4 ms·

When I’m in an interview I always end up turning the interview around and interview the the interviewer. Interviews are a two way street. They want to make sur

When I’m in an interview I always end up turning the interview around and interview the the interviewer. Interviews are a two way street. They want to make sure you suite a role but you also need to make sure the role is suitable for you, you are going to enjoy it and get something from it. I go in with the mental view they need to sell the job to me. Doing consultancy I’ve been at many companies, some great some bad. I go straight to the questions trying to dig up as many warts as possible to figure out what I’m letting myself in for as I’ve seen how much different companies can differ. What are you working on this week? What’s a typical day? What’s the current tough problems you have? Do you do much out of hours work? Why do you use the tech stack / tools you do? How do you manage work, do you do scrum/Kanban/x/y/z. How’s your backlog? What are the upcoming releases, are they on schedule? Who manages features, who and how is the product owner? How’s the team? What’s been your favourite part of your job so far? How’s the business make money? How much funding do they have and what happens when that runs out? How’s the current projections will my job be here in 12 months? Why are you recruiting for this role? How is staff turnover? Any bad things I should know? Etc etc

sethammons 6y ago
As a long time interviewer, I’ve heard most of these, but never all together. I’d love to get all these questions, and my opinion of the candidate would go up if these were asked. The worst is when the candidate has no questions for me.
- tpmx 6y ago
  It would be easy to overshoot and then be perceived as this arrogant know-it-all. There are warts everywhere. You should strike some balance between the impressing the employer and attempting to dig up the warts. Sure, if the employer has accepted that they are in over their heads, it's a valid strategy to try to find all of the warts up front. Think about a home owner vs a specialized contractor who performs a brutally honest and (seemingly) credible analysis on the spot. How often does this scenario play out in the extremely vague world of software? (In this subthread we're talking about consultant interaction with a potential employer, which is a bit different from a regular job interview, or from a scholarship interview)
  - Buttons840 6y ago
    > You should strike some balance between the impressing the employer and attempting to dig up the warts. Very true. I feel like a few comments have said the same thing, but it's worth saying a few different ways. I remember from "How To Win Friends and Influence People", the author describes how he simply asked someone a lot of questions at a party, and let them do all the talking. Later he heard that person thought he was an excellent "conversationalist", even though all he did is ask questions. Don't be too adversarial in you questions. Simply asking some friendly questions that give the interviewer a chance to talk about their achievements and interests will cause them to like you more.
- corobo 6y ago
  Random anecdata the only time I have no questions is if the interview hit a deal breaker

sethammons 6y ago

As a long time interviewer, I’ve heard most of these, but never all together. I’d love to get all these questions, and my opinion of the candidate would go up if these were asked. The worst is when the candidate has no questions for me.

tpmx 6y ago
It would be easy to overshoot and then be perceived as this arrogant know-it-all. There are warts everywhere. You should strike some balance between the impressing the employer and attempting to dig up the warts. Sure, if the employer has accepted that they are in over their heads, it's a valid strategy to try to find all of the warts up front. Think about a home owner vs a specialized contractor who performs a brutally honest and (seemingly) credible analysis on the spot. How often does this scenario play out in the extremely vague world of software? (In this subthread we're talking about consultant interaction with a potential employer, which is a bit different from a regular job interview, or from a scholarship interview)
- Buttons840 6y ago
  > You should strike some balance between the impressing the employer and attempting to dig up the warts. Very true. I feel like a few comments have said the same thing, but it's worth saying a few different ways. I remember from "How To Win Friends and Influence People", the author describes how he simply asked someone a lot of questions at a party, and let them do all the talking. Later he heard that person thought he was an excellent "conversationalist", even though all he did is ask questions. Don't be too adversarial in you questions. Simply asking some friendly questions that give the interviewer a chance to talk about their achievements and interests will cause them to like you more.
corobo 6y ago
Random anecdata the only time I have no questions is if the interview hit a deal breaker