5 Questions NOT to Ask your Interviewer
“Do you have any questions for me?”
It’s the inevitable point that all interviews reach. The way you respond can make or break the interview.
Failure to ask anything makes you look disinterested in the company and position, so you should always asksomething.
It’s perfectly fine to take a list of questions into the interview with you – make sure that none of these are on your list, though!
1. About pay, benefits or anything else financial
They won’t know if they want you yet – they certainly won’t know how much they’re prepared to pay you. Asking about money during the first interview is just inappropriate. It also makes you appear to be interested in the role for financial gain only.
2. Anything you could have found out with a quick Google search
The person interviewing you has read your CV – extend the same courtesy to them. If you ask them some information that’s readily available online – or worse yet on their website – you’re making it obvious that you haven’t bothered to do your homework.
It’s fine to ask interviewer to expand on information you saw on their website, though.
3. If you got the job
It makes you look confrontational, and it puts the interviewer on the spot.
4. Any personal questions
Asking about your interviewer’s employment history counts as personal; you’re interviewing the company and the role, not them.
5. Never ask about promotions
You’d be forgiven for thinking it makes you look enthusiastic. It doesn’t. It implies that you aren’t interested in the role you’re interviewing for. What if there aren’t any promotions on the horizon – are you going to jump ship?