company, which help you decide if you want to work for the organization. It showcases the depth your knowledge and helps you guide the discussion into a particular area of expertise. It also shows your interest in the position and the company and gives you an active role during the interview.

I would suggest asking these questions to the person who is going to hire you and not to HR.

1. What are the top three tasks you want the candidate to perform after being hired?

2. What are you looking for in the new employee?

3. Is there room for growth and advancement?

4. What is the work day like? Are there late nights or weekends?

5. How will I be evaluated and by whom?

6. What is the general atmosphere of the company?

7. Are there other job responsibilities not mentioned in the ad?

8. When will you be making a decision on the successful candidate?

9. May I call you if other questions arise?

Five Guidelines for a Strong Job Interview

By Mark Krajnik, CEO, Next Level Solutions

In today's competitive landscape, preparation is your best resource. What will I wear to the interview? What questions should I prepare? What research have I done on this organization? Do I know anything about the hiring manager or team? What do the financials of the company look like? Are there any recent articles about their products, people or projects?

Answers to these questions will give you solid information and key insight to landing an offer. But don't stop there -- know how to answer behavioral-based interview questions, and you will stand out from your competition.

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The Interview: Body Language Do's and Don'ts

By CareerBuilder.com

Your heart feels ready to leap out of your chest. Beads of sweat build on your forehead. Your mind is racing.

It's not a full-blown interrogation -- although it may feel like it -- it's just a job interview. While it's no secret that job interviews can be nerve-racking, a lot of job candidates spend a significant amount of time worrying about what they will say during their interview, only to blow it all with their body language. The old adage, "It's not what you say, it's how you say it," still holds meaning, even if you're not talking. You need to effectively communicate your professionalism both verbally and nonverbally.

Because watching your nonverbal cues, delivering concise answers and expressing your enthusiasm at once can be difficult when you're nervous, here's a guide to walk you through it:

Have them at "hello"

Before you walk into the interview, it's assumed that you will have done the following: prepared yourself by reading up on the company and recent company news; practiced what you'll say to some of the more common interview questions; and followed the "what to wear on your interview" advice. So you're ready, right?

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Making the First 10 Minutes of an Interview Count

Seven Tips

By The Creative Group
A hiring manager can often tell if you're the right fit for his or her organization just minutes after the two of you shake hands. In a recent Robert Half survey, executives polled said it typically takes them only 10 minutes to form an opinion of a candidate during an employment interview, despite meeting with staff-level applicants for nearly an hour, on average.

With such a short amount of time to interact with a hiring manager, how can you evoke a positive response? Projecting confidence and enthusiasm is key, so keep the following advice in mind:

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Five Important Interview Tips

By Debbie Shalom, founder of Amazing Resumes and Coaching Services

In order to increase your chances of landing a great job, you should take time to define your strategy and prepare your resources. Successful job offers are direct results of effective planning. A productive interview needs to be well-researched, planned and implemented. Follow these tips and future interviews will deliver positive and powerful results.

1. Carefully research the company. Learn as much as you can about your prospective employer’s business model. Visit its Web site and read their mission statement and/or company philosophy. Identify main products, services and functions. Speak to employees, vendors or other contacts with inside knowledge. Acquire strategic information that will enable you to speak knowledgeably and offer valuable insight during your interview.

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Job Interview: Ask Questions That Really Matter

Focus on whether the job, the boss and the company are right for you

By Jim Huling, CEO of Matrix Resources Inc.

Job seekers today are masters of preparation. By the day of the interview, you’ve memorized both the company’s financial results and the names of the hiring manager’s children. You’re ready to answer tough questions and tell your life story – all while making intense eye contact and smiling warmly. You’re so good, it’s almost impossible to resist hiring you.

So, once you get the job, why aren’t you happy? After only a few months, you often begin a downward spiral of dissatisfaction. This happens because you don’t ask the questions that really matter. In your intensity to get the offer, you spend too little time learning whether the job, the boss and the company are right for you.

This approach is not for the faint of heart. But if you’re determined to make the next chapter of your career a long and successful one, you should focus on those aspects that will sustain your passion and provide career fulfillment.

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Comedian Candidates

Amusing Anecdotes from the Field

by Roberta Chinsky Matuson
Monster Contributing Writer

You say you've heard it all. Well, here are some more unexpected (and amusing) answers given by candidates during the interview process. We couldn't have made these up if we tried.

---

I recently needed to call an applicant to inform him he was not eligible for employment with us because his drug test was positive. He called me back 10 minutes later and said, "If I study real hard, can I come back in two weeks and take the test again?"

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Beyond the Business Card

Networking in the 21st Century

By Cheryl Ferguson

Networking is more than just a buzzword. It's probably the best opportunity you will ever have to make connections, build relationships and help yourself and others in the networking group succeed. Networking with like-minded individuals is also a great way to explore new career options, learn more about a specific industry, gather insights from peers on critical business issues and grow professionally.















Networking With a Goal in Mind

Think about what you want to accomplish by joining a particular networking group. Are you looking for a job, trying to develop new business or do you want to expand your network of contacts and become known as the go-to person in the industry? You can choose to be either an active or passive member of the group, but will get the most out of the experience by regularly attending and participating in the activities.

Once you decide on the networking group that matches your goals, you can immediately increase your visibility by volunteering to participate on a committee.

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How to Determine Your Salary Range

By Caroline Levchuck

The elusive salary range ... Every job seeker needs one, but most don't know where to find it.

Salary ranges are a critical and often confusing part of job seeking.

Salary ranges change constantly. They vary from company to company, from bullish markets to bearish days, and from person to person based on experience. They also vary dramatically among different industries and geographic regions.

But, help is out there. By following a few simple rules, you can determine a range that works for you.

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Five Alternatives to Salary Negotiations

By Todd Anten

You think interviews are scary?

There's one part of getting a job that can be even more intimidating: Negotiating a salary.

But what happens when a prospective employer just won't meet your salary request? Should you tuck your tail between your legs and accept the job anyway? Or should you politely turn down the job, even if you really need it?

Fortunately, you have a third alternative: You can ask for other benefits that can adequately replace an instant salary boost.

For instance: Consider requesting that you can get a performance review six months after you start. This request will show that you're willing to stand behind your work and prove yourself to the company. Then, in six months, you can request a salary increase.

Here are four other things you can ask for at the negotiating table OTHER than money.

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Resume & Interview Advice: Make your career objective count in your resume.

Watch the Video Career TV.com

Interviewing Questions They Will Ask You

I've posted these questions as way to give job seekers a heads up on potential problem questions and so that you'll have a chance to think about the answer before the interview.

Below is a listing of sample interview questions to use as a guideline when developing questions you might ask a potential employee. The trend in developing these interview questions has been to make them behavioral based, allowing the interviewer to get the maximum benefit from the interview.

General

• Tell me about your recent work experience(s).
• Why did you leave your previous place of employment?
• Why are there gaps in your employment history?
• What strengths and weaknesses would you bring to this position?
• What is your understanding of this position and what skills do you bring to the position?
• What types of job responsibilities do you find to be most rewarding? Why?
• What types of job responsibilities do you find to be most frustrating? Why?
• Tell me about your computer skills and what type of software you are experienced with.
• What type of management style do you prefer (hands-on, frequent supervision, minimal supervision, etc.) and why?

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How to Communicate Your Weaknesses

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

There will come a time in everyone’s career (or life in general) when a person is asked to identify their primary weakness (or weaknesses). It is also a very common interview question. If you are not ready for this question, it can be very awkward and the answer may not come across in a good way.
Everyone has both strengths and weaknesses – it’s simply a part of being human. Accept that and you’ll be way ahead of the game. Because of that fact, ignoring them, avoiding them or pretending you don’t have them is by far the worst thing you can do. Hiding a problem doesn’t make the problem go away. Learn how to identify and understand your weaknesses and how to properly communicate them to others.

Steps

1. Understand the question. When you’re asked this, especially in an interview, it’s not the weakness that’s the most important thing; it’s whether you are aware of your weaknesses and what you do about them. If the answer is “I don’t have any” then it becomes obvious that the primary weakness is a lack of self-awareness. Also, it's important to understand that being aware of weaknesses is not the same as being weak. Knowing about, and compensating for, your weakness is in fact a very important strength.
   
2. Be prepared. You should regularly examine yourself to identify your primary weaknesses. If you don’t know what they are, you can’t communicate them to others. If you already know the answer, you won’t have to fumble and you will have considerably greater esteem in the eyes of the interviewer.
   
3. Avoid the most common mistake. “My greatest weakness is that I’m too much of a perfectionist and I hold myself to a higher standard than I expect from others.” Uh huh. That frankly irritates the interviewer. It also shows, very clearly, that you live in denial of yourself. Ok, maybe you are too much of a perfectionist and that can be a very valid weakness. State it differently. “I sometimes over analyze my work products which can cause me to fall behind in other tasks.” That really means the same thing but it is an honest weakness. Instead of saying, “People are intimidated by me because I’m such a strong leader” try “When I’m in a leadership role, I sometimes come across as being overbearing.” Twisting your answer to make it seem like your primary weakness is that you’re already perfect will always fail. The interviewer will actually recognize what you’re doing and you won’t be fooling anybody (except perhaps yourself).
   
4. Be clear and concise. Don’t overstate things. Don’t ramble. Don’t repeat yourself. Don’t explain too much. If someone asks you the time, that’s not asking you to explain the inner workings of an atomic clock. The interviewer is looking for something very specific and if you focus too much on the initial part of the answer you’ll miss the opportunity to really shine in the second part of the answer.
   
5. Immediately follow with good news. Okay, you’ve clearly identified your weakness, you’ve stated it concisely and shown that you have good awareness of your personal issues. So now what? Just knowing your weakness is good, but what are you doing about it? That is the crux of the question and must be the focus of your answer. “I sometimes over analyze my work products which can cause me to fall behind in other tasks. To avoid that, I set aside a specific amount of time for review. When that time is up, I move to the next task on my list of priorities.” Yay! You’ve just proven that you can analyze yourself, identify your weaknesses, and develop useful methods to overcome them. That is what the interviewer wants to know. Develop a list of compensatory techniques associated with each weakness.
   
6. Continue to be clear and concise. When you state your compensatory technique, it really needs to be focused on the issue at hand. It must not be vague or imprecise at all. The method you use to overcome your weakness must be as well composed as the weakness itself – both have to be very solidly identified and communicated with lucidity.
   
7. Stop and wait. After you answer the question, stop talking. Wait for the interviewer to speak next. You’re done. You’ve given them what they asked for so wait for a response. You might have to wait an uncomfortable amount of time. The interviewer might very well insert (on purpose) a lengthy pause to see what you’ll do. Look them in the eye (no, don’t “stare them down”) with a comfortable expression on your face and wait for them to give you feedback. Be prepared for them to ask you if there are any more!
   
8. Don’t be a one-hit-wonder. You should have three weaknesses and compensatory techniques at your fingertips. The interviewer is quite likely to ask you a second time and often a third time. “What else?”, “Any more?” - if you get asked a fourth time (oh how exasperating that is) there’s a good way to handle that. “When I do this exercise, maybe once a quarter or so, the list might change from time to time. I limit my focus to three current weaknesses so I don’t become overwhelmed. If you ask me again in June, I might have a different answer for you then.”
   
9. Follow-up with a strength. Once you’ve gotten feedback and you’ve passed the initial test, be ready to expand the conversation to strengths. When you do your self-examination, don’t limit it to your weaknesses… also identify your primary strengths. For each strength you should identify how it benefits you. Knowing that you have strengths is useless unless you know how to use them. It is every bit as important to know where you’re strong as to know where you’re weak.
   
10. Analyze regularly. As indicated above, this is not a one-time shot. You should do this exercise on a regular basis (but don’t become obsessed). More often than once a quarter is not enough time for any substantial changes to occur. If you wait more than a year, you’re missing opportunities to improve and the self-assessment skills will be rusty. Start with a 3-month recurring event and if that’s too often, drop it down to once every 6 months.
    

Tips

• Communicating your weaknesses also plays an important role in having a healthy relationship.
  
• You may be able to use this exercise to augment your annual performance reviews by identifying areas in which you can improve and helping to identify specific goals.
  
• If you have staff, having them become proficient at this will give you a great indicator of how to play to their strengths and assign less critical efforts that would make use their weak areas.
  
• Make notes from time-to-time about how well your compensatory techniques are working (or how they’re not) so you can tweak them to your best advantage.
  
• You can extract from the “strengths” portion of the exercise to improve a cover letter. Your strengths are things you bring to the table for a potential employer and it’s much more impressive if you know, definitively, what those are.
  
• Keep in mind that strengths and weaknesses often go together. For example, a tendency to over-commit may reflect a dedication to a project or to helping other members of a team.
  
• When the other party believes that it is a sign of strength to be able to admit a weakness, and one or more of your weaknesses might make it difficult for you to accomplish the job for which you are interviewing, you may want to consider other job options. If, however, you went in unaware, you could find yourself in a job to which you are ill suited, with unfortunate consequences.
  

Warnings

• Be aware that this technique is only as good as the person or people with whom you are speaking. Not everyone agrees that admiting weakness is a strength (some people may think less of you, or even use your weakness against you). It is always important to analyze situations and adapt. There is no single behavior that will always work.
  
• Make sure your final analysis is not unwieldy. It’s easy to become so involved with this exercise that one weakness and associated technique can be very, very long. These need to be concise and easily stated: Think “elevator speech” when you’re putting things in final form (what can you tell someone in an elevator going up ten floors)
  
• Be honest in your appraisal. Do not try to twist words to make your weaknesses sound like strengths. That demonstrates a very high degree of arrogance and it will have negative consequences.
  
• Don’t ignore things you don't know how to fix. Just because you have a weakness and don’t know what to do about it doesn’t mean you should pretend it doesn’t exist. Go ahead and write it down and start thinking about it. You might not want to elaborate on that in an interview, though, until you’ve developed a compensatory technique for it.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Develop Your Personal Elevator Pitch
  
• How to Be Humble
  
• How to Be Honest With Yourself
  
• How to Have a Healthy Relationship
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Communicate Your Weaknesses. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Landing Your Very First Job

By Robert Half International

Starting your first job search is exciting, intimidating and, above all, confusing. Chances are that you've received plenty of career-related advice from parents, friends and even people you hardly know. One person may encourage you to pursue a position with a large, well-known firm since having a recognized name on your résumé may serve you well in the future. Someone else may feel it's best for you to apply for jobs with small companies because you could quickly advance your career.

Confused about which fork in the road to take? Here's some advice that's virtually guaranteed to point you in the right direction:

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10 Worst Things to Say at Work

By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

Over time, you’ve probably learned what not to say in a relationship. “Are you losing your hair?” “Yes, you do look fat in that dress.” “I should give my old boyfriend a call.” “You’re just like your mother.” Experience has taught you just how much trouble you can get into with a few words.

When it comes to the workplace, however, you might not realize there are plenty of things you can say to damage your work relationships or even your own career. An off-the-cuff remark that you think went unnoticed, for example, might be the first thing your boss remembers when he thinks about you.

“During my 23 years in management, I heard many comments from colleagues that reduced their credibility and damaged morale,” says Bill Lampton, Ph.D. and author of “The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication, Change Your Life!”

Remember: Just because you don’t end up sleeping on the couch, it doesn’t mean your mouth can’t still get you in trouble. For the sake of your career, we’ve put together a list of things you should avoid saying at work.

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Tips for Self-Promotion

Accentuate the positives: Let your personality and prowess win you projects.

by Sheree Clark

January 2008

If you are a creative professional about to strike out on your own, in a way you have it made. Strange as it may sound, when starting a business (or a career) the fact that no one has heard of you can work to your advantage. As a relative unknown, you have the luxury of being able to construct an image precisely the way you want it to be built. Firms or individuals who are seeking to “relaunch” themselves may have reputations or perceptions that need to be overcome, but novices do not have this concern.

Whether you actually are a newbie, or you’ve simply decided to adopt a higher profile with your marketing, an assessment of current market conditions and some clarity about your own goals will be valuable tools. A good place to begin is by answering some basic questions:

Read More DynamicGraphics.com