Interviews: Remembering it’s a 2-way process
Many people new to the market see interviews only from their own point-of-view, e.g. they only prepare to answer questions, not to ask them. However, despite the pressure of the moment it is important to remember that it is a 2-way process.
They are interviewing you but do not forget you are also interviewing them.
Yes, you might want a job but do you really want this job? Is there a better opportunity somewhere else?
Do you really want to get this job and then spend time looking for something else, when if you had done your homework, properly in advance, you wouldn’t even have bothered to apply in the first place?
In addition, it is easy to have a good HR department who make everything sound wonderful, whilst all around is crumbling. So your interview questions to your potential employer are vital.
Don’t wing it, prepare them well in advance (if you can, memorise them) list and then prioritise them. Work out your plan of attack, how do you want to come across hard-hitting, thoughtful... …Just like your C.V. if you haven’t written and rewritten them at least 20 times they probably are not as good as they could and should be.
Just remember not to be intimidated. Yes they might be older than you. Yes they might be more senior than you, so what?
There are a multitude of questions that you can source from the net, some of them very good. So, go seek.
Empowerment clues to a great job!
The key to any good job (let’s do the pay, location argument later) is empowerment. You need to know, if you are going to take that job, that once you have found your feet, you will have the necessary “muscle” to make a difference.
So work out some key questions to test whether or not they really will give you the budget you need, the support staff necessary… …find out if your line-manager really does make the decisions that s/he is meant to, or are they just puppets with someone higher up pulling the strings.