Hidden Key to a Successful Interview



January is the time of year when lots of folks are looking for jobs. So in that spirit...

Having conducted hundreds of interviews, for all level of positions, I've found that there is one part of an interview that has consistently been the most reliable for me in terms of evaluating and distinguishing candidates. It is also a part of interviewing that is systematically overlooked by job-seekers, and that is the quality of the questions asked by the candidate.

Most questions from candidates are very generic. They sound more like the obvious questions that even a casual observer of the company would ask at a cocktail party: "Where do you see the company in 5 years?" Or, "what do you think of fill-in-the-blank-widely-reported-competitor?" Interviewers themselves even under-emphasize candidate questions. Typically, they raise it at the tail end of the interview: "Any questions for us?" - posed almost like a rhetorical line suggesting that "no, you've actually really covered the things I wanted to know" is the appropriate reply.

I believe candidates' questions are the most revealing part of an interview - and I always solicit them early. Great questions demonstrate intellect, depth of knowledge about the company, or even sincerity of interest in the job. Great questions reveal insights. Sometimes a question simply shows how much time you've spent preparing for the interview - that works too. Great questions send a message, and they will set you apart. Believe me.

In this time of New Year's resolutions, resolve to never come to an interview without 2-3 killer questions prepared. As a rule of thumb, don't ask anything you couldn't have answered yourself with some research on your own. And make sure you ask them early enough in the conversation to give you time to show off your work.

Here's the difference between a forgettable question and a great question (this is a real example):

"What's the transition been like with the new CEO?" Mediocre question.

"I noticed you took 9 months to find a new CEO, and you picked someone who has been a VC for the last 5 years. I'm curious about the criteria you used. Why did it take so long?" Great question.

Photo: von_rotty / Flickr

Stacey Estrella

I help people get their power back through self-love, acceptance, and storytelling. Get #unstuck. Live in #alignment. Become #magnetic. Engineer a #breakthrough. Make a #pivot. #manifest

10y

Really great questions usually have the effect of making others slightly uncomfortable. Because there is a deep truth that someone is searching for, rather than a surface attempt at "smart" posturing. That's the difference between the two questions Tim closes with—one is expected, the other is art.

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I read somewhere that a good question to ask is; "Is there any reason why you wouldn't hire me?" I asked that in an interview to two interviewers. One of them seem shocked and didn't know how to respond and the other didn't skip a beat. I hope it wasn't the wrong thing to do.

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Matthew Worm

Branch Manager at Ferguson Enterprises

10y

Does anyone have any advice on when a good time to ask your questions would be? Should they be asked at the end, beginning, or sometime in the middle depending on relevance? Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!

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