Thursday, October 04, 2012
5 questions to ask your next boss
Ask Annie - Fortune Management: Dear Annie: At the end of your recent column about cultural "fit," the expert you quoted said that most job candidates don't ask enough questions. But what should interviewees ask, especially when talking with a prospective boss? I'm now in my second job since graduating from college in 2006 and, while my boss and I get along all right most of the time, I can't help feeling like we don't connect very well or really understand each other. Part of it might be that we just don't have that much in common, so I find myself explaining things about my approach to my work that I think would be self-evident if our backgrounds were more similar. I'm not job hunting right now but, in case I decide to make a move, are there specific questions people can ask in a job interview to determine whether they and a potential boss are a good match? — Curious in California
via lifehacker
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
There are always articles posted about how to answer questions at interviews and how best to present oneself, but I rarely see articles about asking questions to the interviewer. It seems that often times people get so wrapped up in their own presentation that they forget about the equally important interviewing that they have to do. Theses questions seem like a good way to get a handle on a potential future boss. What I always look for in these articles is never there. People should be asking questions about office safety as well as questions about their bosses and coworkers that will inform them as to whether or not those people are potentially dangerous. This sounds neurotic, sure, but so much time is spent in the workplace that it is worth considering personal safety. This is rarely done, and is never brought up in these articles. Why?
One time last year Joe Pino told us that if we interviewed to go to school here and we didnt have any questions about it... we were poorly choosing to spend $250k on an education. Ive never found any advice so easily applicable to interviews that just take the interview to the next level. At all of my interviews I asked about how they prepared their graduates... either for grad school or the workforce.. and CMU was the only college that bluntly told me it would be a waste to go to grad school afterwards because of the level of education we receive. That better had been the answer for that much money, but hearing it directly from the faculty lets me know they take the program seriously and them know im not joking around with my future. Questions at interviews really can make/break them.
I really liked this article. I think it gave very helpful information for someone new in the workforce. I loved the line that people join companies but they leave managers. I have had several jobs in my life so far and had many managers in all of them. It is so true that if you don't mesh with your immediate supervisor, you can be very unhappy in your job. Back home where I had a job at a restaurant, I saw how the managers would make the waiters work six days a week and sometimes 12 hour days. I saw how tired and frustrated the workers were. Some were parents and so could not risk losing their jobs, but also missed out on a lot of special times with their kids. I hated to see that and felt so bad for them. I think for someone who will be working full time and especially with a family, the five things to ask are so important. Getting their background tells you so much about them and where they have come from. Being able to have a boss as a mentor would be so much more satisfying, and asking what they are looking for is just a great question because it gets right to the point. Asking what they liked about successful employees gives great insight and then being able to actually talk to other employees is invaluable. I will definitely use this information to help me in the future.
One of the problems I always have in interviews, especially second interviews, is having enough questions to ask and asking the questions that I should be. This article makes a start on answering that, but I wish it went further!
I like Abigail's suggestion about workplace safety, although I think that is more applicable in a TD type job than an office position. Most interview's, I think, would look at that strangely. One of the other things I am always curious about is the organization structure (something they engrain in us here), and how it ACTUALLY works in terms of communication channels.
This is a very useful article since most people just go to interviews hoping for any job or source of income, and they worry about this so much that they rarely stop to consider whether the job will be good for them. Since it is rare enough to think whether or not a job is right for them, it is even rarer to go further and also ask whether they would enjoy having their interviewer as their boss. The end of the article points this out and then supports the idea that people should be more concerned about what is a good fit for them. This article does a good job in helping someone figure out how to go about doing this.
I really liked this article. I think it gave very helpful information for someone new in the workforce. I loved the line that people join companies but they leave managers. I have had several jobs in my life so far and had many managers in all of them. It is so true that if you don't mesh with your immediate supervisor, you can be very unhappy in your job. Back home where I had a job at a restaurant, I saw how the managers would make the waiters work six days a week and sometimes 12 hour days. I saw how tired and frustrated the workers were. Some were parents and so could not risk losing their jobs, but also missed out on a lot of special times with their kids. I hated to see that and felt so bad for them. I think for someone who will be working full time and especially with a family, the five things to ask are so important. Getting their background tells you so much about them and where they have come from. Being able to have a boss as a mentor would be so much more satisfying, and asking what they are looking for is just a great question because it gets right to the point. Asking what they liked about successful employees gives great insight and then being able to actually talk to other employees is invaluable. I will definitely use this information to help me in the future.
Post a Comment