9 ms·

My Interview Questions for Potential Employers

114 points by era86 14y ago

HarryHirsch 14y ago
How about the standard questions: * How much money is in the bank, i.e. how long can they go until the next investment round? * Where does the company see itself in five years? * What opportunities are there for employee development? And please, please stop with the cultural fit! Some people do not want to have to go for beers every other night or play Xbox tournaments all Friday!
- GotAnyMegadeth 14y ago
  > And please, please stop with the cultural fit! Some people do not want to have to go for beers every other night or play Xbox tournaments all Friday! But that is cultural fit. If the culture is not doing those things.
  - mrcharles 14y ago
    You can be a good cultural fit for a job even if you don't fraternize outside of work hours.
- hga 14y ago
  Amen to the first question. I also ask/try to figure out in a very small startup "Can you fire people?" Because many people are bad at this and the only thing worse than a bad hire is not dealing with it in a timely fashion. For that matter, your interview will implicitly tell you how good they might be at hiring good people.
- noarchy 14y ago
  The "cultural fit" stuff is a sore spot with me. If you have any kind of life outside of work (or want one), this can be a real stumbling block. Maybe I want to take a walk during lunch, and relax, and not be forced to talk about work during communal lunches. I might want to go see non-work friends or family once the day's work is done, and not go to the bar and show everyone that I like the same microbrews that the office likes. And Friday evenings? Forget about me wanting to stick around the office.
  - era86 14y ago
    Well said. We aren't looking for friends (although it doesn't hurt), we're looking for a great place to work!
    - niggler 14y ago
      I think "Will they laugh if I quote something from Office Space?" suggests something different, more about the levity of the team.
      - arethuza 14y ago
        Actually, I've seen places where "Do they ever laugh?" would be a more appropriate question.
        niggler 14y ago
        You know, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I and many others like some separation between "work life" and "personal life"
        mindcrime 14y ago
        That's a fair point, but there are also many of us who want to be friends with our co-workers, and not just see them as little automatons that we interact with for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and never again. Personally the kind of companies I prefer to work for are exactly the kind where lots of people are genuinely friends, where they do group activities (voluntary, of course) together outside of work, and where people actually like and enjoy each other. Likewise with the company I've founded... when the day comes that we have employees and all that jazz, I do care about "cultural fit" and I would prefer to bring in people who want to be in that kind of environment. It has nothing to do with wanting to control anyone's "outside of work" life, or denying them "separation of work and personal", it's just that it's more fun to work in that kind of environment and also, IMO, more productive. None of this implies that we would ever demand that someone sacrifice elements of their personal life in favour of doing things with co-workers, of course. And we would not be doing group events where participation is mandatory or where you would be "dinged" for choosing not to go. It's just that I like working in a very collegial, friendly, inviting culture where people genuinely enjoy each other.
- era86 14y ago
  These are great questions to ask! Especially, the second one. Understanding how and where the company is going is important because it says a lot about how your role might change over time. However, I disagree about "cultural fit". I feel like being on board with the values and practices of a company are important. Beers and ping-pong aren't all there is to company culture.
- niggler 14y ago
  "* How much money is in the bank, i.e. how long can they go until the next investment round?" Is there any way to verify this information? Anyone can say anything, and even if they show you the bank balance you don't know the expenses etc
  - hga 14y ago
    Indeed, but I've never found that necessary. The reactions to the question, including non-verbal, tell you a whole lot, as does the specificity of the reply.
  - rmc 14y ago
    You might be able to look at your country's company registration office and look at the annual reports they file. They might claim to have been profitable and cash flow positive for years, but their annual reports might show something different.
    - niggler 14y ago
      "look at the annual reports they file" only applicable for public companies or those with enough shareholders that they have to issue public reports. For small startups it doesn't apply. FYI: Just did the biannual report for NY state (for a small partnership) -- they don't ask for income; they just want a statement of ownership
      - rmc 14y ago
        Depends on the area and country. Some small non public companies that I'd consider start up have had to file reports.
- ryusage 14y ago
  The culture thing to me has never meant doing things outside work. Is that a startup thing I'm not aware of? Even in the OP, I don't think that's quite what was meant. It's more a matter of shared interests and compatible personalities. Maybe you're not the type to hang out outside work, you don't have time, whatever. But how well are we going to get along for the 8 hours a day we spend together?
mrcharles 14y ago
Questions I have learned to ask (the hard way): -Do you do performance evaluations / raises? -Do you block any part of the internet? -Do you allow working remotely? -Do you have a sane sick day policy? -What kind of basic hours per week do you expect?
- jgs1 14y ago
  I've found that the small companies I've worked for ignore the HR related policy issues for as long as possible with a mostly negative impact on employee morale. Owners/management say things like "we're small so we don't have a set vacation policy." Which sounds cool and works out fine until Willy starts coming in at 11 am and leaving at 3 pm and you wonder why you're stuck at the office on a holiday. IMO It's much better to have set policies so everyone knows where they stand. Another option is to find a company that doesn't hire/tolerate those types of Willys, but that's difficult to know beforehand.
  - joeblossom 14y ago
    I agree -- I've turned down a job before I received a formal offer (was told one was in the works) partly because no one could tell me what the vacation policy was. Not that I'm only interested in time off work, but I do live a few states away from the rest of my family (and many friends) and I'd like to visit them once in a while and not feel guilty.
- niggler 14y ago
  You will never get a straight answer to any of these questions: "-Do you do performance evaluations / raises?" Yes, we do performance evaluations and raises. (We haven't actually issued a raise yet, but there is a plan at one point in the future) "-Do you block any part of the internet?" Not to my knowledge (We do block parts of the internet, such as porn websites, but we don't expect you to attempt to go to any of those blocked sites) "-Do you allow working remotely?" Yes (but it looks really bad and you will be judged negatively) "-Do you have a sane sick day policy?" Yes (for certain definitions of sane) "-What kind of basic hours per week do you expect?" We don't expect you to work 24-7 if that's what you are asking (but we do expect 16-hour days)
Frencil 14y ago
These are all very good questions and underscore the need to come to an interview prepared to do no less. As a manager who frequently interviews developers nothing is more deflating than an applicant who, when asked if they have any questions, fumbles an awkward "no, not really" and the interview comes to an abrupt end.
gesman 14y ago
Trick question: "If you paid for employee's training and he quits, would you keep investing in training of other employees?" ------ Source: "The only worse thing to training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them". -- Zig Ziglar
nathan_long 14y ago
>> "Does Potential Co. value the professional development of its employees?" This is a good question, but I'd avoid yes/no questions and ask for examples instead. "What are some things you do to encourage employee learning and growth?" It's easy to say "yes", even if they're not doing much.
michael_nielsen 14y ago
"Describe a time you chose principle over immediate short-term interests." This question can be asked of a prospective boss, a co-worker, or adapted to the company as a whole.
- joosters 14y ago
  But whose principles? The employee or the company?
  - michael_nielsen 14y ago
    It doesn't matter. What does matter is how strong a commitment is shown to principle. Giving up a million-dollar contract because it supported something shady is impressive. By contrast, someone who ums and ahs and comes out with something lame may well be someone who always puts themself first.
    - eli_gottlieb 14y ago
      Or possibly someone who's never been handed responsibility for an ethical decision at work. I mean, otherwise, what are you going to say? "I went and helped that homeless guy even though he could have stuck me up"?
    - rmc 14y ago
      It's a good question, but some companies may not have had the opportunity to do anything principled/unprincipled.
TamDenholm 14y ago
I'm a contractor so long term questions are irrelevant to me, but my standard questions are the following: Will i have the freedom to use whatever OS and software i want? If the answer to this is anything other than Yes, i dont take the gig. Give me the tools to do my job and trust me to do it, i'll even bring my own tools, i like a mac and sublime. I once had a potential employer tell me that i was only allowed to use windows, only allowed to use eclipse and i'd be issued an MSDN license even though they admitted it wasnt relevant to me, because that was standard IT policy. Sorry, no thanks. Is the office a relaxed environment? I can usually answer this myself if i'm doing a face to face just by looking at how people are dressed and such, but a lot of the time i have a phone interview first, and then i ask this. I absolutely will not work anywhere where i cant wear jeans and a t-shirt and if i walk in at 9.08am and you're going to moan at me for it, no thanks. I've also seen places where they dont allow employees to leave the building except at pre-defined lunch and break times, again, no deal. While these might seem petty to some people, to me they're indicative of an overall culture of not trusting employees and excessive micromanagement and i have the luxury of totally avoiding places like that, so i'm going to.
- jkubicek 14y ago
  I used to ask what a company's email quota was. Not a big deal at my last two employers, but previous jobs (banking and state government) had very low quotas, something like 20-50MB. At levels that low you can't just archive your email, you've got to decide what stays and what goes and carefully file away any attachments you might want to retrieve in the future. Not only a waste of time, but it adds unnecessary cognitive overhead to the simple act of checking your email.
  - derekp7 14y ago
    Generally quotas are only implemented on the server. So the easy way to work with that is to set up a rule to automatically move all your incoming mail to a local folder. Of course this does break the ability to access your email form multiple clients, or use web mail, unless you have the rule set to replicate locally and let mail sit on the server for 7 - 14 days.
ratherbefuddled 14y ago
Three of the four questions are closed. Try instead: What was the last thing Potential Co. did to invest in your professional development? What would you most like to improve about the team's process and workflow? What was the last thing you did together as a team outside of work? A couple of others that usually yield interesting results: What's the most challenging thing about working at Potential Co? If you could reverse a single technical decision affecting your product, what would it be?
adnam 14y ago
Another article about the tech-industry entitlement culture. [edit] It's quite fascinating that I get heavily down-voted every time I mention the entitlement-culture phenomenon. It really makes me cringe to read things like this, when less fortunate (but equally skillful) professionals have a hard time just getting an interview. The pendulum will swing back sooner or later, and we'll look back on this as the golden era of being a Software Engineer.
- nikomen 14y ago
  It has nothing to do with entitlement. It has to do with the fact that there's apparently a shortage of developers in the world which means that one can be more "picky" about what they expect from an employer. Also, I want a job where my responsibility is to get work done, not be required to follow unnecessary policies or accomplish things that have nothing to do with the task at hand. A lot of companies implement policies "just because" even if they hinder getting actual work done.
  - adnam 14y ago
    I think it's the same thing, isn't it? My wife is an Architect -- a real Architect, not a BillG wannabe -- and is gobsmacked at the arrogance of people in the tech industry towards hiring. "I'm not here to be interviewed, I'm going to interview you" "These tremendous company benefits totally suck" "It is my divine right to work from home" "Co-workers are to be seen and not heard" etc etc
    - nawitus 14y ago
      So it's okay for a corporation to be entitled but not individual people? Says quite a lot about you.
      - adnam 14y ago
        "Let me cram these words in your mouth, and point out how much that says about you". Erm..? I can't reply so [edit], now you're going to tell me "that's how language works"? I stopped reading right there.
kaffeinecoma 14y ago
I like to ask "What's the worst thing about working here at Potential Co?" In addition to (potentially) learning what the group's pain points are, it also allows the interviewer to blow off steam a bit (being on the other side of the table can be stressful too!) And if they dissemble or try to say that there are no downsides, well that's useful knowledge too.
simonsarris 14y ago
If during an interview the question gets asked "What's your greatest weakness?" I try to answer as best I can and then I make a mental note to ask this later: "Since you asked me what my greatest weakness was, I think it's fair to ask: What's the worst thing about working here?" I've only been able to ask it once, and didn't really get a good answer, but I think it has the potential to elicit some thoughtful (or telling) responses.
- tome 14y ago
  I think it's a great question to ask anyway, even if the interviewer doesn't ask about weaknesses.
  - mountaineer 14y ago
    Exactly, this is one of the first 2 or 3 questions I always ask an interviewer. I usually get some great, honest answers.
- btilly 14y ago
  My attitude about the "greatest weakness" question is to treat it as a softball for whatever I would like to most be accommodated on in the workplace. Here are some random example answers to demonstrate. (For each one, I have known someone who that example fits.) "I live a ways away, and to avoid rush hour won't ever be at the office before 11 AM." "I can come in to work early, but I always have to leave by 4 PM to be home in time to pick up my children." "I am an observant Jew and have to leave early on Fridays." "I have life threatening condition X (asthma, diabetes, whatever) and will need accommodation Y." And so on. I originally got this idea from a secretary whose issue was that she was very talkative, she needs to have people she can talk to throughout the day. So she started answering the weakness question that way, and found that her bosses wouldn't complain about her talkativeness because she had already told them that up front.
  - greenyoda 14y ago
    I'm not sure any of those things would qualify as someone's "greatest weakness"; they're incidental matters. Turning it around, would you say that the ability to be at work at 9:00am every day could be considered to be someone's greatest strength?
btilly 14y ago
Here is a fun one. Why and when did the last 3 people who left your group, leave? The answer tells you volumes of useful information. It gets at what organizational turnover is, what people are unhappy about, and something about how much blame there is. Furthermore the question is so specific and unexpected that you sometimes get startlingly honest answers.
mountaineer 14y ago
>> "What's the most interesting thing you've worked on since you started at Potential Co.?" This is my new go-to question. Plus, it works both ways, great to ask interviewees and interviewers. It really opens up the conversation and immediately gets to the core of the company/applicant.
michaelochurch 14y ago
I just mention my blog. Not on my CV because of HR walls, but in interviews, I mention its existence. If they still want to talk to me, then they're probably forward-thinking people. If they don't look it up and are surprised that a certain level of talent inevitably comes with a certain level of anti-authoritarianism, it's not my fault. They were warned.
mjbellantoni 14y ago
I'm a hiring manager. Almost by definition, I expect a good candidate to be someone who is asking me as many questions as I am asking them.
- drewcoo 14y ago
  Otherwise it's probably not a good hire. I agree. Huzzah! I tend to go for "curious" people. They have to ask a lot of quesstions of me (or at least previous people in the interview loop) to show they want to be there. Asking questions about the company/team is a sign that the candidate wants to buy.
mosselman 14y ago
Sorry, but to be honest I find all the comments in here a lot more useful than your pretentious questions. Just be natural at job interviews, that is much more convincing than feigning interest in how well the team is doing, bla bla bla. Any interviewer who is worth anything will introduce the company's history to you anyway.
apunic 14y ago
"Do you have any questions for me?" is usually asked by the potential employer in order to politely signal the end the interview and not because he's interested in your questions.
- tieTYT 14y ago
  I have a friend who failed an interview (there was only one puzzle question and he couldn't answer it). He got the job because he asked lots of questions at the end that really showed he was interested in the position and that he was in fact smart. In the end he turned their opinions around and got a job offer.
- sib 14y ago
  I don't have data on "usually" but I always find it a good way to determine whether the candidate is: (1) prepared; (2) interested; and (3) thoughtful.
- bcbrown 14y ago
  Every single interview I've had has had about 10-20% of the time for questions baked into the schedule. I've known people who didn't get a job because they didn't ask any questions in the interview.
at-fates-hands 14y ago
I learned to take asking questions of the interviewer really serious since the few times I was so enamored by the company, I didn't ask the right questions. A few months later, I was miserable. The three main questions I ask are: What do you do that separates yourself from your competition? Who do you see as your biggest competitors? How much have you been working with (insert some cutting edge technology - lately for me, it's been stuff like Backbone.Js or Parallax Scrolling)? In terms of barometer, it gives me a solid idea of where the company is going, and how they view possible new technologies. These also tend to get, "Wow, that's a great question" from whomever is interviewing me.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
I really liked this article for two reasons; one as an interviewer I feel better about a candidate when they ask me questions, and second because knowing that a place isn't right for you really helps with deciding if you want the job or not. As an employer and an employee what I want is engagement not "headcount" that shows up to the milking barn on schedule, gets drained, and kicked back out into the field.
- rhizome 14y ago
  I think you caught a little catachresis at the end there.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    Oh I like that word. I get that a lot. But In this case I think it is more of a management speak thing. Engagement as the act of 'active participation' as opposed to "passivity" or having things happen around you without either encouraging or challenging them.

114 points by era86 14y ago

How about the standard questions: * How much money is in the bank, i.e. how long can they go until the next investment round? * Where does the company see itself in five years? * What opportunities are there for employee development? And please, please stop with the cultural fit! Some people do not want to have to go for beers every other night or play Xbox tournaments all Friday!

GotAnyMegadeth 14y ago
> And please, please stop with the cultural fit! Some people do not want to have to go for beers every other night or play Xbox tournaments all Friday! But that is cultural fit. If the culture is not doing those things.
- mrcharles 14y ago
  You can be a good cultural fit for a job even if you don't fraternize outside of work hours.
hga 14y ago
Amen to the first question. I also ask/try to figure out in a very small startup "Can you fire people?" Because many people are bad at this and the only thing worse than a bad hire is not dealing with it in a timely fashion. For that matter, your interview will implicitly tell you how good they might be at hiring good people.
noarchy 14y ago
The "cultural fit" stuff is a sore spot with me. If you have any kind of life outside of work (or want one), this can be a real stumbling block. Maybe I want to take a walk during lunch, and relax, and not be forced to talk about work during communal lunches. I might want to go see non-work friends or family once the day's work is done, and not go to the bar and show everyone that I like the same microbrews that the office likes. And Friday evenings? Forget about me wanting to stick around the office.
- era86 14y ago
  Well said. We aren't looking for friends (although it doesn't hurt), we're looking for a great place to work!
  - niggler 14y ago
    I think "Will they laugh if I quote something from Office Space?" suggests something different, more about the levity of the team.
    - arethuza 14y ago
      Actually, I've seen places where "Do they ever laugh?" would be a more appropriate question.
      - niggler 14y ago
        You know, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I and many others like some separation between "work life" and "personal life"
        mindcrime 14y ago
        That's a fair point, but there are also many of us who want to be friends with our co-workers, and not just see them as little automatons that we interact with for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and never again. Personally the kind of companies I prefer to work for are exactly the kind where lots of people are genuinely friends, where they do group activities (voluntary, of course) together outside of work, and where people actually like and enjoy each other. Likewise with the company I've founded... when the day comes that we have employees and all that jazz, I do care about "cultural fit" and I would prefer to bring in people who want to be in that kind of environment. It has nothing to do with wanting to control anyone's "outside of work" life, or denying them "separation of work and personal", it's just that it's more fun to work in that kind of environment and also, IMO, more productive. None of this implies that we would ever demand that someone sacrifice elements of their personal life in favour of doing things with co-workers, of course. And we would not be doing group events where participation is mandatory or where you would be "dinged" for choosing not to go. It's just that I like working in a very collegial, friendly, inviting culture where people genuinely enjoy each other.
era86 14y ago
These are great questions to ask! Especially, the second one. Understanding how and where the company is going is important because it says a lot about how your role might change over time. However, I disagree about "cultural fit". I feel like being on board with the values and practices of a company are important. Beers and ping-pong aren't all there is to company culture.
niggler 14y ago
"* How much money is in the bank, i.e. how long can they go until the next investment round?" Is there any way to verify this information? Anyone can say anything, and even if they show you the bank balance you don't know the expenses etc
- hga 14y ago
  Indeed, but I've never found that necessary. The reactions to the question, including non-verbal, tell you a whole lot, as does the specificity of the reply.
- rmc 14y ago
  You might be able to look at your country's company registration office and look at the annual reports they file. They might claim to have been profitable and cash flow positive for years, but their annual reports might show something different.
  - niggler 14y ago
    "look at the annual reports they file" only applicable for public companies or those with enough shareholders that they have to issue public reports. For small startups it doesn't apply. FYI: Just did the biannual report for NY state (for a small partnership) -- they don't ask for income; they just want a statement of ownership
    - rmc 14y ago
      Depends on the area and country. Some small non public companies that I'd consider start up have had to file reports.
ryusage 14y ago
The culture thing to me has never meant doing things outside work. Is that a startup thing I'm not aware of? Even in the OP, I don't think that's quite what was meant. It's more a matter of shared interests and compatible personalities. Maybe you're not the type to hang out outside work, you don't have time, whatever. But how well are we going to get along for the 8 hours a day we spend together?

mrcharles 14y ago

Questions I have learned to ask (the hard way): -Do you do performance evaluations / raises? -Do you block any part of the internet? -Do you allow working remotely? -Do you have a sane sick day policy? -What kind of basic hours per week do you expect?

jgs1 14y ago
I've found that the small companies I've worked for ignore the HR related policy issues for as long as possible with a mostly negative impact on employee morale. Owners/management say things like "we're small so we don't have a set vacation policy." Which sounds cool and works out fine until Willy starts coming in at 11 am and leaving at 3 pm and you wonder why you're stuck at the office on a holiday. IMO It's much better to have set policies so everyone knows where they stand. Another option is to find a company that doesn't hire/tolerate those types of Willys, but that's difficult to know beforehand.
- joeblossom 14y ago
  I agree -- I've turned down a job before I received a formal offer (was told one was in the works) partly because no one could tell me what the vacation policy was. Not that I'm only interested in time off work, but I do live a few states away from the rest of my family (and many friends) and I'd like to visit them once in a while and not feel guilty.
niggler 14y ago
You will never get a straight answer to any of these questions: "-Do you do performance evaluations / raises?" Yes, we do performance evaluations and raises. (We haven't actually issued a raise yet, but there is a plan at one point in the future) "-Do you block any part of the internet?" Not to my knowledge (We do block parts of the internet, such as porn websites, but we don't expect you to attempt to go to any of those blocked sites) "-Do you allow working remotely?" Yes (but it looks really bad and you will be judged negatively) "-Do you have a sane sick day policy?" Yes (for certain definitions of sane) "-What kind of basic hours per week do you expect?" We don't expect you to work 24-7 if that's what you are asking (but we do expect 16-hour days)

Frencil 14y ago

These are all very good questions and underscore the need to come to an interview prepared to do no less. As a manager who frequently interviews developers nothing is more deflating than an applicant who, when asked if they have any questions, fumbles an awkward "no, not really" and the interview comes to an abrupt end.

gesman 14y ago

Trick question: "If you paid for employee's training and he quits, would you keep investing in training of other employees?" ------ Source: "The only worse thing to training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them". -- Zig Ziglar

nathan_long 14y ago

>> "Does Potential Co. value the professional development of its employees?" This is a good question, but I'd avoid yes/no questions and ask for examples instead. "What are some things you do to encourage employee learning and growth?" It's easy to say "yes", even if they're not doing much.

michael_nielsen 14y ago

"Describe a time you chose principle over immediate short-term interests." This question can be asked of a prospective boss, a co-worker, or adapted to the company as a whole.

joosters 14y ago
But whose principles? The employee or the company?
- michael_nielsen 14y ago
  It doesn't matter. What does matter is how strong a commitment is shown to principle. Giving up a million-dollar contract because it supported something shady is impressive. By contrast, someone who ums and ahs and comes out with something lame may well be someone who always puts themself first.
  - eli_gottlieb 14y ago
    Or possibly someone who's never been handed responsibility for an ethical decision at work. I mean, otherwise, what are you going to say? "I went and helped that homeless guy even though he could have stuck me up"?
  - rmc 14y ago
    It's a good question, but some companies may not have had the opportunity to do anything principled/unprincipled.

TamDenholm 14y ago

I'm a contractor so long term questions are irrelevant to me, but my standard questions are the following: Will i have the freedom to use whatever OS and software i want? If the answer to this is anything other than Yes, i dont take the gig. Give me the tools to do my job and trust me to do it, i'll even bring my own tools, i like a mac and sublime. I once had a potential employer tell me that i was only allowed to use windows, only allowed to use eclipse and i'd be issued an MSDN license even though they admitted it wasnt relevant to me, because that was standard IT policy. Sorry, no thanks. Is the office a relaxed environment? I can usually answer this myself if i'm doing a face to face just by looking at how people are dressed and such, but a lot of the time i have a phone interview first, and then i ask this. I absolutely will not work anywhere where i cant wear jeans and a t-shirt and if i walk in at 9.08am and you're going to moan at me for it, no thanks. I've also seen places where they dont allow employees to leave the building except at pre-defined lunch and break times, again, no deal. While these might seem petty to some people, to me they're indicative of an overall culture of not trusting employees and excessive micromanagement and i have the luxury of totally avoiding places like that, so i'm going to.

jkubicek 14y ago
I used to ask what a company's email quota was. Not a big deal at my last two employers, but previous jobs (banking and state government) had very low quotas, something like 20-50MB. At levels that low you can't just archive your email, you've got to decide what stays and what goes and carefully file away any attachments you might want to retrieve in the future. Not only a waste of time, but it adds unnecessary cognitive overhead to the simple act of checking your email.
- derekp7 14y ago
  Generally quotas are only implemented on the server. So the easy way to work with that is to set up a rule to automatically move all your incoming mail to a local folder. Of course this does break the ability to access your email form multiple clients, or use web mail, unless you have the rule set to replicate locally and let mail sit on the server for 7 - 14 days.

ratherbefuddled 14y ago

Three of the four questions are closed. Try instead: What was the last thing Potential Co. did to invest in your professional development? What would you most like to improve about the team's process and workflow? What was the last thing you did together as a team outside of work? A couple of others that usually yield interesting results: What's the most challenging thing about working at Potential Co? If you could reverse a single technical decision affecting your product, what would it be?

adnam 14y ago

Another article about the tech-industry entitlement culture. [edit] It's quite fascinating that I get heavily down-voted every time I mention the entitlement-culture phenomenon. It really makes me cringe to read things like this, when less fortunate (but equally skillful) professionals have a hard time just getting an interview. The pendulum will swing back sooner or later, and we'll look back on this as the golden era of being a Software Engineer.

nikomen 14y ago
It has nothing to do with entitlement. It has to do with the fact that there's apparently a shortage of developers in the world which means that one can be more "picky" about what they expect from an employer. Also, I want a job where my responsibility is to get work done, not be required to follow unnecessary policies or accomplish things that have nothing to do with the task at hand. A lot of companies implement policies "just because" even if they hinder getting actual work done.
- adnam 14y ago
  I think it's the same thing, isn't it? My wife is an Architect -- a real Architect, not a BillG wannabe -- and is gobsmacked at the arrogance of people in the tech industry towards hiring. "I'm not here to be interviewed, I'm going to interview you" "These tremendous company benefits totally suck" "It is my divine right to work from home" "Co-workers are to be seen and not heard" etc etc
  - nawitus 14y ago
    So it's okay for a corporation to be entitled but not individual people? Says quite a lot about you.
    - adnam 14y ago
      "Let me cram these words in your mouth, and point out how much that says about you". Erm..? I can't reply so [edit], now you're going to tell me "that's how language works"? I stopped reading right there.

kaffeinecoma 14y ago

I like to ask "What's the worst thing about working here at Potential Co?" In addition to (potentially) learning what the group's pain points are, it also allows the interviewer to blow off steam a bit (being on the other side of the table can be stressful too!) And if they dissemble or try to say that there are no downsides, well that's useful knowledge too.

simonsarris 14y ago

If during an interview the question gets asked "What's your greatest weakness?" I try to answer as best I can and then I make a mental note to ask this later: "Since you asked me what my greatest weakness was, I think it's fair to ask: What's the worst thing about working here?" I've only been able to ask it once, and didn't really get a good answer, but I think it has the potential to elicit some thoughtful (or telling) responses.

tome 14y ago
I think it's a great question to ask anyway, even if the interviewer doesn't ask about weaknesses.
- mountaineer 14y ago
  Exactly, this is one of the first 2 or 3 questions I always ask an interviewer. I usually get some great, honest answers.
btilly 14y ago
My attitude about the "greatest weakness" question is to treat it as a softball for whatever I would like to most be accommodated on in the workplace. Here are some random example answers to demonstrate. (For each one, I have known someone who that example fits.) "I live a ways away, and to avoid rush hour won't ever be at the office before 11 AM." "I can come in to work early, but I always have to leave by 4 PM to be home in time to pick up my children." "I am an observant Jew and have to leave early on Fridays." "I have life threatening condition X (asthma, diabetes, whatever) and will need accommodation Y." And so on. I originally got this idea from a secretary whose issue was that she was very talkative, she needs to have people she can talk to throughout the day. So she started answering the weakness question that way, and found that her bosses wouldn't complain about her talkativeness because she had already told them that up front.
- greenyoda 14y ago
  I'm not sure any of those things would qualify as someone's "greatest weakness"; they're incidental matters. Turning it around, would you say that the ability to be at work at 9:00am every day could be considered to be someone's greatest strength?

btilly 14y ago

Here is a fun one. Why and when did the last 3 people who left your group, leave? The answer tells you volumes of useful information. It gets at what organizational turnover is, what people are unhappy about, and something about how much blame there is. Furthermore the question is so specific and unexpected that you sometimes get startlingly honest answers.

mountaineer 14y ago

>> "What's the most interesting thing you've worked on since you started at Potential Co.?" This is my new go-to question. Plus, it works both ways, great to ask interviewees and interviewers. It really opens up the conversation and immediately gets to the core of the company/applicant.

michaelochurch 14y ago

I just mention my blog. Not on my CV because of HR walls, but in interviews, I mention its existence. If they still want to talk to me, then they're probably forward-thinking people. If they don't look it up and are surprised that a certain level of talent inevitably comes with a certain level of anti-authoritarianism, it's not my fault. They were warned.

mjbellantoni 14y ago

I'm a hiring manager. Almost by definition, I expect a good candidate to be someone who is asking me as many questions as I am asking them.

drewcoo 14y ago
Otherwise it's probably not a good hire. I agree. Huzzah! I tend to go for "curious" people. They have to ask a lot of quesstions of me (or at least previous people in the interview loop) to show they want to be there. Asking questions about the company/team is a sign that the candidate wants to buy.

mosselman 14y ago

Sorry, but to be honest I find all the comments in here a lot more useful than your pretentious questions. Just be natural at job interviews, that is much more convincing than feigning interest in how well the team is doing, bla bla bla. Any interviewer who is worth anything will introduce the company's history to you anyway.

apunic 14y ago

"Do you have any questions for me?" is usually asked by the potential employer in order to politely signal the end the interview and not because he's interested in your questions.

tieTYT 14y ago
I have a friend who failed an interview (there was only one puzzle question and he couldn't answer it). He got the job because he asked lots of questions at the end that really showed he was interested in the position and that he was in fact smart. In the end he turned their opinions around and got a job offer.
sib 14y ago
I don't have data on "usually" but I always find it a good way to determine whether the candidate is: (1) prepared; (2) interested; and (3) thoughtful.
bcbrown 14y ago
Every single interview I've had has had about 10-20% of the time for questions baked into the schedule. I've known people who didn't get a job because they didn't ask any questions in the interview.

at-fates-hands 14y ago

I learned to take asking questions of the interviewer really serious since the few times I was so enamored by the company, I didn't ask the right questions. A few months later, I was miserable. The three main questions I ask are: What do you do that separates yourself from your competition? Who do you see as your biggest competitors? How much have you been working with (insert some cutting edge technology - lately for me, it's been stuff like Backbone.Js or Parallax Scrolling)? In terms of barometer, it gives me a solid idea of where the company is going, and how they view possible new technologies. These also tend to get, "Wow, that's a great question" from whomever is interviewing me.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I really liked this article for two reasons; one as an interviewer I feel better about a candidate when they ask me questions, and second because knowing that a place isn't right for you really helps with deciding if you want the job or not. As an employer and an employee what I want is engagement not "headcount" that shows up to the milking barn on schedule, gets drained, and kicked back out into the field.

rhizome 14y ago
I think you caught a little catachresis at the end there.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Oh I like that word. I get that a lot. But In this case I think it is more of a management speak thing. Engagement as the act of 'active participation' as opposed to "passivity" or having things happen around you without either encouraging or challenging them.