What's one great way to stand out from your competitors in a phone interview? Ask questions.
Most people don't ask questions in a phone interview, but it's one of the best ways to improve your conversation, elevate yourself as a candidate, stand out, and get closer to the face-to-face.
In the video below, I talk more about this. Click the video to watch.
I have many more phone interview question tips for you in my blog article on this subject: Phone Interview Tips #20.
And don't forget to check out our entire Phone Interview Tips series. It's 37 of the best tips for your phone interviews.
Do you know the most important question you should ask in phone interviews? Hopefully, you already know that it’s important that you should ask questions in your telephone interview. But you might not know that one question in particular can ensure a good interview or even turn the tide of a bad interview.
In every interview, whether it’s a phone interview or a face-to-face interview, it is absolutely, critically important to ask questions. Why?
(1) It makes you seem more engaged and interested in the job. No hiring manager wants to hire someone who isn’t going to be excited about working there.
(2) It makes you seem more intelligent—if you ask good questions. Don’t ask questions you could easily find the answers to on Google.
(3) It gives you a strategic advantage. Ask good questions, and you can easily find out what the interviewer really cares about.
So what should you do? What questions should you ask?
How to Answer Interview Questions - Q5 -- Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could finish them.
How to Answer Interview Questions - Q13 -- How can you apply your specific skills to help the organization achieve sustainable growth and generate revenues?
How to Answer Interview Questions - Q14 -- How to Answer Interview Questions - Q2 -- How did you deal with the situation the last time your boss chastised you or strongly or disagreed with a statement, a plan or a decision you made?
How to Answer Interview Questions - Q29 -- I noticed that you are applying for a position that is not as senior as you past positions. Why would you consider a job that is, in effect, a demotion for you?
How to Answer Interview Questions - Q37 -- Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss about a way that something should be done. How did you handle that?
How to Answer Interview Questions - Q101 -- Why would you accept a lesser salary than what you made before? (Won’t you jump ship when a better offer comes along?)
Click to expand question sets, then click individual questions to read the post.
By the end of the job interview, when they ask if you have any questions for them, you probably feel like you’re toast. You’re just done, and you want to go home. That’s the way most people feel, so the most common response to this question is, “I don’t have any questions, I think you’ve covered everything.”
The best questions to ask are those that make it clear you’ve been listening to what their main problems and concerns are. Clarify, elaborate, or dig deeper. There are lots of good questions to ask.
You can ask about the timeline: “How soon do you want to have someone in the role?” That shows you are motivated to get started quickly.
You can ask about the last person who was in this role. If the person who had the position before was promoted, ask, “Is that a traditional track for this job?” If the person who was in the role before wasn’t meeting expectations, ask, “Can you tell me how they weren’t meeting expectations so I could understand?”
If you’re speaking with your direct future boss, ask about the biggest challenges of the job and can he see you meeting those challenges?
If you’re speaking with the Human Resources Manager, ask about the company, the growth of the department, where it fits in relation to the rest of the company, and so on.
If you’re speaking with upper management, ask questions that demonstrate your understanding of the industry as a whole and this company’s place in it and its plans for the future.
This is not the time to ask about anything that would benefit you, like salary, vacations, or perks. At this point, they’re like your customer. It’s all about them right now, not you. Remember that the job interview is a sales process and you have to keep selling, or keep showing them all the different reasons why you’d be a good fit for them until they say, “yes, we want to hire you.”
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You don’t have to keep asking an endless round of more and more questions. Just ask a few more questions that show your interest, enthusiasm, and concern for their problem (which is the job that isn’t getting done until they put someone in that role).
Continue the conversation and ask questions to find out more details that will help you move in the direction of uncovering more of their motivations, needs, and wants you can so you can better position yourself as the candidate they want.
You might be thinking: “I have to ask questions? I thought I was supposed to ANSWER questions at an interview.” You do have to ask questions if you want the job. But which questions?
While there are many questions you want to ask, there are two questions you must ask at every interview, every single time:
“What are you looking for?” or “What does your ideal employee look like?” is the first question you must ask, and you want to ask it as early in the interview as you can manage. The answer to this question will help you orient your presentation of skills, abilities and experience towards their specific needs. That’s how you can be super-effective with your time. Rather than talk about your technical abilities to a hiring manager who is looking for a ‘people person’ you will be able to rank your social, customer service skills slightly above your technical skills and have a better interview.
The second ‘must ask’ question comes at the end of your interview. Before you leave, you must find out if the hiring manager sees any reason they would not hire you. Or, to put a more positive spin on the question, you will ask something like: “Can you see me as being successful in this role?” This question is asking, or closing, for the job. The answer you get will allow you to address any shortcomings or concerns the interviewer has about your abilities to do the job. Very often, it’s something simple that’s easy to clear up. It’s hard to ask, but it’s important.
Besides the two ‘must ask’ questions here is a list of other questions that will help you stand out and improve your chance of getting the job offer:
Ask about the future of the company; this shows your long-term interest in working for them and gives you clues about your own future
Ask why the position is open
Ask how they determine if an employee is ‘successful’
Ask what a typical day looks like for a person in this position
Ask what are the biggest challenges this position presents
Ask what characterizes a successful employee so you can explain how you embody those characteristics
All-in-all the questions you ask in an interview are just as important as the answers you give. (But whatever you do, never ask about money.) It’s necessary to remember that having both the right questions and the right answers will help you stand out from the rest and get you the right job.
Be ready for every interview with your research, questions, and answers when you check out this Ultimate Guide to Job Interview Prep.
The questions you should ask in your job interviews might surprise you.
You always want to ask questions during your job interview because (1) it shows that you researched the company, (2) it helps you have a more relaxed and productive conversation, and (3) it helps you uncover information you can't get anywhere else. It's that third one that's the tricky one. Some of the information you need is not just 'inside' information about the company and the job.
You can have a much better, more successful interview (and a better shot at the job) if you ask two key questions. They are what I call strategic questions that give you big clues as to what the hiring manager is hoping you'll say so he can hire you. You can nudge him into making you the offer just by asking these questions and using the information you get from them.
In the video below, I will share the two most important questions to ask during every interview.
Here’s a tip that you should always keep in mind: Never leave all the question asking up to the interviewer. You always want to ask questions during your job interview. There are three reasons for this:
It helps you uncover information you can’t get anywhere else…who’s a better source than the person hiring for the job?
It helps you have a more relaxed and productive conversation. The key word here is ‘conversation’. Asking questions will make it feel less like you’re in an interrogation.
It shows that you researched the company when you ask informed, thoughtful questions.
But don’t just randomly ask any question. You’ll have a better shot at the job if you know what questions to ask an interviewer. (It' s another part of interview prep.) Avoid questions that show your ignorance about the company, or questions that ask for basic information that you could have Googled.
Here’s a look at the top 5 questions to ask your interviewer.
What does your ideal candidate look like? This should be asked near the beginning of the interview, and will give you a strong idea of specifically what type of person the interviewer is looking to hire. It allows you to find out specific desired skills that might not be in the description (who knows who wrote the description or when they wrote it?). Once you know what the manager really cares about hearing, you’ll be able to talk up those related skills you have.
Is there any reason why you wouldn’t offer me this job? This is a hard question to ask and takes a lot of nerve to do. But it’s the only way you’re going to find out if there’s any doubt about hiring you. And it will provide you with the only chance to directly address those doubts and clear them up. Job seekers who ask this question increase their chances of getting hired by 30 percent.
How does this position fit in with the company’s long-term plans? This question opens the door to possible discussion of business strategy, and can give you another chance to sell yourself by showing how your strategies will help the company in the long term.
What are this position’s biggest challenges? Every job has a downside. This question gives you a chance to learn about the downsides without looking like you lack confidence. You can also use the downsides to your benefit by showing how you’ll use your skills to handle the challenges.
Here’s what I see myself doing in the first 3 months on the job. I’d like to go through it with you quickly and get your input. OK, that’s not really a question. But it is something you have to initiate, because most hiring managers won’t ask to see your 30-60-90-day plan. But once you get that discussion started, the quality of your conversation skyrockets, and they can start to really see you in the job. They see your knowledge of the job and their company (even if it isn’t completely perfect—that’s OK), they see your strategic- and critical-thinking skills, and they see that you are a go-getter who WILL be successful. It’s very powerful to have that on your side in the interview.
To get the job you want you need to do more than sit in the interview answering questions fired at you by the hiring manager. In order to be more effective in selling yourself for the job, don’t be afraid to ask questions yourself.
Why? Because the job search is a sales process in which you are the product and that hiring manager is the buyer. And you’ll never make a sale without understanding the wants and needs of your customer. And you can’t understand unless you ask.
There are certain key questions to ask in an interview that can give you a big edge and present you as the most thoughtful, strategic- thinking candidate. Your choice of questions can mean the difference between being one unmemorable face is a line of hundreds of job seekers, to providing you those golden nuggets of information you can use to present the hiring manager with the information she’s most interested in hearing.
Knowing the right questions to ask in an interview can give you big clues as to what the hiring manager is hoping you’ll say so she can hire you.
Near the beginning of the interview, ask: What are you looking for in a candidate? What does your ideal candidate look like? The answer to this question will help you find out what the hiring manager really cares about hearing. Then you can sell to those specific points. Everything they list, you bring up something from your background that illustrates your skill with it or otherwise corresponds with it and answers that need.
Here’s a secret: There’s one crucial question that could increase your chances of getting the job by 30 percent. Near the end of the interview ask: Can you see me being very successful in this role? Is there any reason why you wouldn’t offer me this job? This is called closing for the job.
Asking this type of ‘closing’ question takes nerves of steel, but the payoff can be huge. This is your only way to find out if there’s any doubt about hiring you. And if there is, you can clear up that doubt right away. If you leave while they still have doubts, you can kiss that job goodbye.
Can you describe a typical day for someone in this position? This can help you understand what would be expected of you, and it can also help you tailor the information you provide to best show you’re the person for the job.
Looking ahead to the next couple of years, what are the potential growth areas that people in the company are most excited about? This can let you known if there’s room for growth, if the company is stable and if there’s the possibility for advancement. If there’s room for growth and advancement, you can present your skills in such a way that you’ll show the hiring manager you’re there for the long term and be a great asset to the company .
If you were to narrow the field to two final candidates, with equal skills and experience, how would you choose one over the other? The truth might be that the one with the lower salary might be chosen. And the hiring manager may not tell you this. But you could still find something worth knowing.
The bottom line (literally) is: Asking questions helps you uncover information you need to know in order to sell yourself for the job.
Ask questions in the interview to stand out and get the job
top interview questions
As you walk into your interview, ready to sell yourself for the job, you are more than likely concentrating on your best answers to interview questions—not on what you need to ask your interviewer. But asking questions of your own not only gives you information you need to make an informed decision about whether to take the job once you get the offer, it also gives you the information you need to do a better job at selling yourself.
What are you looking for in an ideal candidate? This will give you an idea as to what skills they need that you have and what key points about your experience will you want to highlight.
What characteristics does a successful person have in your organization? This is a follow up to the first question that gives you another perspective on what they value.
What does your company expect from new hires within the first three months on the job? During your interview preparation, you should have created a 30-60-90 plan to show to hiring managers exactly what you plan to do once you jump into your new role and this is your chance to use it.
Does company management encourage promoting from within the organization? Find out what the opportunities are like once you are hired and are looking for possibilities to advance your career.
In what way does this position fit into the long-term goals of the organization? Here you are hoping for an answer that will define the purpose of this job within the company, the security of the position, and the potential for long-term growth.
Where do you think your team needs improvement and how do you see the person in this role contributing to that? This gives you an opportunity to bounce back with the qualities that they said they needed.
What were the positive and negative attributes of the person who held this position before me? The hiring manager will be able to give you clues as to what they liked about your predecessor and what they did wrong that you can avoid.
How would I be evaluated in this position and who would be responsible for the evaluations? Finding out this answer will give you more insight into the priorities for candidate and who will be managing you in the position.
Why would a candidate want to work for you instead of your competitor and why would they stay? You are giving them an opportunity to sell you on the position now and to give you some ideas about whether the job would be right for you.
Is there any reason why I would not be successful in this role? Is there any reason why I could not move forward into this position? While this may feel pretty bold or even slightly pushy, this aggressiveness and honesty in asking for the job is what gets people hired. If you find out what misgivings they have before you leave the interview, you will have a chance to clear things up and counter their doubts--and quite possibly save your job offer.
Thinking about your job interview with this kind of strategic, thoughtful approach will help you get the job. Check out my Strategic Approach to the Interview for a comprehensive approach to getting the job.
The questions you should ask in your job interviews might surprise you.
You always want to ask questions during your job interview because (1) it shows that you researched the company, (2) it helps you have a more relaxed and productive conversation, and (3) it helps you uncover information you can't get anywhere else. It's that third one that's the tricky one. Some of the information you need is not just 'inside' information about the company and the job.
You can have a much better, more successful interview (and a better shot at the job) if you ask two key questions. They are what I call strategic questions that give you big clues as to what the hiring manager is hoping you'll say so he can hire you. You can nudge him into making you the offer just by asking these questions and using the information you get from them.
In the video below, I will share the two most important questions to ask during every interview.
In the video below, I will share with you two questions that you should always ask in every interview. Both of them are strategy questions that help you hone in on what the hiring manager wants to hear and nudge him along toward making you the offer.
HOW TO WRITE A 306090 DAY PLAN - These do take some work to research and put together, but the investment you make in time and effort is going to pay off big for you in terms of money and job offers
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