Page 100 - 301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview, Second Edition

QUESTIONS FOR HUMAN RESOURCES

? Memorably Bad Question
#4

Why do I have to fill out this job application? It’s all on my
résumé.

Treat the job application as your first assignment for the
company. Who needs someone who resists work even before
being hired?

Melanie Mays Kirk
Cofounder and Director of Operations
Empyrean Consulting, Inc.
Dallas, TX

sales. Perhaps the interviewer will go through the five most senior
officers of the company with respect to their origins. Your goal is to
note whether the department you plan to join is one of the favored
developing grounds for the corner offices.

7-12
I know that for the position for which I am interviewing, the company
has decided to recruit from outside the organization. How do you decide
between recruiting from within and going outside?
This question lets the interviewer talk about the relative merits of
promoting from within and bringing in new ideas and talent (hope-
fully yours!) to meet the needs of the company. A good answer is that
the company is growing too fast for internal promotions to support
its challenges.

7-13
How does this position relate to the bottom line?
This is an inquiry into the significance of the job or department. If
the job has only an indirect impact on the bottom line, when times
get tough it can be considered an expense center rather than a profit
center.

79