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Since I'm in the mood of just sharing WIP stuff that I haven't written about yet.
Here's how I figure out the questions I want to ask a potential employer about a role.
Here's how I figure out the questions I want to ask a potential employer about a role.
Fundamentally, I want to know who will be responsible and accountable for defining the things in the job description, how mature there are in that journey, and if I will be the person who has decision rights around hiring and prioritizing to meet those things.
Rather than look at all the bullet list stuff, I copy the summary of the description and paste it into a document.
Here's an example of a generic job description.
Here's an example of a generic job description.
Next, I highlight all the "perceived value" words and phrases. These are the words that seem super vital, but are concepts that need a lot of clarification to understand or are difficult to calculate.
Example "perceived value" phrases: best-in-class, shape, align, partner, etc.
Example "perceived value" phrases: best-in-class, shape, align, partner, etc.
Then, I jot down some questions with my historian hat on. I want to try and find out how this stuff is going now in order to better understand how I'll be expected to help.
These are the areas I want to investigate further and look for innovation theatre, politics, culture...
These are the areas I want to investigate further and look for innovation theatre, politics, culture...
"Can you tell me more about partnership? How are decisions made today? What's going well with that? Where's the opportunity to get better?"
Same questions for alignment as partnership.
When really fuzzy phrases like "best-in-class" show up, these are like bat signals for me. I really want to know if that's already defined.
"Tell me more about best-in-class. Do you have a shared definition of what that means across the organization?"
"Tell me more about best-in-class. Do you have a shared definition of what that means across the organization?"
I also want to know more about the skills and capabilities across the team and partners. "I'd love to talk more about research and vision setting. Is there a shared agreement of the skills and capabilities that will and won't be provided by this team?"
Perhaps most importantly, I want to know about people, teams, and culture. "Are the skills and capabilities enough to motivate the current team? Is the vision enough to motivate customers or clients? Can you share more about how this is going?"
Teams and people are the most important piece of the puzzle for me. It's really important for me to understand where teams and people are currently aligned and where they're not.
Just a word of guidance. Not all companies or interviewers like it when I ask these questions. They may be worried I'll ask these types of questions if I take the job. I'm ok with that though because if they're afraid of me asking questions, that's probably not a gig I'll enjoy.
I've been burned too many times by not asking these questions and generally speaking, I'm tired of trying to fight to do the job I've been hired to do.
I also understand the enormous privilege I have to be in a position to ask these questions.
I also understand the enormous privilege I have to be in a position to ask these questions.
So, that's it. That's my little tip to find questions to ask during job interviews.
How do you find questions to ask in an interview? How's it working for you?
How do you find questions to ask in an interview? How's it working for you?
