Interviews can be expensive, with the average cost being around £60, according to data from Barclays, which is why you want to do your best to secure a job as quickly as possible. At the end of an interview, most interviewers will ask if you have any questions. The worst thing you can do at this stage is to say ‘no’, as asking questions shows that you are interested in the role and eager to learn more. On the other hand, the interviewer doesn’t want to spend an additional ten minutes answering questions; two or three is sufficient. If you ask good questions it could even improve your chances of landing the job, such is the importance of it. These are some questions to avoid asking in an interview.
What do you do in this job?
The interviewer will expect that you have thoroughly read the job description, and the chances are that they will cover a lot of this during the interview. One of the bad questions to ask an interviewer is about the role's duties, you might make the mistake of asking a question about elements already covered. You can ask for further detail about aspects of the role, but avoid asking what they will be doing generally.
What is the salary?
It is best to try and avoid asking this question during an interview, and just focus on impressing the interviewer with your skills and knowledge. Questions about salary and benefits can be discussed and negotiated as and when you are offered the job. If the salary is not advertised and you need the ballpark, you should ask this before accepting an interview to check it is within your desired range. Discussions around the salary are the types of questions to avoid in an interview.
Do you get paid for being off sick?
Asking about sick pay can produce red flags for an employer. It is important to remember that they will usually be interviewing five or six candidates and quite often, it comes down to just two candidates. These sorts of questions can be enough to encourage the employer to choose the other candidate! Asking about being off sick are questions to avoid in an interview, as they may think you are planning to be off in advance or that you are already sick.
Do you offer remote working?
If this is a necessity for you, it is best to cover this before you attend the interview. Even if you don’t necessarily need to work remotely, the recruiter might be a bit concerned that you will be looking for other flexible jobs. Most employers will advertise hybrid or remote working arrangements on their job description. Flexibility is one of the questions to avoid in a job interview, it is better to get knowledge of this before you attend.
What is the boss like?
It is perfectly acceptable to get a feel for how you will be managed in the workplace, so asking something like ‘What is the management style’, is a better way of wording it. Asking what the boss is like, suggests you want to know what type of personality they have, rather than their management style. Personality related questions are bad questions to ask an interviewer.
Questions to ask during an interview
You should have some questions prepared for your interview. These are some examples of good questions to ask.
- How do you expect this role to contribute to the success of the company?
- What are the company goals for the future?
- Is there training and development in this role?
- What are the next steps in the interview process?
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