Page 118 - 301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview, Second Edition

QUESTIONS FOR HIRING MANAGERS

Can you give me an idea of the typical day and workload and the
special demands the job has?

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Could you explain the company’s organizational structure?
Ask this question only if there is something you genuinely don’t
understand about the organization, especially if it is a new position
or new department.

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Will we be expanding or bringing on new products or new services that
I should be aware of?
Notice the use of the word we. This is another question that allows
the hiring manager to discuss future plans and prospects.

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What challenges will I certainly encounter if I take on this position?
Listen carefully. The hiring manager is telling you where he or she is,
on some level, expecting you to fail. Is this a challenge you can take
on and at which you can reasonably hope to succeed? If Superman
couldn’t hack it, watch out! You’re being set up for failure.

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What can I bring to this organization to round out the team?
I love this question. “Round out the team” suggests that the team
can be perfected by one addition. And that’s you. The question sug-
gests the reality that the team is missing some key resource. It asks
the interviewer to consider how the candidate’s skill set may be just
what the team is missing. It’s another way of asking the hiring man-
ager for the conditions of success. A variation of the same question:
What are the attributes of the job that you’d like to see improved?

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What is your company’s policy on attending seminars, workshops, and
other training opportunities?
You want to be seen as interested in learning and gaining new skill
sets. Take care to make the question about the organization, not you.
You want your organization to support those goals precisely because
it is in the interests of the organization to do so.

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