Ask Good Questions
This is the third issue of the three-part knowledge letter on how to negotiate in a job interview. To see the earlier two parts, please click here.
In the mid-1980s, “strategic planning” was the “IN” thing in corporate America. Many prominent academicians wrote books and articles in several high profile magazines. A senior executive of a large telecom company invited me for lunch in the New York City. His mission? Convince me to set up and lead the strategic planning organization in his company.
A job interview is a negotiation. As in any exchange, asking the right questions and understanding the responses is quintessence. You can assess the job fit and the company culture only by asking intelligent and perceptive questions and comprehending the answers. Frequently, this will also give you an opportunity to re-count the situations where you excelled at what the hiring executive needs.
What was my first question? “What is the level of commitment your company has to the strategic planning function?”
If the top management is lukewarm towards the idea and does not have an absolute commitment to the new function, what is the probability of its survival in one year or two years?
Here are some useful questions to ask. This list is neither complete nor comprehensive but a good start.
- What are the criteria used to measure the success of the person in this position? Who will be making the assessment?
Most job descriptions advertised are useless. People, who have no idea of the performance measurement criteria, prepare them. In a relatively small company, one person, your boss, may measure success. In most companies, several managers jointly rank the performance.
- “What are the challenges of this position?
Let the hiring manager think and answer. Will there be sufficient resources available for achieving the goals? What level of priority the organization gets during the resource allocation time?
- What are the typical daily, weekly, and monthly activities?
I lost one competent regional sales manager to my competitor. How? She did not particularly like the admin work that went along with managing 40 salespersons in the region.
- Why did the previous person in this position leave? What has a turnover in the role generally been like?
A well-run company will always conduct an exit interview. The company would know the needed improvements to stabilize the position.
- What results do you expect from the new person in the next two quarters, and over the first year?
If the management is not clear about what to expect, they will also be unclear about how to measure the performance.
- How do you define “outstanding vs. good” performance?
I had a salesperson who always exceeded the allotted sales quota. However, he was negligent in filing weekly reports. His immediate supervisor still ranked him “outstanding.” It is essential to know what really matters in performance evaluation.
- What can you tell me about the company culture?
Most senior executives put culture on a par with strategy. Some, like former CEO of Merck, Richard Clark, go one step further: “The fact is, culture eats strategy for lunch,” he said once. “You can have a good strategy in place, but if you don’t have the culture and the enabling systems that allow you to successfully implement that strategy, the culture of the organization will defeat the strategy.”
The largest hedge fund has one of the “flattest” organization with “no holds barred” communication environment. Only certain kind of people can survive and thrive in the fast-paced trading environment. It fits the company’s stated strategy. A manufacturing entity will operate better in a cohesive team setting.
You need to decide what works best for you.
- “How do you like working here?”
This is one of my favorite questions. I generally ask this in an informal environment, off the script. Allow the hiring manager to drop his guard and tell you what he likes or dislikes about working at the company.
- Ask the uncomfortable question that has been nagging you. Put the moose on the table.
This could be a question regarding commuting, flexible hours, or could be something related to the company’s strategic survival.
- “Is there anything else that I should know?”
This is a catchall question. When asked this question, the hiring manager of a large European telecom company told me that in a few months he was planning to leave the company to become COO of another company.
Was this important to me? Who will be my boss then? Will the company consider me for that position?
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