What Questions Should a Prospective Employee Ask?

Mortimer.CA writes "Even though things aren't great in the economy, it's prudent to plan ahead to when things (hopefully) pick up. In light of that, I'd like to update a previously asked question in case things have changed over the last four years: What do you ask every new (prospective) employer? When you're sitting in the interview room after they've finished grilling you, there's usually an opportunity to reciprocate. There will be some niche questions for specializations (sys admin, programming, PM, QA, etc.), but there are some generic ones that come to mind, such as: what is the (official) dress code?" Similarly, what questions should you avoid? Read on for the rest of Mortimer.CA's thoughts.

He continues with these suggestions:
"What about my resume caught your eye? What hardware/software am I expected to use at my desktop (e-mail, OS, editor, source control, etc.)? Are there team lunches or get-togethers? What are your goals for the next six months, one year, three years? What ticket/issue tracking system do you use? Do you have separate build/stage/QA/etc. environments? How do you keep track of documentation? What are your full names (so I can Google them)? What are the typical hours of the team members? Those are some of the ones I've thought of after some digging around. Are there the generic ones that you ask? What are some question for various niches? (e.g., for sysadmins: what config mgmt software do you use?)"

Details on benefits

[bwindle2]

I got a new job about 10 months ago.. during the interview, I asked about their benefits, and was told they were "pretty standard". Now, I learn how dishonest they were... health insurance is $850/month for family plan, and we only get 4 vacation days off a year (and only 5 paid holidays). No certification reimbursement, and they want to be able to call me on my personal cell phone after-hours. Lesson learned: get DETAILS.

COnsider how it comes across

[kenh]

Asking follow-up questions tied to the things the interviewer just spoke on (job responsibilities, organizational policies, challenges, etc.) will win you huge points because it shows you were listening, and you are interested in their organization. Asking questions about benefits, promotions, dress code, and other ephemera will signal to the interviewer that you may only be interested in drawing a paycheck, not being part of a group solving problems and working together. If you want generic questions to ask all employers, consider questions like "Who are your competitors?" or "What specifically in my CV/resume interested you?" The goal of the interview is to get the offer, and the best way to get the offer is to demonstrate an interest in the organization you are interviewing with, an understanding of the industry they are in, and at some level the challenges they face in the current market. As for the dress code question, you dress for your first day just like you dressed for your interview, unless told otherwise, and on the first day your new boss/HR/co-worker will tell you how to dress for the second day. Asking about dress code during the interview will send up a red flag that you may be someone that will challenge the dress code at some point down the line, that would be a strike against you.

Serious Questions

[gander666]

Assuming I get through the first round or two, my questions are like these:

What is your culture like?

What do you like about working for (insert company name)?

(If it is a division of a large company) How heavy is the hand of Corporate on your day to day?

What keeps you up at night?

Usually by this point I am as much looking to be sold by the company. I am a product manager and usually seek similar roles. Things like culture, openness, empowerment, etc are usually covered in earlier interviews.

I should also add that I usually spend a fair amount of time researching a company before I even interview. Research their annual reports, investor page, read the SEC filings, look for analyst comments (on public companies), understand their market space, competition, etc. So usually much of this has come across already.

Oh yeah, one more: Do you use SAP? (god, how I have that frickin' program)

Geoff

Re:Details on benefits

[codeguy007]

Where do you live? Most places by law they have to give you minimum of 2 weeks and Stat Holidays (or atleast same number of days). I would check your rights.

I have an offer after a year of consulting

[RPGonAS400]

I am in a similar but different situation.

I have been consulting with a company for a year and they have offered me a job with the company now. They like my work and I know what my job responsibilities would be, but it would be a cut in pay and I could no longer deduct my mileage. I wouldn't have to buy my own health insurance anymore. I would also get trained in different technologies. I prefer the consulting, personally, but may be cut off if I don't take the offer.

Purpose of an interview

[Geam]

I recently returned to school to complete my degree and was able to hear a very intresting presentation from one of the instructors last year. Being that I have applied for many jobs in the past year (and currently working full-time while going to school in the evening), a lot of these made sense. Here are some of the points I found most interesting to take into account during an interview.

- There are only two things that the employer wants to know during the interview: "Can you do the job?" and "Are you going to cause trouble?". The information on your resume will answer the first. Your answers and attitude during the interview will answer the second.

- During the interview, focus on proving you are able to do the job and that you will not cause trouble. Trouble would be absenteeism, incompatibility with co-workers, etc. Keep your personal life personal and your special interests and hobbies to yourself unless they directly pertain to the job. If you interests require you to take time off from work, that should come up during the negotiation period and not during the interview. Also, do not bring up money, pay, vacation, training, "team lunches or get-togethers", hours, or other trivial items. This should all be addressed after the job offer has been extended, while you negotiate, and before you start.

- Once the employer has gone through the process of interviewing all of the candidates and decided that you are the best candidate, you should have already prepared a list of priorities for what you want. If you need six weeks of paid vacation per year, if you need to make a certain salary, or if you need to work a certain schedule, that is all negotiable at this point before the job is accepted. For all of the effort they have put into posting a job opening, sorting through all of the applications, spending all that time interviewing, and somehow still decided that you are the best candidate, it is not in the employer's best interest to start the whole process over because you want six weeks of vacation time instead of the normal four. Everything is negotiable.

- If you are asked during the interview how much you are expecting to make at the new position, a correct answer is "I earn $XXXX at my current job and I am certain you will be fair, but I would like to lean more about the company". It does not ignore the question, but it does not put either party in a tight spot or make either party feel guilty. Again, pay is part of negotiation and not part of the interview.

- One item that should be addressed during the interview is asking about company culture: military (directives from management), team (groups work together to solve problems), competitive (individuals work "against" each other), artistic (try to create the best product), etc.

- Another item that should be asked is what the interviewer sees in the job. Each interview may give a different answer from HR, the department head, the department manager, and the team leader. Taking each of those into account will give a better impression of what is expected.

- I suspect that developers and other specialized positions would want to know what type of systems would be used and the development tools required. This, however, should already be answered to the employer by what is listed on the resume. If the tools required are not listed there and the candidate was still being considered, the tools must not matter very much to the employer and they may be willing to offer training on that system. I am not sure asking about what type of hardware, email, ticket tracking, system environment (Dev/QA/UAT/Prod), or documentation system would be used, since those are basically universal and two companies with the same system may use them in different ways and a new hire will need to become oriented with how the company wants to handle details. Also, if questions about dress code, hours worked, overtime availability, weekend catch-up time, or anything else not normally covered in an interview are important to you, s

Re:Details on benefits

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US, I'm pretty sure that NO state has any laws requiring vacation or holidays. If you're salaried (exempt from Overtime), your employer can ask you to work 7 days a week 24 hours a day.

The only exception is that many states (CA for sure) requires that employers allow their employees time off (2 hours in CA) to vote on election days.

The thing about "what is your salary requirements"

[coryking]

The reason most companies ask isn't to stiff you, but to make sure you aren't expecting way more then what they are budgeted for. They don't want to get to negotiations and find out that you were expecting $150k a year when they only had a budget for $90k. If the company is worth its salt, they probably also want to know that you aren't asking for $45k and the market rate is $90k--after all, what is wrong with you at those low prices?

The trick to not pigeon holing yourself is to give them a ballpark. That is all they need--you to put them at ease that they aren't gonna get sticker shock when they hire you.

Give yourself a range of like $20k or so. Make sure that you span the range so that what you really want is somewhere in the lower end of the quote. For example, if you want $90k, make it $85->$100k. Just make sure that the low end is really and truly the absolute minimum you'd accept and the upper bound isn't a huge stretch for your skills and the market rate.

They ask "what is your salary requirements?" You reply "I was hoping for market rate, so ballpark about $80k -> 100k. Obviously that number might be more or less depending on things like my position, hours, benefits. Sound about right?". Now you still have a lot of negotiating power and they don't have to worry that when they want to hire you and need to negotiate salary you aren't gonna ask for $150k.

I once interviewed for a non-profit who asked what my salary requirements were and I said "about $70->$90k" and he immediately shot back "unfortunately we are budgeted for around $55k". With that, we both knew this wasn't gonna work so we didn't bother wasting more time.

That is my strategy. Your mileage may vary.

There is also the imporatant things to NOT say

[Talinom]

MSN Careers has an article titled You Said What?! - 43 Things Actually Said in Job Interviews [careerbuilder.com].

Yeah, everyone can be stupid in an interview. Learn and laugh from their mistakes so you don't make one.

Re:Euphemisms

[jeepien]

Better to find out the important things first with practical questions so that I don't waste the company's time and money, and they don't waste my time.
I don't need offers from many companies especially ones that are a poor match. I only need one offer from a company that I wouldn't mind working for.

That's the wrong attitude to have in a job interview. It will show on your face, and you will be less likely to get the offer. Make it a (bad) habit, and it could end up costing you on a job you want very much.

During an interview you have one task: Getting the offer. This is true whether you think you might want the job or not. All your efforts and every word you say should be directed to that one task. There is no other purpose for an interview besides getting the offer. If you don't, then it makes no difference whether you would have liked working there. The choice isn't yours to make.

Once you get the offer, that is the time to consider whether you want the job, and the people who interviewed you may not be the best source of the best information you need to inform that decision. The level of salary might figure very much in this decision, and is still negotiable at this stage.

Re:"What color m&ms do you prefer?"

[INeededALogin]

I never ate another red M&M in my life.

... (Includes Red 40 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake)

Red 40 is not derived from bugs: Red 40 [wikipedia.org]