Page 61 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

You’Re hiRed! inteRview
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anSweRS At the end of the interview you will nearly always be asked if you have any
questions you would like to ask. It is worth giving this exchange some thought.
You should be aiming to ask a question – or a couple of questions – that show
you are thoughtful about and interested in the role or the organisation. This is
not the time to produce a list of ten detailed queries about aspects of the job.
The interviewer will usually be trying to manage time, so it is worth assessing
whether they have allowed 5 minutes, or 15 minutes, for this closing stage
of the discussion. At the same time, asking no questions risks sounding as
though you are not really interested and motivated to join them.
It sounds obvious, but the best questions to ask are ones that you genuinely
want to know the answer to – they will sound authentic and relevant. It is
certainly OK to ask questions about ‘next steps’, or when the organisation is
planning to make a decision about the appointment; it is also quite appropriate
to ask questions of a more general kind, such as ‘Do you know the size of the
new team yet?’ or ‘When is the move to the new site planned?’ or ‘How are
customers responding to the new branding?’
Avoid questions that sound too ‘needy’, such as ‘Are you interviewing a lot of
people for this job?’ or that are naive and should have been answered by your
preparation, for example ‘So how many stores do you have?’ or ‘Are you based
here in Leeds?’ or ‘Do you have a manufacturing and a sales department?’
You should really know the answers to these questions in advance, and asking
them at the end of the interview risks sounding as though you haven’t done
your homework or are not really interested in their business.
The parting shot
How you close the conversation is nearly as important as how you start it. It
is your final chance to leave a good impression in the mind of the interviewer.
Here are some final tips:
n Leave on a positive note. Signal that you have found the conversation really
interesting or very informative, or that you have really valued the chance to
learn a bit more about the business.
n Encourage continued contact. Depending on the nature of the interview,