When you’re on a job interview, you get a lot of questions from your prospective manager, human resources representative and colleagues. When a company does it the wrong way, a candidate can feel like they are in front of a firing squad. The questions just keep coming and in a fashion that can feel more like an inquisition than a conversation.
Prior to the interview, you try your best to prepare for the questions you are likely to be asked. You think about the ones often asked by managers and human resources representatives and how you will answer them. The time and energy you put into that can be all for naught, however, if you give the wrong answer to one question in particular.
Simply put, when asked some form of, “Do you have any questions for me?”, the worst possible answer you can give is, “No, I have no questions.”
Why is this the case? There are three big things this answer reflects.
- A lack of interest in the job and the company. Yes, sometimes you just need a job for the paycheck, so you might be interviewing for a job in a company that isn’t in your ideal industry or that might not be your dream job. That doesn’t matter. You still have to show an interest in the job and company so that they can be confident in what they are getting if they hire you. Additionally, you want to understand what you may get yourself into.
- You didn’t do your homework on the company. Some companies are easier to find information on than others, but you always have to do some research on the company. Along the way, those interviewing you will tell you about the company, and even ask you what you know about the company. But your research should not only inform you, but lead you to ask more questions in the interest of becoming more informed, perhaps about a product that they just released or an industry trend.
- A general lack of curiosity. It’s not said as much as it should be, but being curious goes a long way in a business setting. Even Harvard Business Review had an entire issue around the subject a few years ago. If you don’t have any questions for an interviewer, you will look like you are not curious to investigate something further and find better solutions that are unlikely to be found conventionally.
No matter how much research you do on a job and company ahead of the interview, there are going to be things you won’t know when you show up but should know before making an employment decision. This is true even with a company you are very familiar with, unless you worked there once before – and even then, things have probably changed since you were last there.
Just as a company wants to be sure of who they are hiring if they offer you the job, you want to be sure of where you will be working should you accept an offer. You also want to appear interested in the job and the company on more than a surface level.
When preparing for your job interview, you should not think about only what you would answer to particular questions you may receive. You should also spend time coming up with questions you have about the job and the company to ask as well. Next week, we’ll look at some questions you should ask a prospective employer.