Our experience has proven that job offers don’t always go to the most qualified candidate. They often go to the best performer. Make no mistake, an interview is a performance. We suggest that you ask the following questions on all your interviews to enhance your performance.
I have spent a lot of time on the phone with (Recruiter) and he/she did a good job profiling the overall opportunity. I would like to hear from you specifically what you’re looking for.
- What is the most important thing that the winning candidate will need to accomplish?
- Can you share with me the structure of the department/division and how it fits into the overall organization?
- Tell me what your best employees are like and what you think makes them the most successful? Tell me about your corporate culture and what type of person best fits into your organization.
- As the Hiring Manager, tell me about your management style and what traits best match your personality to produce the best results.
- What are the biggest or most critical challenges that you and the company are currently experiencing?
- If I'm the winning candidate, how will you measure success? How will we both know I am doing a good job?
- What are your performance benchmarks for the first 90 days; 6 months; 1 year?
- Assuming success in this position, what is the typical career path potential?
- What types of support resources will be available? Marketing Support; Administrative Support; Budget; Remote Office
- What did you like most about the person who did this job before me? What made him/her successful/unsuccessful?
- Now that we have had a chance to learn more about each other, is there anything that would lead you to believe that I would not be successful in this position?
If Yes: Treat it like an objection, cushion it, qualify it, turn it into a questions and answer the question. Map your background, experiences, accomplishments, etc. to his/her objection.
If No: Great.
Close: I was excited about this opportunity when I first learned about it. Now that I have had a chance to learn more about it, I am even more excited. Hopefully, the feeling is mutual. Where do we go from here? (Set the meeting, phone call, test, action step, date, time deadline, etc.)