Resume Rehab by Colleen

Top Interview Mistakes – Part 1

June 4, 2008 at 3:57 am 3 comments

In a recent Career Builder/CNN article by Rosemary Haefner, researchers polled hiring managers to find out what the worst interview offenses are. They identified six common mistakes:

• Dressing inappropriately
• Badmouthing a former boss
• Appearing disinterested
• Arrogance
• Insufficient answers
• Not asking good questions

To start off this six-part series, I’d like to address problem #6 – Not asking good questions.

Twenty-nine percent of hiring managers said that interviewees do not ask good questions during interviews. I am not surprised to hear that this is a top complaint. When I first started interviewing for jobs, I would sit fairly still during the entire one-way conversation. I’d spit off answers to the interviewer’s questions and smile politely. Once they were finished with the third degree, they would ask that dreaded question, “So, do you have any questions for me?”

Ahh! Of course not. Well, I had one, “So are you going to hire me?”

What if I told you that you can answer that question for yourself… and that a great deal of their decision would be based on the thoughtfulness and insight demonstrated by the questions that you ask? Of course you should not ask questions about things already discussed in the interview. Also, you should not initiate questions about salary and benefits until you are prompted by the interviewer or offered the job.

Here are a few examples of questions that you can ask during your interview.

1. Why is this position open?
2. What do you like about the company?
3. What can you tell me about the culture here?
4. What are the responsibilities of the job?
5. What qualities are necessary to succeed at this job?
6. Tell me about the growth potential for this position.
7. What can you tell me about the department? What about the boss?
8. What are the company’s/department’s future goals?
9. When do you think you’ll be making a hiring decision?
10. How can I contact you?

Entry filed under: Interview. Tags: advice, Interview, mistakes, questions.