What are some questions to ask during an interview?
March 15, 2021 1:23 PM
After my last update, I'm back on the hunt, and would like to come prepared with some questions that will help me weed out potentially toxic workplaces. I'm also looking at Glassdoor reviews.
Some questions I've already come up with:
- Who will I be working most closely with?
- What they do you value most in an employee?
- Why was this position created?
I would appreciate better suggestions of questions I can ask so I can avoid toxic workplaces.
Some questions I've already come up with:
- Who will I be working most closely with?
- What they do you value most in an employee?
- Why was this position created?
I would appreciate better suggestions of questions I can ask so I can avoid toxic workplaces.
- What does a successful candidate for this position need to have?
- Tell me about work/life balance at X Company
- Do you have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives? If not are there plans for such a thing?
- Casually mention "my partner" no matter what you call your partner, see how they react
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021
- Tell me about work/life balance at X Company
- Do you have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives? If not are there plans for such a thing?
- Casually mention "my partner" no matter what you call your partner, see how they react
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021
It's helpful at some point to be talking to a peer-level person. Someone you'll actually be working with, if that's possible. You can find out a lot more from them than from a manager or HR representative.
If one doesn't show up during your interview cycle, ask.
- Can I see where I will be working and meet some of my potential coworkers?
If you do happen to get the opportunity to talk to one, start to ask some friendly questions:
- What time do you usually get into the office?
When you let the person talk about themselves they start to open up. But you're carefully watching to see how strict or casual the firm is about when people start and when they leave for the day. That's a huge tell about company culture. You're not asking "When is my start time?", but this is useful to getting to that question. Ask that, if it feels right. Now, here's the killer:
- Tell me one thing you would change about this company if you could.
Watch where their answer goes. If the person talks about workload, hours, team organization, or 'balance', that's your cue to dig in a little further. And dig in hard.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:46 PM on March 15, 2021
If one doesn't show up during your interview cycle, ask.
- Can I see where I will be working and meet some of my potential coworkers?
If you do happen to get the opportunity to talk to one, start to ask some friendly questions:
- What time do you usually get into the office?
When you let the person talk about themselves they start to open up. But you're carefully watching to see how strict or casual the firm is about when people start and when they leave for the day. That's a huge tell about company culture. You're not asking "When is my start time?", but this is useful to getting to that question. Ask that, if it feels right. Now, here's the killer:
- Tell me one thing you would change about this company if you could.
Watch where their answer goes. If the person talks about workload, hours, team organization, or 'balance', that's your cue to dig in a little further. And dig in hard.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:46 PM on March 15, 2021
I would try to find staff photos. If you see zero visibly queer people and a noticeably lower percentage of BIPOC than the local average, it’s probably a toxic workplace. Not really a question you can ask verbally though.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 1:46 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by nouvelle-personne at 1:46 PM on March 15, 2021
This twitter thread is about what to do in your first 2wks, but a lot of it can be extracted as questions to ask before you start.
Some great excerpts are "what will be my goals in the first 30 days?" and "what's needed to get to the next level?".
posted by jpeacock at 1:48 PM on March 15, 2021
Some great excerpts are "what will be my goals in the first 30 days?" and "what's needed to get to the next level?".
posted by jpeacock at 1:48 PM on March 15, 2021
How many of your employees have been promoted in the past 12 months?
How long has the most tenured member of the team been with you? The least?
I would ask why a position is vacant, rather than why it was created.
What are the weekly standing meetings for members of your team?
posted by bfranklin at 1:50 PM on March 15, 2021
How long has the most tenured member of the team been with you? The least?
I would ask why a position is vacant, rather than why it was created.
What are the weekly standing meetings for members of your team?
posted by bfranklin at 1:50 PM on March 15, 2021
what will success look like in the first year? over the longer term?
is there a particular problem this hire is going to be expected to solve?
what would make someone a bad match for this role? what would make someone not succeed in this role? what have the clients (external or internal) complained about in the past? where have people in this role run into trouble in the past? (these are all the same question but it's a biggie so if you don't get an insightful answer, ask it other ways)
posted by fingersandtoes at 2:04 PM on March 15, 2021
is there a particular problem this hire is going to be expected to solve?
what would make someone a bad match for this role? what would make someone not succeed in this role? what have the clients (external or internal) complained about in the past? where have people in this role run into trouble in the past? (these are all the same question but it's a biggie so if you don't get an insightful answer, ask it other ways)
posted by fingersandtoes at 2:04 PM on March 15, 2021
I came across this comprehensive list the other day and immediately filed it away; not all of them are relevant to my field, but especially for categories like diversity, equity, and inclusion and culture, there are questions here I wouldn't have thought to ask that were super helpful at framing what I'd want to know.
posted by dapati at 2:05 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by dapati at 2:05 PM on March 15, 2021
“Do you like your job?”
I was asked this by a prospective employee in an interview recently. As a person who works at a toxic company, that was an extremely difficult question to answer.
posted by sacrifix at 2:17 PM on March 15, 2021
I was asked this by a prospective employee in an interview recently. As a person who works at a toxic company, that was an extremely difficult question to answer.
posted by sacrifix at 2:17 PM on March 15, 2021
What characteristics distinguish someone who excels in this job?
posted by NotLost at 3:03 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by NotLost at 3:03 PM on March 15, 2021
I had an interview recently and asked what the COVID safety protocols were (it's very relevant to the job I applied for, but might not be for you).
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:22 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:22 PM on March 15, 2021
Even if "what are your COVID safety protocols" isn't specifically relevant to the job, it still might be interesting to ask how the company responded last year. E.g., if it's an office gig without client interaction, "we sent everyone home to keep them safe!" vs "we made people stay at their desks and cough at each other until three people died" will tell you a lot, not just about COVID, but about their attitude in general.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 3:57 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 3:57 PM on March 15, 2021
Describe a typical day for me the week I start, and in 6 months.
Do you have a document you could share that explains your Mission, Vision, and Operating Principles?
How does my role contribute to that Mission?
posted by SquidLips at 4:18 PM on March 15, 2021
Do you have a document you could share that explains your Mission, Vision, and Operating Principles?
How does my role contribute to that Mission?
posted by SquidLips at 4:18 PM on March 15, 2021
"What did the company do to protect the jobs of the employees during the pandemic?"
posted by ralan at 4:53 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by ralan at 4:53 PM on March 15, 2021
I think given your previous question it would be helpful to look at what toxic means to you specifically. It sounds like the very long hours, fast pace, and lack of feedback and support were big issues. So you want to drill into those, possibly more than diversity initiatives.
Questions around describing a typical day or around work/life balance would be good. You *might* be able to ask directly what sort of hours people work, and how they're compensated if they have to work longer. In the jobs I've done, that would be normal, but I'm not in the US. It might be different for you.
Questions around training and development would help you get a sense of how supportive they are (relating to your previous comment "Sometimes when I ask questions my colleagues are impatient and appear very annoyed"). If they aren't able to articulate anything in this area, it might be a sign that they aren't supportive. Likewise you could ask about the onboarding process [my last two jobs had very comprehensive ones and we'd talk about slowly easing people into more difficult work, which might suit you].
I've had success with straight-out describing the type of culture that I didn't like, and asking how the new workplace compared to that (but also I'm mid-career, and I did that after I had the job offer: I asked to meet for a more informal chat over coffee, which gave us a chance to talk through preferred styles around feedback, hours, flexible working).
I agree that questions like "what sort of people have trouble in this role" are useful: so if they said someone who needs a lot of handholding or feedback struggles, that might not be a job for you.
I'd argue that diversity programmes would not necessarily indicate the workplace wasn't toxic. The lack of them would be a negative, but having them doesn't guarantee that the organisation is truly diverse/inclusive in practice. Likewise, my last job was huge at talking about flexible working, but my unit discouraged it in practice.
posted by Pink Frost at 4:58 PM on March 15, 2021
Questions around describing a typical day or around work/life balance would be good. You *might* be able to ask directly what sort of hours people work, and how they're compensated if they have to work longer. In the jobs I've done, that would be normal, but I'm not in the US. It might be different for you.
Questions around training and development would help you get a sense of how supportive they are (relating to your previous comment "Sometimes when I ask questions my colleagues are impatient and appear very annoyed"). If they aren't able to articulate anything in this area, it might be a sign that they aren't supportive. Likewise you could ask about the onboarding process [my last two jobs had very comprehensive ones and we'd talk about slowly easing people into more difficult work, which might suit you].
I've had success with straight-out describing the type of culture that I didn't like, and asking how the new workplace compared to that (but also I'm mid-career, and I did that after I had the job offer: I asked to meet for a more informal chat over coffee, which gave us a chance to talk through preferred styles around feedback, hours, flexible working).
I agree that questions like "what sort of people have trouble in this role" are useful: so if they said someone who needs a lot of handholding or feedback struggles, that might not be a job for you.
I'd argue that diversity programmes would not necessarily indicate the workplace wasn't toxic. The lack of them would be a negative, but having them doesn't guarantee that the organisation is truly diverse/inclusive in practice. Likewise, my last job was huge at talking about flexible working, but my unit discouraged it in practice.
posted by Pink Frost at 4:58 PM on March 15, 2021
“Tell me about a time when something big went wrong here. What was it? How did the team respond? What did you learn?”
When I saw you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you, I take that seriously.
posted by advicepig at 5:18 PM on March 15, 2021
When I saw you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you, I take that seriously.
posted by advicepig at 5:18 PM on March 15, 2021
I agree with the drift of sacrifix's answer above but to make it a bit more subtle I would ask the interviewer: "What do you like about your job?"
If they answer right away with "the people", press them further and ask for examples. That should tell you a lot about what the culture is.
If they answer "the work", that tells you it's more of a heads-down environment, not necessarily bad but perhaps not so collegial.
If they dodge or come up with some cliche stuff, it's not good.
Advicepig's question above: Can you tell me a time when something went wrong here at work?
If they say that nothing goes wrong, that's bad.
If they pin what went wrong on a particular person, that's not so hot either. Sure someone can be personally at fault, but regardless management is still responsible - maybe they don't train, maybe they didn't hire right etc.
Also: "Can you describe your ideal employee?" That should tell you something about their management style. Do they want a lot of self-starting? Do they have issues with delegation?
Finally: "If you had to change one thing here at work, what would that be?"
posted by storybored at 6:53 PM on March 15, 2021
If they answer right away with "the people", press them further and ask for examples. That should tell you a lot about what the culture is.
If they answer "the work", that tells you it's more of a heads-down environment, not necessarily bad but perhaps not so collegial.
If they dodge or come up with some cliche stuff, it's not good.
Advicepig's question above: Can you tell me a time when something went wrong here at work?
If they say that nothing goes wrong, that's bad.
If they pin what went wrong on a particular person, that's not so hot either. Sure someone can be personally at fault, but regardless management is still responsible - maybe they don't train, maybe they didn't hire right etc.
Also: "Can you describe your ideal employee?" That should tell you something about their management style. Do they want a lot of self-starting? Do they have issues with delegation?
Finally: "If you had to change one thing here at work, what would that be?"
posted by storybored at 6:53 PM on March 15, 2021
Good suggestions above.
What is the organizational structure like, and how does this position fit in? How much interaction is there with other teams?
Are there policies in place to prevent staff burnout?
What do you like most about working at X, and what do you like least?
posted by emd3737 at 7:11 PM on March 15, 2021
What is the organizational structure like, and how does this position fit in? How much interaction is there with other teams?
Are there policies in place to prevent staff burnout?
What do you like most about working at X, and what do you like least?
posted by emd3737 at 7:11 PM on March 15, 2021
“What surprises people the most when they step into this role?”
posted by armeowda at 8:50 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by armeowda at 8:50 PM on March 15, 2021
I work in a health care field and plan on asking at every job interview I have for the rest of my life how they responded to COVID in March 2020.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 9:00 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by Ideal Impulse at 9:00 PM on March 15, 2021
I saw this in a tiktok lately and it stuck with me: to get at company culture, try asking “What’s a story of something that happened here that wouldn’t happen at any other company?” The idea being, you’re taking advantage of people’s inflated sense of their own uniqueness, and has a higher chance of getting a useful answer than “Tell me about your company culture.” Good luck!
posted by Zephyrial at 11:31 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by Zephyrial at 11:31 PM on March 15, 2021
"Tell me about the worst day you've had at this company."
If you get an honest, direct and straightforward answer, then you learn several things - you learn the underlying issues at the company (every company has some issues), how extreme can they get (i.e. are they within your tolerance for shenanigans) and whether your prospective manager/colleague is a human being who can communicate honestly.
If you get corporatese waffle, vague non-answers, airpunching optimism about 'loving the challenge' or, biggest red flag of all, harrumphing about it being an appropriate question, that tells you to run, not walk, away from the company.
And if the person launches into a screed explaining that it's not worst days, it's more like months, quarters or even whole years, then turn that run into a sprint.
Occasionally when I explain this question to people they say 'oh but what if you didn't get the job because you asked such a direct question?'. And then I explain that's the point. If people working for a company can't honestly answer this question, or they dissolve into muffled screaming, I don't want to work there.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:11 AM on March 16, 2021
If you get an honest, direct and straightforward answer, then you learn several things - you learn the underlying issues at the company (every company has some issues), how extreme can they get (i.e. are they within your tolerance for shenanigans) and whether your prospective manager/colleague is a human being who can communicate honestly.
If you get corporatese waffle, vague non-answers, airpunching optimism about 'loving the challenge' or, biggest red flag of all, harrumphing about it being an appropriate question, that tells you to run, not walk, away from the company.
And if the person launches into a screed explaining that it's not worst days, it's more like months, quarters or even whole years, then turn that run into a sprint.
Occasionally when I explain this question to people they say 'oh but what if you didn't get the job because you asked such a direct question?'. And then I explain that's the point. If people working for a company can't honestly answer this question, or they dissolve into muffled screaming, I don't want to work there.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:11 AM on March 16, 2021
I like the question "What would this person in this role be expected to fix/solve as a priority?" or "what would I be walking into that people would expect me to handle immediately?" I think it's a great question to understand what the value of the role is. Are they urgently looking to fill the role in order to fix something broken, or are they looking to hire the best person for their needs. I think the answer to that question will tell you a lot about their culture, what they value in that role, and why they are hiring for the position. If I'm walking into a mess, I'd like a heads up at least.
Check out this read on sick systems: http://www.issendai.com/psychology/sick-systems.html. The questions posed by others above will help you get to some of this if the place is honest in their answers.
You may not always be abe to ferret out toxicity in an interview process. There are definitely warning signs, but some places hide it well. More important than knowing beforehand is knowing what a sick system is and not getting too deep into it. You now have the awareness and understanding to know what toxicity means to you, and that is a gift. if you get a new job and know it's wrong, start looking immediately before you succumb to the sick system.
posted by archimago at 4:37 AM on March 16, 2021
Check out this read on sick systems: http://www.issendai.com/psychology/sick-systems.html. The questions posed by others above will help you get to some of this if the place is honest in their answers.
You may not always be abe to ferret out toxicity in an interview process. There are definitely warning signs, but some places hide it well. More important than knowing beforehand is knowing what a sick system is and not getting too deep into it. You now have the awareness and understanding to know what toxicity means to you, and that is a gift. if you get a new job and know it's wrong, start looking immediately before you succumb to the sick system.
posted by archimago at 4:37 AM on March 16, 2021
What is it that you tell people when you want to brag about what it's like to work here?
What is it that seems to surprise people when you tell them about what it's like to work here?
posted by John Borrowman at 7:57 AM on March 16, 2021
What is it that seems to surprise people when you tell them about what it's like to work here?
posted by John Borrowman at 7:57 AM on March 16, 2021
JoeZydeco's suggestion to find a peer-level person to talk to is a great one.
Another idea: find someone who is working or has worked at the company to talk to outside of the interview setting/process. See what you can learn about the workplace from your network. E.g. do you have a friend of a friend or a former colleague of a former classmate who works there? linkedin can sometimes help you identify these connections from your existing network - it may even be worth paying linkedin a bit of money during a month or two of intensive job search to upgrade your account to a paid one that makes it easier to identify and message people.
Ideally you could ask your contact to introduce you to the current/former employee they know, with the goal of setting up a time for a chat over a coffee / video call to ask the person about their experience working at the company and what advice they would have for someone wanting to succeed there, about the culture and work life balance, about how (if) promotions or raises work, etc.
Even if you don't have any indirect connections to people who work there, can always try reaching out saying you work in the industry and are interesting in learning more about prospective workplace, asking if they have the time for a chat about workplace, but it might be less likely to produce a response. Like interviewing it is a bit of a numbers game.
p.s. your soon-to-be-former-workplace sounds rubbish, good on you for taking matters into your own hands and starting the search for a better job
posted by are-coral-made at 11:51 AM on March 16, 2021
Another idea: find someone who is working or has worked at the company to talk to outside of the interview setting/process. See what you can learn about the workplace from your network. E.g. do you have a friend of a friend or a former colleague of a former classmate who works there? linkedin can sometimes help you identify these connections from your existing network - it may even be worth paying linkedin a bit of money during a month or two of intensive job search to upgrade your account to a paid one that makes it easier to identify and message people.
Ideally you could ask your contact to introduce you to the current/former employee they know, with the goal of setting up a time for a chat over a coffee / video call to ask the person about their experience working at the company and what advice they would have for someone wanting to succeed there, about the culture and work life balance, about how (if) promotions or raises work, etc.
Even if you don't have any indirect connections to people who work there, can always try reaching out saying you work in the industry and are interesting in learning more about prospective workplace, asking if they have the time for a chat about workplace, but it might be less likely to produce a response. Like interviewing it is a bit of a numbers game.
p.s. your soon-to-be-former-workplace sounds rubbish, good on you for taking matters into your own hands and starting the search for a better job
posted by are-coral-made at 11:51 AM on March 16, 2021
Just came across this:
https://www.fastcompany.com/90622890/10-questions-to-ask-in-a-job-interview-that-will-really-expose-a-companys-culture
posted by storybored at 8:45 PM on May 2, 2021
https://www.fastcompany.com/90622890/10-questions-to-ask-in-a-job-interview-that-will-really-expose-a-companys-culture
posted by storybored at 8:45 PM on May 2, 2021
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posted by antihistameme at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021