If you have been following along you will notice that there is some structure to what we are saying. All of this is to give you the best chance to restart a positive cash flow.
Continued from part 10, knowing what questions to ask is part of the interview. If you don’t ask any questions, it tends to send up a warning flag that this person may be a little off center. That is unless you are applying to be a mime hunting for invisible boxes. In that case it is perfectly acceptable not to ask questions.
In a job interview series there are usually 3 interviews for a big company. The first interview is with human resources to help reduce that pile of applicants even further. The second interview most likely will be with your future boss should you get hired. The third interview means you have made the very short list and probably have the job. That interview is back with human resources and it is where wages and other particulars are discussed.
At each interview different questions are appropriate. At the first interview you should be looking to ask only basic questions. Human resources people are not technical people. They would not know about the nitty gritty things you are expected to know. Because of that your questions should be along the lines of what human resources people know. How many people work for the company? How many shifts are there? What hours would I be expected to work? What are the products or services the company offers? Who are their customers/clients?
If you have done your research you should already know some of the answers. That way you can get a feel if the company is up front or not. One of the most important questions is how did the job become available. If the person was fired or quit, you need to discreetly find out why. Perhaps the person retired and that would not send up any warning flags. But of the person quit or was fired, that should be of concern as the job may be abusive and perhaps you should pass and avoid the aggravation of quitting or getting fired yourself. That however is your decision to make so there is no right or wrong answer.
Other questions that are appropriate for the first interview may be of a personal nature asking your interviewer what they think of the company. You may be surprised at the answer and it could give you some clues as what questions to ask at the second interview.
Once you have a good idea about the company, you should already have a feel for what the job will be like. Look around and see if the office is well stocked or are people just getting by with minimal things. This will also tell you a lot about how the company is run. Some companies like the latest and greatest, and others just look to get by. The age and background of the companies top executives should give you some clues also. If you have done your research before your interview you should already have a good feel for this, and looking around will verify what you suspected.
During the first interview you will be asked some trick questions, and we will talk about that in a another part of this series.
Next part 12 so check back or hit the subscribe button
