What questions should you ask during an interview?

Curious about culture, or day to day activities? Ask. The Careers and Coffee team delves deeper into what questions to ask an employer during the interview.

More interview questions

Morning, Liz,

morning careers and coffee.

Number eight. I got some coffee going.

I have a smoothie. But careers and smoothie sounds weird.

I'll be only on coffee during our careers and coffee chat.

Oh, okay, so you're going to be on brand, then that's great.

I'll keep it on brand for us. Alright, let's dive right in.

Today, we're going to talk about some interviews, interviewing

and in particular, what are good questions to ask a potential

employer when you're getting interviewed? So at the end of an

interview, a lot of times, you'll get asked, Do you have

any questions for us? And, Liz, I'd like to know, what kind of

questions would you ask a potential employer?

Okay.

So, yeah, the end of the interview questions are really

good time for you to have your prepared questions that you

thought of ahead of time, because at that point, your

brain is probably going to be fried as a candidate, because

they've just peppered you with interview questions, hopefully,

you've prepared for and had great answers to. So at the end,

when you have any questions, if you say, No, I don't think I

have any questions. you've answered them all. That's okay.

That's fine. But, but be honest. Like, if you still aren't quite

sure what the culture of the company is asking just a simple

question like, how would you describe the culture of the

company or the team that I'm going to be working with? And

that gives a chance to the employer to kind of reflect back

on what their experiences as an employee at that company? And

how, how they would describe the culture? So I don't know, that

would be one culture, ask about culture, you can ask about, you

know, what would my day to day job entail? If you haven't

already had that question answered? And that's a really

good set gives you a really good sense of like, okay, when I, if

I want to get hired at this job, these are the, these are

activities I'd be doing on a day to day basis. Those are ones I

would ask.

I like both those questions. One, one that I've used in the

past, that almost catches whoever is interviewing me on

their toes is Why did you take this job at this company? And it

just gets them to think a little bit. And a lot of times, it does

turn into more of like a culture talk, because I feel like that

is a driving force behind all why a lot of people take

positions. Let's, let's switch gears just for a second here and

talk about salary negotiations. Because I know we were talking

right before this and right at the end of say, an initial

interview is not quite the right time to start talking salary.

Could you go in more detail?

Okay, so let's just say you've had a good interview with the

potential with your employer or potential employer and you near

the end, and you really want to know, okay, well, how much is

this position pay? That's not actually a good time to ask that

question. What you really need to determine in that first

interview is, is the company a good fit for you? And are you a

good fit for that company. And if those two things are

clicking, you're going to have another conversation with that

employer, when they make me there make you an offer, or you

enter into a salary negotiation. So it could if the employer

brings it up, and they want to talk about it, be prepared for

that. But for the most part, the initial interview is not the

time that you're gonna talk about salary negotiation,

because the employer is considering other candidates

most likely for the same position. So what they're going

to be doing is evaluating your answers to their questions and

your questions to them, compare them to other candidates, and

try to determine who is the best candidate to work here. It's a

big investment to hire someone, you can make bad choices as an

employer. And it can be huge, it could have a huge impact on the

company. And so while it may have feel like, why didn't they

pick me, or they're just being so picky, I just don't have

exact skills, but I have close skills. So I should be

considered it all those things could go through your head while

you're interviewing. But try to keep the perspective of the

employer on your mind to is that they're making a huge financial

investment in hiring someone and it's going to have an impact on

their business. And so if you're not quite the right fit, they

want to make sure that they find someone who is there, things

that go into I mean, I've had to hire multiple times, and that

what goes through my head is like, well, I really I mean, and

I like everybody, like, I really like these people and I can see

myself working with them. But are they exactly the right fit

for our company at this moment, and then for our future, those

are the things that I have to consider as a hiring manager.

And sometimes you have to make really tough choices, because

you may have really great candidates to choose from. And

you're just, you're just trying to determine who is the best

candidate or, you know, who did the team click with and some of

the other factors. So there's just so many factors that are

beyond just your individual skill set and personality that

that go into determining who gets that role.

Yeah, I love that. And it's something you can't take

personally, right as a dark seeker. Yeah. I've described it

as kind of like a breakup, right? Yeah. breaking up with a,

you know, boyfriend or girlfriend or some something

along those lines, where it's just an uncomfortable feeling.

Yeah. Well, you're on this blind date, right? Your first

interview, you get your phone screens, like, okay, moved on to

the interview. Now. Now we were, you know, I'm a little bit

deeper into this relationship. And then they're just like,

Okay, well, we found another candidate, heartbroken. But the

way that you can be less heartbroken is think of it as a

numbers game. So it's look at your skill set on your resume.

Is it, does it speak to the skills that they're looking for?

That's number one, right? And then how many of those positions

did you apply for? Because they're are a lot of jobs -

we're are kind of in an upside down state right now, in Iowa.

There are a lot of jobs that don't have enough candidates.

And so it's really a job seeker's market. So make sure

you're applying for and have lots of choices so that you're

kind of in the driver's seat, you have a little bit more

control of like, "Okay, well, I've, I've got interviews with

multiple places. One of them's gonna pick me, most likely."

Great advice. I love that. Well, as always, let's, let's go ahead

and wrap it up. was anything else to add? Otherwise, we're

gonna move on from careers and coffee, and we'll be doing

careers and coffee nine. Next week?

Yeah, we just just parting thoughts are. Everybody has

unique skills, right? And every, every person deserves to find

work that is right for them. And so it can be really tough as you

go through the interview process and feel like no one, no one

sees that about you. So it's your job as a job seeker to

these are my unique skills and what I can bring to

the table and just kind of rest, rest on those feelings of I know

that I have worth for some type of job, it may take me a little

while to find the one that I'm looking for that's really right

for me, but in the end, we need you to be working in the job

that is right for you. Because that's where you're really going

to help everyone.

You're in the driver's seat as a job seeker.

Yep. Awesome.

Well, thanks a lot, Liz. It's been a blast. I hope the

smoothie treats you well. I'm going to continue on the coffee.

I'm jealous.

We'll see you next week.