Marie Oliveria, SPHR, SHRM-CP, IPMA-HR ⋅ Fpo, AP Government of the District of Columbia, Dept of Corrections ⋅ 9 years experience

Hi Tom,

I'm really glad that you're asking this question because it's important to have impactful questions for a potential employer. Asking questions provides you with another opportunity to sell yourself and to provide useful information about yourself that the potential employer did not ask. Before you ask a question, you have to somewhat predict what the answer is going to be so that you can link your skills to your commentary after your question is answered. Also, it's always great to tie in something you know about the company. Here's a simple scenario:

Let's say you researched the company you have an interview for and you found an interesting article in their newsletter that you can relate to from your previous employment. Think about the question you want to ask and your potential contribution to the topic at hand. Here's a sample dialogue:

You: "In your online newsletter from your website, I read that your organization is undergoing a culture shift project. What is the current culture of your organization and what is the ideal?"

Potential Employer: "It's great that you've read up on our company. Currently, we are working on a culture project to promote a respectful workplace. We want to ensure that we have a great diversity program and be more proactive in dealing with potential employee issues rather than being reactive. We are also focusing on training."

You: "That's great. I'm really glad to hear that a respectful workplace is important to your organization and the fact that there is a focus on training will really assist with sustainability. When I worked for X company, I also assisted with their culture shift efforts. In fact, I was chosen to provide X training which made X impact. The project was a success. If given this opportunity, I would love to help and contribute towards the realization of your organization's respectful workplace goals like I did with my former employer."

Honestly, even if you ask good questions and do not have good interpersonal skills, you're going to be out of luck.

Sometimes even more important than the questions is a closing statement. Please feel free to reach out to me should you need help with this.

Good Luck!

-Marie Olivieria, SPHR, SHRM-CP, IPMA-CP

Doug Hill ⋅ Kearneysville, WV PC Construction ⋅ 20 years experience

Tom,

I may have some unique insight in a previous position as a hiring manager for a security department at a world renowned facility that dealt with a wide range of customers and clients. I had to know how this prospective employee would react when a difficult person with a lot of influence had a melt down. I drew these questions from real life situations that had happened to me as the Security Director. And I gave the candidate 5 seconds to tell me what he would do. I like asking questions that are directly applicable to the nature of the job. There are many security officers, but not all of them can handle a customer service crisis. It is conventional wisdom that a customer with a good experience may tell as many as 12 others about it. A person that has a bad experience will tell double that many people. I know that there is a place for the standard Weakness and Strengths questions and I also know that there are a lot of sites that will give a candidate "canned" answers to those questions. There is no website expert to tell you what to do when a rich member comes on the opening day of the biggest festival of the year and finds out her membership has expired and the Visa Card machine has just went on the fritz and she is dropped in your lap because you have the badge. At this point in the interview I draw the 5 second line in the sand. "This member takes out her expired membership card, tears it into small pieces while telling you she is NEVER going to be a member here ever again and throws the shredded card into the air. I give the candidate until that shredded card hits the floor to say something that will fix this fiasco. This happened to me. How did I handle it you ask? I said, "Ma'am, would you please come to the Festival as my guest today (handing her my business card to replace her shredded card) and if you will stop back by here when you are ready to leave, I will have someone here from Membership with your new card."She thought that was a grand gesture and later wrote a kind letter to the Director about the wonderful staff he had working there. And Membership just thought I did the best thing ever. My recommendation to your inquiry Tom is for a hiring manager to ask questions that get answers relating directly to the position in that company. Thank you.

Zsuzsa Snow , PhD, MBA, Six Sigma Black Belt ⋅ Le Roy, NY Xerox ⋅ 26 years experience

Hello Tom,
You are asking specifically about advisory/informational interviews and these are different than an interview for a job opening. Your primary goals are to learn if the company, the job role is a good fit for you, and if you are a good fit for the company or the job. Tailor your questions to these two goals.
I strongly agree that you need to research as much as possible before the meeting. Find out about the company and the position that interests you. The company web site is a good start. You may also want to look at some of their job postings, even if the jobs are not what you want. You will learn how the company describes itself and what core skills they want. I am talking about general business skills and cultural values, such as leadership, team building, data management, proven results, communication skills, etc. (These are often vague and cited in a variety of postings so they give you a great opportunity to show you have taken the trouble to learn about the company and can ask thoughtful questions )
I assume that you know the name of the person you will meet. Check them out on LinkedIn. You will likely learn their background and areas of expertise. Find questions to ask from the info you learn. For example, if you see team building emphasized, ask how teams are formed, who leads, how are team efforts measured, what kind of projects, tasks do teams work? What kind of teamwork is the person you are meeting involved in. What in their opinion is critical to team success. What have been the most important team results.

Then you can more easily get to your second objective, finding out how well you fit in. Explain your experiences very briefly and ask how well this expertise fits in. There should be a good connection between your skills and what you have heard from the person in response to your questions. Marie O. gave a great example of how you can work in your expertise in a natural but specific, quantified way to demonstrate that you are suited for this role and company. This is when you test if the interviewer agrees or gives you info on what is not a good match, areas that you may need to strengthen. For example, you have worked on process improvements but you don't know how to prepare process flowcharts which are required for all core processes. You are both testing for how well suited you are and what more you need to work on, but you are also selling yourself.

Ideally, this kind of exploratory interview ends with the person offering you some additional information, mentoring, or possibly contacts within the company for job opportunities. In my experience, exploratory interviews never lead to an immediate job offer. Often, it was a single meeting with no further contact. But in some cases I found interesting and interested candidates whom I did contact later if something suitable came up, or more often if the person asked for further information or help. Think of these as great opportunities to learn and network.
Best of luck.

Keith Van Sickle ⋅ Menlo Park, CA Tensilica ⋅ 25 years experience

If this is an informational interview, rather than a job interview, then it really depends on what the interviewer (the person who initiated the meeting and is asking the questions) is trying to find out.

One great use of an informational interview is the find out if this is a job / field that would be a good fit for the interviewer. That leads to questions like "how did you get into this field" and "what is your day like" and "what do you like and dislike about your job".

If the interviewer has already determined that this is a good job / field for them but is trying to find a job, they can ask questions like "what are the best companies in this industry" and "who's hiring" and "given my background and interests, what is the best kind of job for me to target to get into this industry."

Barbara Stern ⋅ Boulder, CO Affordable Closets,llc ⋅ 35 years experience

As a job seeker I would want to know about how long employees have stayed with the company and what options are available for advancement.

Barron Evans ⋅ Ann Arbor, MI Customer Experience Change Management ⋅ 30 years experience

What business challenge have you been facing and, to date, not been able to resolve ... and why not?

David Daugerdas ⋅ Palatine, IL IBM ⋅ 36 years experience

Ask the interviewer what how he/she got into the field, what motivates him/her in the job, etc. Demonstrate a personal interest in the interviewer and what gets him/her excited about the job.

John Green ⋅ Cary, NC Information Technology ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Tom -

IMHO, the job seeker must demonstrate a keen interest in the job by having researched the company, the position details, and the pain-point the hiring manager is trying to solve. With this knowledge, the job seeker is able to compose questions on-the-fly during the interview. Businesses don't just hire people. There is some business or other problem the hiring manager is trying to solve with the addition of a new human resource.

If a job seeker has no knowledge or demonstrates no knowledge of the company, this is a sure sign of not being extended an offer. Publicly traded companies are very easy to get specific details about, especially if they recently had some bad news to report. Phone interviews also provide a wealth of information if the job seeker can ask some intelligent questions. Keen job seekers should be able to think on their feet. The trick is, to know what value you bring to the table and how this value applies to the job opening.

Looking forward to your compilation.
JG