Blog

5 Things to Ask in an Interview (and How to Interpret the Answers!)

You carefully crafted your resume, sent it out to sail, and finally have an interview! Good job and congratulations! Now comes the dreaded interview prep. In every single interview you have, it is crucial to come to an interview with some key questions in mind to ask your interviewer. Everyone has their own list of valuable questions, but here are 5 things to ask in an interview that I’ve seen that will get you the most useful information you can use in order to make the best decision and offer the most ‘bang for your buck’.

What to Ask in an Interview: 

Question #1:

Why is this position open?

Knowing this answer is going to tell you a lot about what the company culture is like and whether this job is going to be around long term. If it’s simply contract work and they need more people to develop to hit a release schedule, that’s pretty straightforward. If you hear a story about high turnover for the position, it begs the question of “Why?”. Is it simply because they haven’t found the right person? Bad culture? Expecting too much out of one position?

 

Question #2:

What is the company culture like?

This is a tricky one. Usually, your hiring manager is going to start talking about the perks of the company and not the culture. Perks do not equal culture exactly, so be aware of that. The culture of any given company has more to do with what their mission statement is and what they value in their workforce. Do they value technical innovation, money, ambition or work/life balance?

 

Question #3:

What growth opportunities are available?

Now, this question only applies to those not at “C” or “Director” level titles. The answer you get is going to have to be interpreted by you and what you value. For example, if you are looking to eventually be in management, but there is no real path to management offered, you know this really isn’t an opportunity for you.

 

Question #4:

Where is your business coming from?

This applies specifically to consulting companies, but also has application for other industries. Where is their bottom dollar coming from? Are they a company only around to serve one client and one customer? Do they have all of their ‘eggs’ in one basket? This is important to know for stability purposes.

 

Question #5:

How soon are you looking to hire for this role?

Often times, an employer is going to know what timeline they are operating under and will be completely transparent with you on this. Knowing their timeline is going to give you a good idea of when you should be following up with your thank you note or following up for feedback from your interview!

What else have you found helpful to ask in an interview? Leave a comment below! 

Gorilla Logic hires the best software engineers. Check out our careers page and follow us on LinkedIn to see if you are a good fit. Our recruitment team is looking forward to hearing you ask these questions in your next in interview! Subscribe to our blog and read some of Cheri’s previous blog posts on tips for your career change.  

 

Ready to be Unstoppable? Partner with Gorilla Logic, and you can be.

TALK TO OUR SALES TEAM