{"id":7651,"date":"2021-06-08T01:52:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T01:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/?p=7651"},"modified":"2021-06-08T01:52:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T01:52:17","slug":"the-forgotten-interview-question-you-must-prepare-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/the-forgotten-interview-question-you-must-prepare-for\/","title":{"rendered":"The Forgotten Interview Question You MUST Prepare For!"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\">3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p>Interviews are always anxiety-inducing. No matter how many you sit through or how confident you are you\u2019re the right person for the job, sitting in front of a panel and articulately answering their questions causes a few butterflies!<\/p>\n<p>We often spend quite a bit of time preparing ourselves for the questions we think we\u2019ll be asked. We research the company, practice common questions, and we might even ask a friend or parent to give us a mock and a pep talk.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s one question that usually gets forgotten. It might not seem that important, but preparing for it and answering it well can make a HUGE difference!<\/p>\n<h3>Do You Have Any Questions For Us?<\/h3>\n<p>Yup. That\u2019s the one. Surprised? Lots of people are! But employers regularly tell us they\u2019re disappointed when it gets to the end of the interview, and candidates don\u2019t have <em>anything<\/em> they want to ask or know about the company, the team or the role they might be stepping into.<\/p>\n<p>This is the perfect opportunity to engage with the panel, gain some insights into the role you want and demonstrate a number of things about you, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You\u2019ve done your research.<\/li>\n<li>You want to know more about the potential manager\/colleagues\/workplace.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019re interested in what the day to day of the role looks like.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019re curious about what\u2019s on the horizon for the role and company in general.<\/li>\n<li>You want to know what to expect next.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your questions don\u2019t have to be completely formal, and it\u2019s okay to mix it up a bit, but you definitely need to ask something.<\/p>\n<h3>What Questions Should You Ask?<\/h3>\n<p>The questions you ask need to be a mix of demonstrating you\u2019re engaged with the role and the company. Here are five of our favourite examples:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> What have been some of the team\u2019s successes I\u2019d be working with this year?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This question demonstrates that you\u2019re interested in the team environment you\u2019ll be stepping into and indicates to the employers that you\u2019re team focused. It also helps you better understand how success and goals are viewed and measured by the company.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong> What would you say are some of the challenges in this role?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This question demonstrates you understand that not every opportunity is golden, and you\u2019re happy to turn focus and discussions towards problem-solving. Depending on the answer, it also gives you the chance to learn more about the type of work environment you\u2019ll be stepping into, which can help you decide whether this is the right job for you.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Why has the role become available?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This can help you determine if the role is new &#8211; in which case, there could be follow-up questions about how it will be managed and how success will be measured. If it\u2019s because someone is leaving, then you can find out a bit more about what they\u2019ve been working on and what your immediate priorities might be.<\/p>\n<p>Finding out that a role has been vacant for a long time or has had a few previous individuals cycle through it is a big red flag for what the company culture might be like\u2014vital information to know.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> What\u2019s the management structure like across the organisation?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you\u2019re deeply curious about progression, this is a better question to ask to help build a picture of what the company looks like at a managerial level. It\u2019s always good to know if there are different layers you could move up into. It also helps you understand who you would be reporting to and how the role you\u2019re applying to sits within the bigger company structure.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong> What does my initial training look like if I\u2019m offered the position?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If this is a brand new opportunity for you and a new industry, it\u2019s great to get some knowledge around how you\u2019ll be supported as a new employee. Asking this question also demonstrates that you\u2019re switched on, willing to learn new things, and focused on doing a good job.<\/p>\n<h3>Some extra tips for getting these questions right:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Follow up on anything from the job ad you\u2019d like clarity on \u2014 did they mention travel? Support with additional qualifications? Is it part-time or full time? Now is the time to ask!.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you ask open-ended questions \u2014 what, when, who, where and how. Keep your questions open-ended so you can have a conversation.<\/li>\n<li>Refer back to questions you\u2019ve been asked and\/or something referenced in the interview. If there\u2019s space, ask questions about this at the time they come up. If there isn\u2019t, make a little note and come back to it at the end.<\/li>\n<li>Do ask them \u2018what are the next steps\u2019!. Ensure you know what to expect, so you aren\u2019t left in limbo and can follow up at the appropriate time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Instead of feeling tongue-tied and stumped by this question, you need to reframe it as the perfect opportunity it is!<\/p>\n<p>This question is your chance to uncover if this is the right job for you, but it\u2019s also how you can demonstrate that you do the work, you\u2019re switched on and engaged in what the company is doing and the opportunity at hand.<\/p>\n<p>Which we know first hand is guaranteed to impress any employer!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ready to start finding your next interview opportunity?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Check out our <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/employers\/\"><strong>Employer Pages<\/strong><\/a><strong> for all the up-to-date job listings and get stuck in!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\">3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span> Interviews are always anxiety-inducing. No matter how many you sit through or how confident you are you\u2019re the right person [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[24],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7653,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7651\/revisions\/7653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}