When you reach this point in a job interview — where the interviewer is done with their questions and opens up the floor — you don’t want to be caught off guard. It’s important to have a plan for how you’ll respond, and a list of questions specific to that opportunity.
But what types of questions should you actually ask? And are there certain ones to avoid? I turned to two job interview experts for advice: Art Markman, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Bring Your Brain to Work, and John Lees, a UK-based career strategist and author of How to Get a Job You Love. Here are their recommendations for how to approach this part of the interview and sample questions they’ve seen work in practice.
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5 top questions to ask an interviewer about the job
Every role has a strategic dimension, ask good interview questions that explore this and show your potential as the right candidate. Examples include:
“What are the immediate priorities in this job?”
“What have been identified as the areas for change and improvement in this job?”
“How does this position interface with the objectives that have been set for the department?”
“What are the most challenging aspects of this job?”
“What is the critical responsibility of this position?”
5 key questions to ask about the job expectations
Plan good interview questions that focus on the job expectations and needs, such as:
“What would be the ideal skills and competencies for this position?”
“What are some examples of the best results produced by people in this position?”
“How would doing an excellent job be defined in this position?”
“What expertise is currently available in the team? What would this position be expected to contribute to the team?”
“What would be the most important assignments that need to be accomplished in the first few months in this position?”
Whether you want to test for cultural fit, a specific set of competencies or technical skills, this selection of interview task examples is suitable for group or one on one interviews and will help you get the insights you need to choose the right candidate. Examples of how to test candidates in an interview:
Some say that if you can’t explain a complex idea to a child, you don’t truly understand it yourself. Ask your candidate to explain a series of industry-specific technical concepts in a way that someone outside of the industry might understand. Some job roles naturally require a candidate who is able to communicate complex ideas to other team members, and this task can serve as a demonstration of their abilities in this area.
Testing the problem-solving abilities of your candidate is especially useful if you’re hiring for a role like IT support or development. Try setting up a flawed piece of tech or code and asking your candidate to fix it in a set time limit. When they’ve finished, ask them to explain how they identified the problem and how they chose to solve it.
It’s not uncommon for businesses to hire the wrong fit for a new role. Out of 5,000 managers in 13 different countries, 39% said that they had made a bad hire, with 42% believing their chosen candidate was underqualified and 44% stating that there was a skills mismatch. One of the most effective ways to eliminate these two hiring issues is to conduct interview tasks to assess candidates’ suitability for the role, before offering them a position.
This interview task is a great way to determine a candidate’s cultural fit. It will help you identify their approach to work and reveals what kind of a leader/colleague they might be. Ask your candidate to sit a Myers-Briggs personality assessment, the Keirsey temperament test or the DiSC behaviour assessment and get a deeper understanding of their potential place in the team dynamic.
2 essential questions to ask about your suitability for the job
Good interview questions to ask include those that provide an opportunity to highlight your suitability for the job. You can do this by asking questions such as:
“Do you have any concerns about my ability to fulfill the job requirements?”
“Are there any areas I need to clarify in order to confirm my suitability for this job?”
These interview questions allow the interviewer to express any concerns he or she might have. You then have an opportunity to address them in the best possible way.
Good interview questions to ask also come as a result of listening to what is being said during the interview and following up on what you hear.
FAQ
What is a suitability interview?
Why would I be suitable for this role?
What are 10 good interview questions?
- Tell Me About Yourself. …
- Why Are You the Best Person for the Job? …
- Why Do You Want This Job? …
- How Has Your Experience Prepared You for This Role? …
- Why Are You Leaving (or Have Left) Your Job? …
- What Is Your Greatest Strength? …
- What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
