Questions Hiring Managers Like YOU to Ask

When I asked hiring and HR professionals on LinkedIn (in the Question/Answer section) to list their biggest interview pet peeves, the second most mentioned pet peeve was “Not asking any questions.” I decided to expand upon this, so I once again surveyed hiring and HR professionals and asked, “What has been one of the best questions a job candidate has asked you during the interview?”

From the 11 responses, 4 were very similar (and had to do with the fact that the candidate assumed that he/she would be hired). These four questions that hiring professionals liked were:

1. “When do I start?”

2. “When can I start?”

3. “So this desk (pointing towards one workstation) needs to be rearranged, when could you get it done so I don’t have to wait when I start?”

4. “Based on what you have heard in this interview, where do you see me 5 years from now in this company?”  

There were four other questions that were very similar, and these were when candidates asked something specific about the position/job:

1.  What advice would you give the person taking this position? That is, if I was hired, what advice would you give me?

2.  I was asked "what are your expectations of me in this role", which was an excellent discussion starter, as it was the second interview and was a great opportunity to get into more detail with the job.

3.  What are the top priorities for the person selected for this job?

4.  What problems or failings have you had in the past with this position or the person in this position that I can focus on preventing?

As you prepare for your job interview, hopefully the above questions will help generate some ideas on a few great questions that you can ask.