5 ms·

Many of the companies I have interviewed with would have ended the interview if I had asked them some of these questions. These are terrific questions though. I

Many of the companies I have interviewed with would have ended the interview if I had asked them some of these questions. These are terrific questions though. I was once asked by an interviewer where I saw myself in three years. I said, "dead." Then I said that would depend on the career trajectory of employees there. The gulp I heard in response was all that I needed to know. Life is too chaotic to predict more than six months in advance.

pmiller2 13y ago
Definitely. I noticed quite a few that would be totally unsuitable to ask in, say, a first interview. For instance, asking about the vacation policy early on is in bad taste and sends a signal you don't want to be sending.
- ChristianMarks 13y ago
  One might not get an honest answer to some of them at any stage of an interview. The question on turnover might be directed to the person responsible for four resignations in the space of two months. But it certainly is a good idea to have these questions in mind, even if you don't ask the ones you would like to ask, since you just might be able to infer the answers from the responses to the questions that you do ask.
- EliRivers 13y ago
  What signal is that? That you're the kind of person who takes vacation? How is that "in bad taste"? This is the opening stage of a negotiation leading to a legally binding contract; to not ask about vacation seems odd. It's a significant part of the deal. I'm not here to beg them to please please grant me the privilege of working for them. I wouldn't want to work for an employer who wouldn't hire someone because they like to take vacation, so if this question will act as a filter for me to weed out the bad employers, I'll always ask it (and indeed, I do always ask, and for the last few jobs I've also asked about their policy on additional unpaid vacation; my current employer gave me an extra two weeks unpaid each year).
  - mrfusion 13y ago
    One company I interviewed at had a whiteboard where everyone wrote down the days they were taking vacation. It was titled "slackers". I know they thought it was a funny joke, but I think even jokes can send a message.
  - ScottWhigham 13y ago
    So much of this is subjective - there's no right/wrong. I would agree that it's in poor taste to ask during the first interview but that's my opinion and it's totally biased based on my life experience. Why? Because that's third or fourth-level information. I'm choosing the job based on whether I want to do this specific work with this specific group of people who are aligned towards these specific goals - that's first level. Second level would be whether the salary is inline with what I need/want. After that, let's consider PTO/policies/drive time/etc. A "correct" candidate IMO is most concerned with solving the first-level problem during the first interview. It's a massively complex problem - lots of moving parts. 1-5 questions won't answer that completely - I'd need hours to figure that out. The last question of the interview might be, "And by the way, what is the salary range for this position?" We all know that 2nd and 3rd-level stuff is so negotiable that it doesn't really do much point to ask pointed questions about it during a first interview. So for someone to think that the first interview is the time to dig down to 3rd/4th level information - that's just showing me that their priorities are skewed. That said, I can think of two situations in which it would be appropriate: 1) when, during the first interview, it becomes clear that the employer is ready to hire you right now ("Can you start today?"). Obviously the long game goes out the window here! 2) During an interview that has cost either party something significant. For example, if the candidate flew you out and you spent the entire day, I think it's a fair question for the HR person at the very end of the day.
    - mgkimsal 13y ago
      Correct - there is no right/wrong exactly, and I learned a while back to not work to those 'rules' too closely. There's an etiquette that always seemed 'common sense' to me, and now, it's generally easier to learn a lot more about a company, even a small one, before even getting to an interview stage. I've asked about vacation and such during a 'first interview' a couple of times, mostly because in my view I was already satisfied about some of the other more 'important' stuff. Some of that came from the interview time itself, other info came from doing research on the company, staff, work, etc before the first interview. And by the same token, I've had to shut down a couple of interview dances short because the company would not disclose salary range at all until I'd flown out to their HQ and met the team. "We don't discuss that this early in the process" was the standard response. Well... I wasn't about to reshuffle multiple days (affecting 2-3 weeks of existing stuff) without any idea if this would be worth my time 4 weeks later.
- walshemj 13y ago
  If a company was on the ball they should have an info pack which goes to all job applicants which cover that sort of question I.E. leave allowance how sick leave /pensions etc is handled etc.
- ronaldx 13y ago
  I disagree, for the most part. Perhaps a focus on vacation policy is not preferred, but if you have multiple employers competing for your attention, then pay and conditions ought naturally to be the deciding factor. Asking about pay and conditions is therefore a very important and relevant signal. If an employer doesn't want to tell you openly about conditions and acts like it's a bad taste question, you might consider that an important signal for you as well.
- x0x0 13y ago
  That's really silly. As a candidate, I require 3 weeks of vacation (because life is short, I want that, and I won't work for you otherwise.) If that's not on the table, I want to know immediately; I already have a job that meets my requirements, so no need to bother with yours if it doesn't. As a hiring manager, I offer 3 weeks of vacation; if that isn't enough for an employee, I need to either figure out if we can negotiate a special deal (someone super awesome, or maybe reduced salary, or who knows) and if not, I don't want to waste time with a candidate we won't hire.
binarymax 13y ago
My favorite response to the "where do you see yourself in X years" question is "CTO". Its a joke masquerading as ambition.
- bonemachine 13y ago
  Or simply, "your boss." Gets right to the point.
jvns 13y ago
Yup -- definitely use your discretion here. I'm nervous about asking a lot of these in a first interview, but once I have an offer I'll ask pretty much anything.
michaelochurch 13y ago
"Where do you see yourself in 3 years?" is actually a good question, if overused. If answered honestly, it gives you a sense of what is important to a person (titles? achievements? freedom? money?) That's really useful in hiring, because you want to bring in people who want different things so there aren't conflicts over finite resources. The problem is that few people will answer it honestly, and that's a shame. I'd be happy if someone said, "I want a high income and short working hours." It may not be the socially acceptable answer, but it'd give me a clear, no-bullshit sense of what the person wants and if he or she were talented I'd find a way to work with that.
- ChristianMarks 13y ago
  It used to be, "where do you see yourself in five years." I added one year. The understanding is that people will move around. Divide by two to obtain the mean time to burnout.
tokenrove 13y ago
Which is the best possible result, in my opinion. If they know they don't have a good answer to one of these questions, you probably don't want to work there. I've made the mistake of ignoring that principle in the past, to my own detriment.

pmiller2 13y ago

Definitely. I noticed quite a few that would be totally unsuitable to ask in, say, a first interview. For instance, asking about the vacation policy early on is in bad taste and sends a signal you don't want to be sending.

ChristianMarks 13y ago
One might not get an honest answer to some of them at any stage of an interview. The question on turnover might be directed to the person responsible for four resignations in the space of two months. But it certainly is a good idea to have these questions in mind, even if you don't ask the ones you would like to ask, since you just might be able to infer the answers from the responses to the questions that you do ask.
EliRivers 13y ago
What signal is that? That you're the kind of person who takes vacation? How is that "in bad taste"? This is the opening stage of a negotiation leading to a legally binding contract; to not ask about vacation seems odd. It's a significant part of the deal. I'm not here to beg them to please please grant me the privilege of working for them. I wouldn't want to work for an employer who wouldn't hire someone because they like to take vacation, so if this question will act as a filter for me to weed out the bad employers, I'll always ask it (and indeed, I do always ask, and for the last few jobs I've also asked about their policy on additional unpaid vacation; my current employer gave me an extra two weeks unpaid each year).
- mrfusion 13y ago
  One company I interviewed at had a whiteboard where everyone wrote down the days they were taking vacation. It was titled "slackers". I know they thought it was a funny joke, but I think even jokes can send a message.
- ScottWhigham 13y ago
  So much of this is subjective - there's no right/wrong. I would agree that it's in poor taste to ask during the first interview but that's my opinion and it's totally biased based on my life experience. Why? Because that's third or fourth-level information. I'm choosing the job based on whether I want to do this specific work with this specific group of people who are aligned towards these specific goals - that's first level. Second level would be whether the salary is inline with what I need/want. After that, let's consider PTO/policies/drive time/etc. A "correct" candidate IMO is most concerned with solving the first-level problem during the first interview. It's a massively complex problem - lots of moving parts. 1-5 questions won't answer that completely - I'd need hours to figure that out. The last question of the interview might be, "And by the way, what is the salary range for this position?" We all know that 2nd and 3rd-level stuff is so negotiable that it doesn't really do much point to ask pointed questions about it during a first interview. So for someone to think that the first interview is the time to dig down to 3rd/4th level information - that's just showing me that their priorities are skewed. That said, I can think of two situations in which it would be appropriate: 1) when, during the first interview, it becomes clear that the employer is ready to hire you right now ("Can you start today?"). Obviously the long game goes out the window here! 2) During an interview that has cost either party something significant. For example, if the candidate flew you out and you spent the entire day, I think it's a fair question for the HR person at the very end of the day.
  - mgkimsal 13y ago
    Correct - there is no right/wrong exactly, and I learned a while back to not work to those 'rules' too closely. There's an etiquette that always seemed 'common sense' to me, and now, it's generally easier to learn a lot more about a company, even a small one, before even getting to an interview stage. I've asked about vacation and such during a 'first interview' a couple of times, mostly because in my view I was already satisfied about some of the other more 'important' stuff. Some of that came from the interview time itself, other info came from doing research on the company, staff, work, etc before the first interview. And by the same token, I've had to shut down a couple of interview dances short because the company would not disclose salary range at all until I'd flown out to their HQ and met the team. "We don't discuss that this early in the process" was the standard response. Well... I wasn't about to reshuffle multiple days (affecting 2-3 weeks of existing stuff) without any idea if this would be worth my time 4 weeks later.
walshemj 13y ago
If a company was on the ball they should have an info pack which goes to all job applicants which cover that sort of question I.E. leave allowance how sick leave /pensions etc is handled etc.
ronaldx 13y ago
I disagree, for the most part. Perhaps a focus on vacation policy is not preferred, but if you have multiple employers competing for your attention, then pay and conditions ought naturally to be the deciding factor. Asking about pay and conditions is therefore a very important and relevant signal. If an employer doesn't want to tell you openly about conditions and acts like it's a bad taste question, you might consider that an important signal for you as well.
x0x0 13y ago
That's really silly. As a candidate, I require 3 weeks of vacation (because life is short, I want that, and I won't work for you otherwise.) If that's not on the table, I want to know immediately; I already have a job that meets my requirements, so no need to bother with yours if it doesn't. As a hiring manager, I offer 3 weeks of vacation; if that isn't enough for an employee, I need to either figure out if we can negotiate a special deal (someone super awesome, or maybe reduced salary, or who knows) and if not, I don't want to waste time with a candidate we won't hire.

binarymax 13y ago

My favorite response to the "where do you see yourself in X years" question is "CTO". Its a joke masquerading as ambition.

bonemachine 13y ago
Or simply, "your boss." Gets right to the point.

jvns 13y ago

Yup -- definitely use your discretion here. I'm nervous about asking a lot of these in a first interview, but once I have an offer I'll ask pretty much anything.

michaelochurch 13y ago

"Where do you see yourself in 3 years?" is actually a good question, if overused. If answered honestly, it gives you a sense of what is important to a person (titles? achievements? freedom? money?) That's really useful in hiring, because you want to bring in people who want different things so there aren't conflicts over finite resources. The problem is that few people will answer it honestly, and that's a shame. I'd be happy if someone said, "I want a high income and short working hours." It may not be the socially acceptable answer, but it'd give me a clear, no-bullshit sense of what the person wants and if he or she were talented I'd find a way to work with that.

ChristianMarks 13y ago
It used to be, "where do you see yourself in five years." I added one year. The understanding is that people will move around. Divide by two to obtain the mean time to burnout.

tokenrove 13y ago

Which is the best possible result, in my opinion. If they know they don't have a good answer to one of these questions, you probably don't want to work there. I've made the mistake of ignoring that principle in the past, to my own detriment.