Great Questions Can Help Land a Job

Published February 7, 2010

There comes a time in every interview when it’s the job candidate’s turn to ask questions. The bases are loaded, it’s the bottom of the ninth and there’s a pinch-hitter at bat! Goat or hero, which will it be?

Don’t undermine your chances for a job by asking hasty, uninformed or even misguided questions. This is a great moment to make a strong, positive impression. However, there are risks to consider.

If a jobseeker has no questions at all, an employer is likely to interpret the lack of curiosity as a lack of interest in the job.

Questions about a topic the interviewer has already covered may be just as bad. I advise people to prepare several thoughtful questions and use the most appropriate one. There’s no need to ask all of them, routinely, in every interview.

Do not wait until late in the interview to ask your first question. By then the interviewer may be in a close mode.

Let the interviewer control the interview. Don’t interrupt.

Do not initiate questions regarding wages, benefits and retirement programs.

Do not ask questions that reveal your lack of homework. For example: What do you do here?

One technique to make question-asking easy is to follow up a question with a question. For example if an interviewer asks if you are available for overtime, follow up with some questions of your own: How often do you have overtime? When is overtime likely to be available?

Questions at the close of an interview are especially important. Affirm your interest in the job and ask questions that indicate your genuine interest:

• How many other candidates are you interviewing for this position?

• Will there be a second interview?

• When do you expect to make a decision?

• Will you notify me if I am not selected for the job?

• When would be a good time for me to call and follow up?

Bob Lankard, a business columnist for the Indiana Gazette and former program manager at the state Job Center in Indiana, Pa., offers common-sense advice and innovative tactics to help all levels of job seekers satisfy their employment ambitions.

- Written By Bob Lankard