When preparing your answers for an interview, don’t forget to prepare your questions. Almost every interview will end with an invitation to ask questions. This is a chance for you to interview them, but they’re also still interviewing you–so here’s how to ace the question part of the interview.
With the tech job market currently in flux, it’s vital to ask questions that help you work out whether the role is a good fit for you and how your potential employer is planning to handle challenges. Frame questions around what matters to you personally.
Whether it’s an office-based or remote job, it’s good to start by assessing the culture–but don’t just ask “What’s your company culture like?” Try these instead:
How do you invest in engaging people?
How do your people communicate about work?
How do they build strong working relationships?
How do you make remote teams feel like a team?
What are the opportunities for growth in this role?
You also want to know how the company will support your professional development. The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Future of Jobs report reveals that 94% of business leaders expect employees to pick up new skills, and by 2025, 44% of the skills needed to do your job will change. Try these questions on for size:
What can I expect in my first week?
What is my onboarding or training plan?
Where do you expect me to be in three months? Six months?
What would a successful career path look like with you?
How do you measure performance?
How do you support people’s growth?
Do you offer any professional development opportunities?
What are your growth plans?
You’ll also want to know how your employer’s financial health is doing. You might not want to be too direct about this–try asking:
How do you typically pay out bonuses?
What are some successes your company has had recently? How did you reward the key players?
Have you made any new hires recently?
How has hiring changed here over the past year or two?
And one question you definitely shouldn’t ask: “What does your company do?” That shows a lamentable lack of homework and will not go down well. Employers want to know you’re interested in them specifically–so don’t ask them anything Google could have told you.
If you’d like a bit more support in preparing for interviews (and some great interviews to prepare for), get in touch today to discover how we can help you.