Questions to ask at interview

Answering questions doesn't cut it anymore. While job seekers focus on knowing all the right answers and impressing their interviewers, knowing which questions to ask can tell employers much more about you than any answer you might have. We spoke with a number of career coaches, headhunters and hiring managers who couldn't stress this enough. What will stick with them is that you asked the right questions, paid close attention to the answers and really fathomed what their organization is all about.Here's a list we gathered of the best questions you can ask, how to ask them and the right time to do it.

1. What sort of candidate are they looking for?
It's very important to ask questions near the beginning of the interview. Why? "The key to a good interview is understanding what an employer needs, so you know what it is you have to sell." A good questions can be: "What is the most important thing that you need someone in this position to complete in the first 30-90 days at the company?"

2. Get specific: You want to ask questions as "a doctor or analyst might do while conducting a thorough exam"
You’ll want to hear where this organization has been, where they are today and what type of goals they’d like to achieve. "What’s the history of this particular role? How did they come to define it as such? How will they recognize top performance and by what method will they calibrate results?"

3. "If I started this afternoon, what would I be working on?"
You should have a 3x5 card with the three things you most want to tell them about yourself, and the three questions you have for them, says career coach Win Sheffield. Good questions would be: "If I started this afternoon, what would I be working on?" or "How would I be spending most of my day?"

4. Don't ask: "Where might I end up in three years?"
Stay away from questions on your growth opportunities in the company, says Neil. This will make your interviewer question your intentions.

5. DO NOT ask about benefits or vacation time
"It's kind of weird when someone gets into the nitty-gritty of the benefits," says Alison Green, from Ask A Manager. "I've had people ask me who the health care provider is, if we have dental plans, how many vacation days we offer." Sheffield agrees: "Nothing about payment, or any kind of question that is self-indulgent." Once you're offered the job, that's when discussion about payment starts.

6. And whatever you do, don't ask these two questions
A - "Do you drug test?"
B -  "When can I go home?"

7. At the end of the interview, you can finally ask: "I'm wondering where you are in your hiring process?"
Win says the questions you ask at the end of an interview are also equally important, but they all depend on your interviewer's reaction. This question allows you to know when to follow-up with your interviewer.

8. Then ask: "I'm very interested in this job, I'm wondering where I stand compared to your ideal candidate?"
This is a great question, Win says, because depending on what they say, you will know what to write in your follow-up message. In a second or third interview, or if you've developed a friendly relationship with your interviewer, you can reword the question to: "How do I stand against the people you have interviewed?" Like the question before it, their answer can give you clues as to what to write in a thank you note, or how to answer other questions better.

9. After you ask your questions, be sure to listen to your interviewer's answers -- and judge their reaction
"Listen to how they self-diagnose while you make your own private diagnosis. Consider whether your assessment matches theirs," says Jaffe. "Never mind whether you’re the right person for this role. You can think about that later, in the car on the way home."

10. Express concerns you have about the company (within reason)
"Hiring managers honestly want to flush out any questions you might have about the company," says Green. "One of our worst nightmares is having someone take a job and three months after realize that they're miserable and have to start all over again."

11. Your enthusiasm for the job should come across in your answers
Goldman Sachs' head of human resources once said that the most important thing someone can show her in an interview is enthusiasm for the job, according to Sheffield. "If you're not asking questions about a job you're interested in, then I wonder why you're interviewing for it in the first place," he says.

12. The worst thing you can do is wait until the end of the interview to ask your questions

"One of the greatest mistakes you can do is wait until the end of the interview," says Neil. "By then it's far too late."A good way to sneak in your first questions is after the inevitable "tell me about yourself" question at the start of interviews. You can do it by saying "I can talk about my experiences for hours, but today I want to focus on what's most important to you," Neil says, and then ask you can your interviewer a question.

However, phone interviews are different.
In-person interviews allow you to judge someone's reaction. Phone interviews, on the other hand, tend to be more structured, Green says, so it's fine to wait until the end to ask questions.

Questions to ask at Interview

How frustrating when, at the end of interview, you get an opportunity to ask questions and you can’t think of anything! This happens to many candidates – Interviews are stressful situations, they can be emotionally draining and mentally challenging. So at the end of it, interview fatigue might set in and your normally sharp and inquisitive brain can freeze up when you are put on the spot.

This is an important moment in the interview, where you get to show serious interest and initiative. You can also gain critical information about the job, organisation, supervisor and colleagues by asking good questions, whilst also demonstrating your knowledge and research. Of course, don’t ask obvious questions!

Here are a few examples of things to ask – But remember, if the issue was already discussed don’t repeat the question! Take a few sample questions into the interview with you on a note pad to help you along.

What are the most important characteristics someone in this position should have?
What attracted you (The interviewer) to your current role or organisation?
What do you enjoy most in your job?
What do you expect from your staff?
What is your management style?
How would you characterise the management philosophy of the organisation?
What are the current strengths and weaknesses of the staff that would report to me?
How has the organisation changed in the recent past, and where does it expect to go in the future?
What is the top priority of the person that accepts this job? How would this be measured?
What opportunities are available for professional development?
Why are you hiring for this position?
What are the next steps in the selection process?
What is the timeline for hiring?
When can I expect to hear from you?

14 million working hours spent job-hunting every week in UK and Ireland

Findings of survey suggest UK employees spend over 14 million working hours job hunting, costing employers more than £250 million

• Almost a quarter (23%) of jobseekers surveyed carry out telephone interviews while at work


• More than one in ten (12 per cent) have been caught by a boss or colleague


• Six per cent of respondents fabricate the death of a relative to excuse absence to attend interviews

Time-poor jobseekers are risking their current roles by searching for new jobs at work, according to a poll by Monster.co.uk.  The survey of over 2,000 jobseekers, all currently employed, found that over a quarter (28 per cent) spend more than three hours per week looking for jobs at work, 16 per cent more than five hours and 7 per cent more than ten hours. If this was consistent across all UK jobseekers, it would amount to a weekly total of over 14 million hours, costing employers more than £250 million every week.

This time is not just spent surfing the internet either. While 60 per cent of respondents say they do search online for jobs at work, 50 per cent say they also update they CV, 49 per cent apply for roles and almost a quarter (23 per cent) shamelessly carry out telephone interviews from the office. But it appears all this job hunting hasn’t gone unnoticed with 40 per cent of respondents saying they think their boss knows they are looking and 12 per cent saying they have actually been caught by their boss or another colleague. One in fifty of those questioned has actually lost their job this way.

Furthermore, over a third (39 per cent) of respondents have attended job interviews during working hours, with a medical appointment being the most popular excuse for absence (23 per cent), closely followed by a home delivery (22 per cent) and a pet emergency (14 per cent). Worryingly, six per cent of respondents fabricate the death of a relative to explain their absence, more than would fake sickness (one per cent) or a domestic emergency (five per cent).

Male respondents are the biggest culprits when it comes to job hunting at work, with 30 per cent spending more than three hours per week looking for a job, compared to 25 per cent of women surveyed. Regionally, those surveyed in Anglia spend the most time job hunting at work, followed by London and then the South East. Age-wise, youngsters are the biggest culprits with 21 per cent of 18 to 30 year old respondents spending more than five working hours looking for a job. Surprisingly those in the 51 to 60 age bracket are also serious offenders, with only slightly fewer (20 per cent) doing the same.

Isabelle Ratinaud, spokesperson for Monster UK & Ireland, said, “Looking for a new role can be time consuming and many people are clearly so desperate to move that they will spend hours looking and applying for roles while they’re supposed to be doing their current job. But while this may be tempting, it is important that job seekers try to limit their hunt to lunchtimes, evenings and weekends wherever possible. If your boss finds out you’re job hunting on their watch, this could not only affect your reference, it could even result in disciplinary action or dismissal - which could make finding a new job even harder.

“To reduce the chance of being found out, job seekers should make use of all the new technology available. iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices mean that you can now search and apply for roles from pretty much anywhere, at any time of the day, whether it’s on the way to work or in a coffee shop round the corner – but during an authorised break of course!” To make life easier for job seekers, Monster.co.uk has launched an iPad app for job hunting on the move. The app uses Monster’s unique 6Sense technology to match skills and experience to the right opportunities. This can be done at home, in a car, at the airport, on the train – taking advantage of those long commutes and downtime at the weekend.