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Tips

Questions to Ask During an Interview

The Basics:

• Always prepare questions to ask. Having no questions prepared sends the message that you have not prepared.
• Some of your questions may be answered during the course of the interview, before you are offered the opportunity to ask. If so, you can simply state something to the effect that you were interested in knowing about ..., but that was addressed during the interview.
• Do not ask questions that are clearly answered on the employer's web site and/or in any literature provided by the employer to you in advance. This would simply reveal that you did not prepare for the interview, and you are wasting the employer's time by asking these questions.
• Never ask about salary and benefits issues until those subjects are raised by the employer.

Sample Questions:

1. How did this position become available?
2. Please describe a typical day. What are the day-to-day responsibilities of this job?
3. What particular computer equipment and software do you use?
4. Could you explain your organizational structure?
5. What are the opportunities for growth?
6. How are employees evaluated?
7. How would you describe your organization's philosophy?
8. Please describe the management style?
9. What is the retention rate of people in the position for which I am interviewing?
10. What are your expectations of new employees?
11. What responsibilities would you like this position to take over?
12. Does the company have an orientation program for new employees?
13. What departments does this position interact with?
14. Who would the ideal candidate be for this position?
15. When do you plan to make a decision about this position?
16. Can you describe an ideal employee?

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