101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview (20 page)

Does the candidate ask for additional information or clarification when dealing with complex or incomplete questions?

Does the candidate offer answers that are consistent with one another?

As you monitor nonverbal signals during the interview, bear in mind that physical actions and vocal delivery should support the answers the interviewee passes along. A candidate who assures you that he has what it takes to ride the ups and downs of a career in sales but looks pale and shell-shocked when you mention that you’re interviewing other candidates, is sending two very different messages. The
lyrics
may be saying “I can handle rejection,” but the
music
doesn’t quite support that contention!

Smart Interview Questions for Your New Boss

Basic Questions

Revisit those basic questions you tried to answer through your research and those you asked the agency, recruiter, headhunter, or Human Resources department. If you’ve gotten satisfactory answers to them, you don’t need to ask them again.

Whatever questions remain from this first list, ask them. Then add a few more:

Please explain the (department, division) company’s organizational chart.

Can you give me a more detailed understanding of what my days might be like?

Are there specific challenges you are facing right now?

Will I be in a position to help you overcome them?

What are the department’s specific objectives for the next three months?

After you hear them, of course, you will do two things: Wrack your brain for specific examples from your experience or education that will convince him
you
can help him
reach
those goals. And ask more follow-up questions about how your job responsibilities will impact them.

Why three months? That’s the length of your probable probation period.

You and (one of his important competitors) have many similar products (or offer similar services). What sets you apart from them? What’s different about the way you do things? What’s different about their corporate structure, mission, or philosophy?

How fast is the company growing? Is management happy with that rate, or do you have expansion plans in mind?

Growth can be a double-edged sword: Faster top-line growth (i.e., greater sales) could mean an opportunity to climb the career ladder faster than usual. It could also characterize a company that spends itself into oblivion trying to buy sales. (Think “dot-com.”)

What is the company’s ranking within the industry? Does this position represent a change from where it was a few years ago?

You should already have some indication of the answer to this question from your initial research, particularly if the company is publicly owned. If you have some of this information, go ahead and build it into your question:
“I’ve read that the company has risen from fifth to second in market share in just the past three years. What are the key reasons for this dramatic success?”

How do you see me working with each of the department heads?

How would my performance be measured in this position?

How is the department’s performance measured?

Probing Questions

The previous basic questions, and many of those you asked during your research or while interviewing with an agency, recruiter, head-hunter, or screening interviewer, are almost solely to fill in your overall portrait of the company as a whole. Once you have established in your own mind that you are truly interested in the company, you will want to ask detailed questions designed to elicit specific information about the department, the job, and the people:

What are the things you would most like to see changed in this (section, department, group, division, company)?

Are there plans for new products or services I need to know about?

When may I meet some of my potential colleagues (or subordinates)? Are they part of the interviewing process here?

Including lower-level employees in the process proves that the company values its employees’ opinions and realizes that just adding some stranger to the team by executive fiat isn’t an effective way to show your employees how important they are to you. Nor does it do much for “team building” or any of those other corporate mantras that get thrown around.

How will you weigh your subordinates’ input with your own assessment of my candidacy?

Or (to the subordinates):

What kind of feedback does your boss expect you to give him? How much weight has he given it in the past?

You can never be sure how much influence anyone has with the ultimate decision-maker. I once interviewed at a company where a prospective new salesperson had to meet briefly with each of the seven sales managers, although the Vice President of Sales was the ultimate decision-maker. Well, one of the sales managers (not the best or the brightest, I might add) was dating the boss. I’m not sure how I would have ever found that out (it took me a few months at the company before the gossip reached my virginal ears), but it tends to
emphasize the importance of treating everyone you meet with courtesy, respect, and professionalism. And that you can’t easily discern who is going to be a key factor in your hiring . . . or your being passed over.

Even if the previously mentioned manager wasn’t dating the boss, I guarantee if three or maybe even two of the sales managers had decided I “wouldn’t fit in,” that particular VP would have never hired me. Some bosses are more influenced than others, which leads to a good question if you’re put in a similar situation:

Are there a lot of after-hours business events I will be expected to attend?

How much travel should I expect to do in a typical month? Are there distinct periods of heavier travel?

Do you have a lot of employees working flextime or telecommuting?

Make sure you’re careful not to imply this is one of your requirements, especially if the answer is a frosty,
“No. Everybody works nine to six, and I value punctuality.”

What has the turnover been in this department in the past couple of years?

Are you about to join a department that goes through salespeople like water through a hose? Who cares about the size of your raise and bonus if you won’t be there in 60 days?

How many hours per week do you expect your star employees to put in? How much overtime does this position typically involve? How many weekends per year would I be expected to work?

Please tell me a little bit about the people with whom I’ll be working most closely.

I wish someone had told me about this question before my last job interview! The answer can tell you so many things: how good your potential colleagues really are at their jobs, how much you are likely to learn from them, and, most important, whether the hiring manager seems enthusiastic about his team.

A hiring manager usually tries to put on her best face during an interview, just like you. But catching the interviewer off-guard with this question may give you a glimpse of the real feelings hiding behind her game face.

If she doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about her current team, it may not be one you’d be particularly thrilled to join. This hiring manager may attribute little success, and perhaps a lot of headaches, to the people who work for her. Is that the kind of boss you want?

What is the department’s budget?

Who is part of the planning process?

How much budgetary responsibility would I have?

I don’t care if you’re interviewing for the lowest position in the organization and the answer is,
“Are you kidding? You won’t be able to buy paper clips without submitting a 6-part form and getting 14 signatures!”
This question shows that you are willing to take responsibility and understand the importance of doing so in order to move up the career ladder. Ask it.

Can you give me a better idea of the kinds of decisions I could make (or amounts of money I could spend) without oversight?

This is a question for anyone
above
the lowest level; it will help clarify what level of power you’re
really
being handed and will give you greater insight into how centralized the company is. If you are at a fairly high level (manager, director, VP) and the answer is
“Oh, anything under $100; after that, you have to check with me,”
you may have just learned more than you really wanted to know about the limitations of your “power.” In fact, at that supposed level, such an answer should send you running for the hills. I know receptionists who have more discretionary power!

Similarly, if you expect to have people reporting to you, your ability to hire and fire and your involvement in interviewing candidates for your own team should reflect your level of management, but it will also reflect the corporate structure and culture. I once worked for a medium-sized trade magazine publisher (400 people at headquarters,
100 more in regional offices) at which only the two owners had private secretaries. Everyone else, including the vice presidents of sales, operations, production, circulation, and editorial, shared administrative assistants. Even after I reached management level, I was still sharing an assistant with one other manager and three salespeople!

What would you like to be able to say about your new hire one year from now?

What is the one thing I could do during my first three months on the job that would really get your attention?

How has this job been performed in the past?

What do you see as the key goals for the company during the next year? For my department? For this job?

How do you see my role evolving in the first two years?

What would be the most logical areas for me to evolve into?

What do you think my biggest challenge will be if I start working for you?

Now, if a manager takes this question personally—interpreting it as
“What problems am I going to have with you?”
—that would tell me something about the manager. Perhaps he’s a little self-centered. Perhaps he’s prone to define
your
success by how well you get along with
him,
as opposed to how good a job you do.

On the other hand, she may blurt out, “Roberta,” or some other name you soon find out is the “problem” member of the team.
Your
potential team.

Or it may just elicit a detailed monologue about competition, products, services, and/or the economy.