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.
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This book shows you how to sell yourself in an employment interview.
f) Competitive standing and interviewer concerns
You may feel uncomfortable asking these questions, but it can only help. In Chapter 13 we talked
about how, unless you're being actively recruited, the odds are still in favour of the interviewer
deciding that you're not the one they want to offer the position to. This may be your only chance to
turn that around.
Examples:
- How many other people are you interviewing for this position?
- At the moment, how would you say I stack up against the others? What concerns do you have
that I might not be able to achieve the objectives you've set for this position?
- What have you liked in others that I might not be able to match? Any general strengths or
weaknesses to the group as a whole?
General questions to ask the interviewer
The questions you'll want to ask to find out more about the company will vary with your strengths
and interests -- and with the interviewer's. In general, you'd like to include questions that reveal
your awareness of the employer's concerns and that relate to the areas where you feel you may have
an advantage over the competition.
Here are some possible questions to get more information about the organization:
- What is management style (where you'd be working) / organizational culture?
- Do you have a mission statement / values statement?
- What is senior management's vision for this company in the future?
- How has this company evolved over the last five years?
- Would you say that this organization is customer-focused? How?
- Who are the company's primary customers? Are you going after any new markets? What
customers would I be working with?
- How do you determine the value customers are receiving from your products or services?
- What new products or services have you recently introduced to serve your customers? What
are you working on now?
- Who are your competitors? How do they compare to you?
- How are employee suggestions and innovations received?
- What would you say are important factors in determining the profit/surplus that this business
earns?
- What principles or beliefs have influenced your management style?
- What training opportunities are available?
- Who owns the company?
Questions to get the employer thinking about you in the position:
- Who would I be working with?
- What kind of projects/assignments would I be working on first?
You might also consider asking to speak with some of the people you'd be working with, although
you may want to leave this request for a second interview or for when they come back to you with
an offer.
Some people recommend talking about chances for advancement to show that you're motivated to
do well. I think that's mistaken. You run a much greater risk of seeming like someone who'll be
unsatisfied in the position being discussed. If you work in an area where incentive programs are
common, you could ask about what programs the company has in place.
Continued here: Last chance! -- What value do you offer the employer
that you haven't discussed yet?
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