Read about our customers, explore webinars, and get guides on collecting feedback in your industry. Whether you're showing empathy toward a colleague or a customer, this trait can make you an asset to the team. This might explain why teams and groups find brainstorming sessions so productive. While we cant know exactly what an employer will ask, here are 10 common interview questions along with advice on how to answer them. How does this company differ from others youve worked for? Formal/IndirectWhat skills have you found vital to your job? Im a proud napper, but their honesty alarmed me. In one study, in which parents were asked what they deemed the most important thing for children to prepare them in life, about 60% of them chose to think for themselves from a list of response options. If the interviewer is your boss, you want to ask questions along these lines as well. There are several steps involved in developing a survey questionnaire. In our teaching at Harvard Business School, we run an exercise in which we instruct pairs of students to have a conversation. However, the high-low pairs experiences are mixed. Group dynamics can also affect how a question asker is perceived. You can ask them if there is any opening in their company. Dodging, or answering a question you wish you had been asked, can be effective not only in helping you protect information youd rather keep private but also in building a good rapport with your conversational partner, especially if you speak eloquently. 1) Is the job really 9-to-5? Questioning is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organizations: It spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and performance improvement, it builds rapport and trust among team members. As a general rule of thumb, I advise not bringing up the questions about salary until your interviewer does or bringing it up too early in the process. We all have a few go-to questions that we like to ask at the end of a job interview. Participants who were told that others had been forthcoming were 27% likelier to reveal sensitive answers than those who were told that others had been reticent. Employers want to know how people used their time differently. At the same time, transparency is an essential part of forging meaningful connections. For example, if you learn that your interviewer regularly arrives home at 8 pm, or that deadlines keep them in the office late, the company probably lacks work-life balance. People interacting with a partner who asks lots of follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard. Even if after-work socialization isnt common at the organization, its nice to know there are groups you can join internally to make connections. If its a skill youre developing, acknowledge that and include the steps youre taking to respond better to pressure in the future. But this intuition is wrong. What services do you offer? The interviewer may ask a question like this to find out how you perceive your skills and expertise as an administrator. What organizational challenges have you faced? Of course, you arent going to ask all 38 of these questions. Questions are such powerful tools that they can be beneficialperhaps particularly soin circumstances when question asking goes against social norms. Its highly unlikely that the interviewer is going to come out and tell you that the culture is unwelcoming, or even toxic. This makes sense: People who mostly ask questions tend to disclose very little about themselves or their thoughts. To some extent, asking someone about their job is a personal question. What do you like to do after work? Asking this question may seem frivolous, but underneath its soft exterior, youll find genuine answers that will help you better understand your potential future coworkers, learn about the organizations culture, and determine how youll fit into the bigger picture. Formal/IndirectExpressions for Asking to Know Why Someone Has Chosen This Career. Much of an executives workday is spent asking others for informationrequesting status updates from a team leader, for example, or questioning a counterpart in a tense negotiation. What is a typical day like for you at work? Brush up on the STAR method. Of course, the sheer number of questions is not the only factor that influences the quality of a conversation: The type, tone, sequence, and framing also matter. Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor. But when I asked the supervisor what they liked to do after work, their response unsettled me. Be sure to do your homework on the organization and its culture before the interview. For example, you could indicate that youve starteda mindfulness practiceto help you better deal with stress. Of course, there will be times when an off-the-cuff approach is inappropriate. Other times, one of the participants may feel uncomfortable in his role or unsure about how much to share, and the conversation can feel like an interrogation. You will always have more time to ask questions once you have the job offer in hand. What personal attributes are essential to success in your field? Example:That sounds great to me. She shares the No. There is no rule of thumb for how muchor what typeof information you should disclose. I posed this question to the interview panel of my current company during the second round of the application process. Instead, pose open-ended questions and give them enough space to decide what they would share and not. An official website of the United States government. To ask someone about how their job is, its better to start with asking about what job they do. Dating back to the 1970s, research suggests that people have conversations to accomplish some combination of two major goals: information exchange (learning) and impression management (liking). What soft skills should someone in your field have? Here are their recommendations for how to approach this part of the interview and sample questions theyve seen work in practice. But we like to hike on nearby trails, including He shared parts of his personal life freely, which allowed me to see the human behind the manager. For example, if they are told that they can change their answers at any point, they tend to open up moreeven though they rarely end up making changes. No one likes to feel interrogatedand some types of questions can force answerers into a yes-or-no corner. What are their strengths and the teams biggest challenges? Other benefits of occupational questionnaires include: Access this video for more information on developing and using occupational questionnaires. Employers ask this question to gauge your level of self-awareness and ensure your sources of motivation align with the role and company. So make sure you create a condition to ask them about their occupation. For job candidates, asking questions such as What am I not asking you that I should? can signal competence, build rapport, and unlock key pieces of information about the position. As you dig deeper, keep in mind that staying late may not be an official requirement, but a behavior influenced by cultural norms. Of course, people relax in different ways, but a lack of excitement around activities most people would find fun or relaxing is a trademark sign of burnout. For some people, questioning comes easily. When they asked people to take the perspective of a recruiter and choose between two candidates (equivalent except for how they responded to this question), nearly 90% preferred the candidate who came clean and answered the question. If you wonder how to ask someone about their job or work in English, this post is for you. For instance, prevailing norms tell us that job candidates are expected to answer questions during interviews. Let your interviewer know that your gap year wasnt about procrastinating over your transition from childhood to adulthood, but that it added value to the confident professional you have become. Formal/DirectWhat has your career path been? The main reasons for asking questions in your next job interview are: To gain a much more accurate idea of the job than the job description typically provides. If you are a fresh graduate or wondering which career you should pursue, you can talk to others about their professional life. Start by personalizing your cover letter for the respective position. One of your goals is to use these questions to help you determine if this opportunity is right for you, says Markman. What you need to know about being in charge. Questions are such powerful tools that they can be beneficialperhaps particularly soin circumstances when question asking goes against social norms. Please include duties related to special projects or temporary assignments only if these duties are required as a regular part of the job. Stay calm, take a moment to collect your thoughts, and ask clarifying questions if needed. Wide variety of KSAs/competencies can be assessed. In Alisons studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didnt intuit the link between questions and liking. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influenceor had influencedthe level of amity between the conversationalists. Some jobs like those in the financial or medical fields areknown for intense working hours. But in general, an overly formal tone is likely to inhibit peoples willingness to share information. Participants were told either that most others in the study were willing to reveal stigmatizing answers or that they were unwilling to do so. A lock ( What metrics or goals will my performance be evaluated against? Example: Like everyone else, I, too, gained some time last year from not having to travel two hours a day to and from work. Example: During my last year of high school, I didnt feel ready to choose my educational path, so I took a wilderness course for a few months to sort out my life goals. Get to know peoples employment status with this basic template so you get started in your search for the perfect job candidate. You dont have to necessarily say where youre applying unless you have another offer. If someone recommended you for the position, be sure to say their name. It will help you gather three valuable insights. Therefore, your choice of words matters a lot. When in a casual environment, you can pose some direct questions, but still, it may sound impolite to some people. Meanwhile, your interviewer is trying to promote the organization and workplace without revealing any gossip or structural issues. You want to be sure that you can see yourself not just in the role youre currently applying for but that there is a career path at the organization that youre excited about. Or perhaps they worry that theyll ask the wrong question and be viewed as rude or incompetent. While talking to someone you just met or you already know, one of the most common topics you can discuss is their professional life. What are the companys plans for growth and development?