Questions to ask employer during interview?

Tesco TripleChicken

Last year I had an interview for a "shop assistant" position at Centra. At the end of the interview he said "Have you got any questions for me?" and I didn't know what to say and just replied "Eh no that's grand." and I felt like I lost out at that point and made it seem like I had no interest in the job. It was my first job interview. Hoping to get a Summer job this year and want to be well prepared for an interview this time. What questions should I ask an employer?

reap-a-rat

Tesco TripleChicken wrote: »

Last year I had an interview for a "shop assistant" position at Centra. At the end of the interview he said "Have you got any questions for me?" and I didn't know what to say and just replied "Eh no that's grand." and I felt like I lost out at that point and made it seem like I had no interest in the job. It was my first job interview. Hoping to get a Summer job this year and want to be well prepared for an interview this time. What questions should I ask an employer?

The last two interviews I have done from which I got the job, I have asked, "Do you enjoy your job? Do you like your role here and why?" or something along that line. In both cases, it threw the interviewer and they had to give it a few seconds thought. It was great, it was a bit of role-reversal and I think it helped me to stand out to be honest, so I'm glad I asked. That's pretty much the only interview tip I have!

Tesco TripleChicken

reap-a-rat wrote: »

The last two interviews I have done from which I got the job, I have asked, "Do you enjoy your job? Do you like your role here and why?" or something along that line. In both cases, it threw the interviewer and they had to give it a few seconds thought. It was great, it was a bit of role-reversal and I think it helped me to stand out to be honest, so I'm glad I asked. That's pretty much the only interview tip I have!

What if they want to know why you asked that? Seems a bit of a random thing to ask, any reason?

reap-a-rat

Tesco TripleChicken wrote: »

What if they want to know why you asked that? Seems a bit of a random thing to ask, any reason?

Well, they're interviewing you to work there. If they don't like working there, why would you want to accept an offer from them? Like, if they say "I love my job, the work environment is great here and my colleagues and I get on really well" then you would think, this places sounds nice, I'd work here given the chance. If they hesitate and say, "Well it gets me by", that wouldn't instill confidence in you about how good the work environment is.

Why do you think they would ask why you asked something? They specifically open the floor to you to ask something, you ask that - it would seem utterly rude, in my opinion, for them to ask why you asked a certain thing. After all, would you ask them why they asked any of the questions they did during the interview? I highly doubt it.

Tesco TripleChicken

reap-a-rat wrote: »

Well, they're interviewing you to work there. If they don't like working there, why would you want to accept an offer from them? Like, if they say "I love my job, the work environment is great here and my colleagues and I get on really well" then you would think, this places sounds nice, I'd work here given the chance. If they hesitate and say, "Well it gets me by", that wouldn't instill confidence in you about how good the work environment is.

Why do you think they would ask why you asked something? They specifically open the floor to you to ask something, you ask that - it would seem utterly rude, in my opinion, for them to ask why you asked a certain thing. After all, would you ask them why they asked any of the questions they did during the interview? I highly doubt it.

Ok thanks, just wanted to make sure Im covered just in case (if I even manage to get as far as an interview)

whomitconcerns

when I am interviewing people (regularly enough) and I ask if they have any questions, I dont mind what they ask at all, as it gives me a good insight into the person themselves or their interest in teh job, depending on the question. And I have gotten asked some weird ones over the years!

Raphael

A friend of mine has as his default question: "Can you describe the best and the worst day you've had working for XYZ". It's much better to try and come up with something specific to the job, though if it's just sitting on a till then I can see why you'd have a tough time coming up with one.

It's always worth asking something, and trying to make it good, though, as it'll stick in the interviewers mind and help you stand out.

callaway92

Generally the "Is there potential for future progress for me within your company if I am successful/What would be the general timeline for progress?" questions go down well.

cloudatlas

'If I got the job what would you expect me to have achieved in three months time?'

It doesn't put them on the spot i.e. 'Do you like your job?' 'what do you hate about your job' and it gives you an idea of what is expected of you from the company.

House of Blaze

I always tend to ask: Can you tell me a little about the 'culture' here at x?

Can get some rather revealing answers from that one.

Kai123

If they haven't explained it in detail during the interview, then pretend you have the job and you want to know the most about your role before you start.

I asked about everyday tasks, any upcoming projects, size of the team.

Tesco TripleChicken

Kai123 wrote: »

If they haven't explained it in detail during the interview, then pretend you have the job and you want to know the most about your role before you start.

I asked about everyday tasks, any upcoming projects, size of the team.

Would it not be a bad thing to ask about everyday tasks as it implies that you don't know what job you're applying for? (keep in mind that it's just a retail sales assistant job, nothing major)

Kai123

Tesco TripleChicken wrote: »

Would it not be a bad thing to ask about everyday tasks as it implies that you don't know what job you're applying for? (keep in mind that it's just a retail sales assistant job, nothing major)

It depends how you put it across, its an informal question but your still asking about how things are done, what to expect etc even if you know already whats expected from you.

When I asked, I was told a bit more detail about the ticket system, how delegation works between the team, someone is always in the IS office to handle phones, sometimes it can be boring but generally no week is the same.