1

Morning folks,

I have a general interview question/discussion, as I don’t feel this really has a best answer.

Last night I had an interview for a new job. Everything was exciting, everything went well, we talked and it seemed like everything went well.

Than the inevitable question popped up “you have any questions for me?”

We talked about beer, I asked about beer before that, we talked about wiring, I asked about servers. But then the “you have any questions” part came up. Are there standard questions that should be asked?

(IT job at a brewery, the beer questions and conversations were warranted)

21 Spice ups
2

How much beer am I allowed to drink during the day…

16 Spice ups
3

Hopefully its a good brewery! Ask questions that you are unsure about the job like dress, day to day duties, taking time off, any insider information and training. Why is the stop available? What does advancement look like? I always ask my personal favorite - why should I come work for your company? If you want to be proactive ask them - biased on everything we discussed am I qualified for the position? Some food for thought to start you off. Good luck!

7 Spice ups
4

Do I get a discount? If answer is yes, next question is, What is the maximum amount I can purchase at one time?

2 Spice ups
5

In an interview, when I ask a candidate if they have any questions, I expect that they should have. If you don’t, I assume:

  1. You haven’t done any research on the company or the position.

  2. You aren’t that interested in the job.

  3. You’re incredible lack of curiosity will translate directly to poor performance on the job.

I think, “You mean to tell me there isn’t one thing about the job you think you don’t know?”

What was the biggest IT challenge you’ve had to face in the previous 3 years and how did your IT team deal with it?

What are your major goals for IT in the coming year and where would you see me fitting into them?

What’s your DR plan and have you had to use it?

Are you committed to one brand of hardware and if so, why?

Do you have a preference for commercial or open-source products?

How important is security in your IT plan?

I could go on all day. Imagine that you were writing a magazine article about the company. Or that you were a consultant paid to do an assessment of strengths and weaknesses. Don’t ask questions that are clearly outside the expertise of the interviewer. Don’t ask yes or no questions. But do show some interest and initiative.

10 Spice ups
6

Three potential questions:

  1. Where do you see the company going over the next five years?

  2. Are there any challenges that you facing which you’d be asking me run with when I join?

  3. What is the office culture like?

6 Spice ups
7

I’m with Robert, this seems like a pretty standard interview question so you should have some ready before you even come to the interview and then add additional questions as you think of them during the interview.

2 Spice ups
8

What is your biggest IT problem? It is amazing how that gets answered and what you can learn by it.

5 Spice ups
9

Before going into any interview I do my homework on my potential employer. Since we work with information I believe I better have the ability to demonstrate not only my professional knowledge, but my interest in problems the company currently faces. I expect to contribute to resolving job related issues and the “do you have any questions?” part of my interview is the time I ask. I get to learn how my position may be involved in addressing their problems and my prospective employer is left with the distinct impression that I am serious about joining their team. (I’d also know how to talk about “beer” in the context of the company’s culture.)

1 Spice up
10

IT at a brewery? Good luck!

I usually type up a sheet of 15 to 20 questions, and ask about a third of them, when I go to interviews. Definitely research the company that your applying to. If you can, find out how much they’ve grown in the previous years. Ask them how they see their technology needs increasing or decreasing. Ask them if they have special projects on their minds already that they are looking to add a member of their IT team. I always ask if the position is new, or existing. That tells me a lot - if it’s new, they need more IT staff. If it’s replacing someone else, I ask if there was a reason they vacated the position. I’ve always gotten honest answers back to that question, which gives me more respect for the company, when they will tell you the truth to that, rather than saying “personnel issues” or “personal reasons”.

2 Spice ups
11

shooting her an email now with these questions :smiley:

4 Spice ups
12

I’m ok with this viewpoint if I didn’t already ask you a dozen or so questions during the interview before you asked this question. It is completely possible that I have run out of things to ask.

3 Spice ups
13

See thats the thing, the interviewer was thorough as can be, of course I get nervous during interviews and pretty much create brain turds and stop thinking, so these few questions I SHOULD have asked, I didn’t. She did say “if you do have any questions feel free to email me”, so I did which thanks to you all waves in pleasure.

Life changes make me shakey :-P, dealing with my potential future makes me shakey. I’m not alone on this am I?

3 Spice ups
14

Not at all. I happen to be one of those people that responds to stress with humor (the reason why I avoid funerals) and tend to be taken as a bit of a clown some times… it makes interviews rather difficult for me sometimes.

2 Spice ups
15

Being nervous about that kind of stuff is normal. Are you nervous in a good way, or in a bad way?

There are a lot of conditions to weigh… how much farther away is it than your current job? Is everything about the position showing promise? How’s your SO feel about it?

1 Spice up
16

Agree 100%. If it has been a spirited interview, there isn’t as much need to demonstrate interest at that point. However, in that case, when I ask, “Do you have any further questions for me?” the correct answer is, “Yes! When do I start?”

Other interview questions I ask:

I start an interview with, “Okay, so tell me about yourself and why you think you’d be a good fit for this job.” If you don’t know what the job entails, you’re not going to do well on that job.

I’m seeing a number of well-qualified candidates today. Why should I select you over them?

Give me an example of a problem you had to troubleshoot in IT and tell me how you went about it.

What do you like about your current job? What do you dislike? (Trick question to see what they don’t want to do.)

If you could give your ex-boss one suggestion on the way out the door, what would it be? (Trick question to see how they deal with authority.)

I’ve been doing this for 13 years. I’m at the point where I can tell within 30 seconds (literally) if someone is a good fit for the job or not. In some cases, I just say, “I’ve reviewed your resume and cover letter. Do you have any questions for me?” (That translates to: Don’t bother to take off your coat.)

17

That’s not nervousness. It’s adrenalin. And it’s your body’s way of telling you, “I’m getting us ready to do something exciting!”

Embrace it.

3 Spice ups
18

Good and Bad nervous. Its 20 minutes closer to home, so my fiancee loves it. I’ve been a patron of their restaurants for years now. The flexibility seems amazing. It just all in all seems like an amazing opportunity that… I really don’t want to botch a part of the interview and not be taken seriously.

I’m very familiar with the restaurants so I couldn’t really ask many questions other than “whens the turkey melt come back?” which sadly is never :frowning:

1 Spice up
19

Remind me to never interview for @rhummel :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Spice ups
20

You and me both, i make terrible first impressions.

1 Spice up