Page 164 - 301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview, Second Edition

CHAPTER 11

FEEDBACK QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS THAT ASK FOR THE
OBJECTION POSITION

Ed Koch, a former New York mayor, made famous this quip:
“How’m I doing?” You should pepper your conversation with forms
of this question as well. Feedback questions allow you to uncover
and disarm an interviewer’s concerns.

It is often extremely difficult to learn what the interviewer doesn’t
like about you. In many cases, company policy or fear of litigation
prevents interviewers from giving you information that is critical
for you to know if you are to improve your interviewing techniques.
“Candidates need to understand that providing honest feedback is
really tricky for recruiters and sometimes impossible,” says Janice
Brookshier of Seattle-jobs.org. “If you received a bad reference, for
example, I can’t tell you.”

However, you must uncover doubts, if they exist. I believe that the
facts are friendly. They may not always be convenient. For exam-
ple, if you have been fired or have been in jail or have a big gap in
your work history, these facts are not pleasant. But they are friendly
because you have control over their disclosure. You are always better
off dealing with the facts than hoping they will be ignored.

The point is that you can’t address an objection you don’t know
about. Feedback questions require courage. Don’t be afraid of let-
ting your weaknesses surface. Everyone has weaknesses. It’s what
we do about those weaknesses that demonstrates our character. In

14 3