Dear AAPAAN<\/p>\n
What are some key interview questions not a lot of people ask?<\/p>\n
Anonymous<\/p>\n
Dear Anonymous<\/p>\n
I had been a manager for 28 years and I had interviewed a lot of potential new hires on campus and on site.\u00a0\u00a0On those interviews I asked most of the questions.\u00a0\u00a0Toward the end of the interview, the interviewee got to turn the table on me.\u00a0Would you be surprised that usually the interviewee had no questions?\u00a0\u00a0That had been my experience.\u00a0\u00a0Also when there were questions, they were generally inane generalities.<\/p>\n
When an interviewee had no questions, I interpreted that he\/she hadn\u2019t done his\/her homework and showed a lack of depth.\u00a0\u00a0It seemed impossible to me that a person was angling for a very important professional relationship and yet had no questions about what he\/she was getting into.\u00a0\u00a0So if an interviewee posed an intelligent question, I would take notice.<\/p>\n
Would you enter a marriage without a thorough understanding of your potential partner?\u00a0\u00a0Back in June 2018, I wrote a Dear AAPAAN blog about how to assess a company\u2019s (or an organization\u2019s) culture.\u00a0\u00a0In it, I laid out what to look for in an interview to get a good picture of that culture to see if you will be a good fit. If you had not read it, I suggest you do so.<\/p>\n
There are many questions but if I have to select two, here they are. The key questions which the interviewee should ask but which hardly anyone had asked me.<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When you matriculated into UVa, I am sure that one of your key concerns is how you will be graded.\u00a0\u00a0So during an interview, why wouldn\u2019t the candidate ask how he\/she will be graded on his\/her work performance?\u00a0\u00a0The performance evaluation will generally determine your pay raises and promotion potential.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So an employee will generally behave in a way to get the best grade.\u00a0\u00a0Since the performance evaluation system differs among companies, wouldn\u2019t you want to know what system you may sign up for?\u00a0\u00a0So if I am interviewing for a job, I want to ask\u00a0\u201chow will my performance be evaluated and how will my compensation and promotability tie-in to that evaluation?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another key work culture concern is how work gets done.\u00a0\u00a0How are decisions made?\u00a0\u00a0How much responsibility and accountability is pushed down into the organization?\u00a0\u00a0Would you be happy in a rigid work environment where only top managers make decisions?\u00a0\u00a0Would you be happy in an amorphous structure where you have the latitude to exercise your judgment?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s no right or wrong answers here.\u00a0\u00a0What works best for you hinge on your strengths and weaknesses and personality.\u00a0\u00a0Lots of latitude is great, except do the organization tolerate mistakes?\u00a0\u00a0Wouldn\u2019t you want to know before jumping in?\u00a0\u00a0I would ask\u00a0\u201cwho makes the decisions and how does work get done?<\/strong><\/p>\n I would be most impressed if a candidate asked me these questions.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, having posed these questions you should be prepared (if need be) to have a conversation about them.\u00a0\u00a0Good luck to you.<\/p>\n Wee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear AAPAAN What are some key interview questions not a lot of people ask? Anonymous Dear Anonymous I had been a manager for 28 years and I had interviewed a lot of potential new hires on campus and on site.\u00a0\u00a0On those interviews I asked most of the questions.\u00a0\u00a0Toward the end of the interview, the interviewee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n