You are at the final interviews for one of the biggest tech companies in the country. It has been almost an hour; you look at your watch quickly and realize that in just a few more minutes you would be walking out with a skip in your step. You had 3 back to back rounds including this one, and you shone as bright as the sun for literally every question. Not unlike Dhoni, hitting sixes for every ball thrown at you. Towards the end though, you were asked to bowl the ball instead. An unexpected request. What do you do? In cricket, Dhoni may not be asked to bowl for the team, but here you certainly will be asked to pose questions to the interviewer! If you are wondering why your queries are required, after all, you are supposed to know everything, right? Let me give you the reasons- they may surprise you.
Firstly, the interview as you know is always a 2-way street, where you have just as much right to know more about what you are getting into as they do! You may be wondering what the future opportunities are in terms of career growth, what their work styles look like, would the culture be a fit for you etc.– These are natural questions that help make sure that the role in that firm is the right place for you; so you are not setting yourself up for failure.
Second, asking questions towards the end (either explicitly requested to or by your proactive request), is a great opportunity for you to showcase your enthusiasm, curiosity and intelligence; and a great way for you to leave the interview on a high note. To those of you wondering “Manish, doesn’t asking questions reflect my ignorance, maybe even backfire?”. My answer is: Yes, but while that may be true, the biggest issue I noticed growing up in India is the general perception about asking questions and the related fear people have in their mind about being judged on their questions. What we don’t realize is if we don’t quell our naturally enquiring minds by uncovering our doubts or satisfying our curiosity, we will always be at the losing end. Asking questions is an integral part of growing your mind and broadening your horizons. After all, if all goes well, you may see yourself spending most your coming days at this office with these very people.
Now the question remains: How do go about this? What questions do you ask to understand a bit more about the environment you may be getting into, while showcasing your smarts?
Let me elaborate: You can showcase your intelligence by using the opportunity to reinforce and demonstrate skills that the hiring manager wants to see in her/his ideal candidate - whether it is a team player, long term thinker, process oriented worker etc. Displaying these interests in your queries helps you come across as a desirable candidate. The reverse questioning also demonstrates that you are curious, enthusiastic and fearless – some of the more anticipated behavioral traits companies look for in candidates.
Remember, arm yourself for this portion of the interview. When it comes to interviews, you prepare for potential questions you may be asked, right? You will need to tackle “asking questions to the interviewer” in the exact same manner! Plan and prepare your inquiries ahead of time. To make sure you don’t come across as a person doing this for the sake of it, you need to ask yourself:
- Why are you are asking these questions?
- How would you benefit from the answers? and
- How do these questions sound to the person across the table? In other words, how does it demonstrate that you have given this opportunity serious thought!
In my upcoming blog, I will disclose a list of basic questions you can use as a good starting point, but keep these 3 very important things in mind:
One: The volume of questions you ask. While there is no set number, as long as your questions are relevant and fall within the timeframe of the interview, you can ask away. Do be respectful of the interviewer’s time, but if you did not get a chance to ask that one last burning question, don’t let it go. Instead, politely e-mail her/him or ask the HR point of contact!
Two: Customization of questions. Ask relevant, contextual questions based on the scenario that have not already been covered, and quick on your feet to customize your queries based on the discussion and your interviewer. Example – If the interviewer has already spoken about what the career ladder looks like, asking about growth at the end makes for a redundant query, and may seem like you did not pay attention during the interview.
One more thing: Be open to having a two-way interaction and conversation throughout the interview while being courteous by sharing any proactive/leading queries when the opportunity arises, or the interviewer has been through the queries he planned on asking.
Stay tuned for my next blog to learn more about some interesting and impactful questions you can ask your interviewer, and the blog after will include a few questions you should NOT ask and why!
In the meanwhile, if you have given interviews in the past, and got an opportunity to ask questions towards the end, let us know in the comments if you did ask any questions, and if so, what they were. We’d love to know!
Manish N Gaba
(Pic Courtesy – www.Pexels.com)
Copyright © 2016-to date by Career Ready Consultants LLP, All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2016-to date by Career Ready Consultants LLP, All Rights Reserved.
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