Gary Will's WORKSEARCH:
Selling Yourself To An Employer
Chapter 14-Part One
[a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] [i]
Asking questions -- an essential and overlooked step
From the book How to Prepare for an Employment Interview.
Get the entire book by e-mail in Microsoft Word format for US$10.
This book shows you how to sell yourself in an employment interview.
d) Questions about the decision process
There are at least two questions you may want to ask about the hiring process itself. If your
interview is for an announced opening, you should find out how long they expect the decision
process to take. You want to get a commitment from the employer that they will notify you by a
specific date what their decision is.
You may also want to find out if the person you've been talking to is the one who will make the
hiring decision or if they're just screeners for the real hiring authority.
Examples:
- When can I expect to hear back from you?
- What is your decision-making process? Is anyone else involved in the decision? Will you make
the decision now, or do you expect that you will want a second meeting?
- When would you want me to begin?
e) The employer's decision criteria
Of course you'd love to know exactly what the employer is looking for, but there is a danger in
coming right out and asking too soon. Once you've been told their decision criteria, you can easily
seem merely to be parroting their answer when you address those areas -- particularly if you haven't
brought them up in the interview up until now.
For example, if you ask the interviewer about their decision criteria and they mention, say,
customer service, it's going to be hard for you to score any points just by talking about your
customer service focus. It now seems prompted -- no matter how genuine your service skills and
beliefs may be.
On the other hand, had you talked about your strong beliefs in service and building customer
commitment before the interviewer had told you that this was something they're looking
for, you might have made a strong impression just by bringing up the topic yourself. It would have
shown the interviewer your awareness and insight into skills that are important for success.
I suggest that you first ask about specific areas that you suspect will be included in the decision
criteria and for which you have some examples of your related abilities ready.
Examples:
- How much importance do you put on [specific skill, e.g. customer service skills] in
choosing someone for this position?
- What are some of the qualities or abilities you're looking for in the person you hire for this
position? What other traits or abilities do you feel are important for success in this kind of work?
Continued here: f) Competitive standing and interviewer concerns
Read the entire book online or