8 min
47. Asking questions in an interview Pop Your Career with Bec McFarland
-
- Careers
Links I mentioned in this episode:
Win At Work Membership
47. Asking questions in an interview - Transcript
[00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?
[00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.
[00:01:21] Hello. Hello. It's Bec McFarland here, helping you do better and be better in your career. Welcome to the Pop Your Career podcast. I'm so thrilled to have you here, but did you know that I decided to start a podcast in about 2016? Maybe? It has been on my mind for a really long time, and at the time I recorded I think two episodes and I popped them up on SoundCloud. I am sure that they are still floating around. They're somewhere if you want to go [00:02:00]and find them and embarrass me.
[00:02:02] But this topic that we're talking about today has been on my mind since then because it was one of the podcast episodes that I recorded way back then when I had my first podcast, if you can call it that.
[00:02:19] The topic is asking questions in an interview, and at the time I titled that podcast episode, Don't Interview Your Interviewer. And all these years later, I still feel the same. There's nothing like being on an interview panel and going through the interview process and getting to the end of the interview with a candidate and saying to them, do you have any questions for us? And then all hell breaks loose. This is where the nightmares really begin.
[00:02:54] So the first mistake that people make in this section of their [00:03:00]interview is that they ask the questions that everyone asks. And look, if you're a seasoned interviewer, you will just do yourself a favor and answer these questions in your introduction so that they can't ask. The questions are always things like, When are you gonna be making a decision? When can I expect to find out the outcome of this process? And the other most common question is like, can you tell me about the culture of the team?
[00:03:32] Now look, that in itself might be an okay-ish question, but there are definitely ways that you can phrase that much better.
[00:03:44] In terms of the answer to the first question, when are you gonna hear back? How long is a piece of string? You'll hear back when we're, when we're done, right? You'll hear back when the process is finished, stop trying to push it.
[00:03:59] [00:04:00] So the other really big mistake that people make in interviews is that they think that this is their opportunity to interview their interviewer. Now I get it right, it's a two-way street. The organization is interviewing you to find out if you are the most suitable candidate for the role, and you wanna find out some stuff about the employer to see if they are actually the kind of place that you wanna work. That's totally fine. But realistically, your opportunity to ask them questions and do your due diligence and go through the checks and balances actually comes later.
[00:04:35] That's what happens between the
Links I mentioned in this episode:
Win At Work Membership
47. Asking questions in an interview - Transcript
[00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?
[00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.
[00:01:21] Hello. Hello. It's Bec McFarland here, helping you do better and be better in your career. Welcome to the Pop Your Career podcast. I'm so thrilled to have you here, but did you know that I decided to start a podcast in about 2016? Maybe? It has been on my mind for a really long time, and at the time I recorded I think two episodes and I popped them up on SoundCloud. I am sure that they are still floating around. They're somewhere if you want to go [00:02:00]and find them and embarrass me.
[00:02:02] But this topic that we're talking about today has been on my mind since then because it was one of the podcast episodes that I recorded way back then when I had my first podcast, if you can call it that.
[00:02:19] The topic is asking questions in an interview, and at the time I titled that podcast episode, Don't Interview Your Interviewer. And all these years later, I still feel the same. There's nothing like being on an interview panel and going through the interview process and getting to the end of the interview with a candidate and saying to them, do you have any questions for us? And then all hell breaks loose. This is where the nightmares really begin.
[00:02:54] So the first mistake that people make in this section of their [00:03:00]interview is that they ask the questions that everyone asks. And look, if you're a seasoned interviewer, you will just do yourself a favor and answer these questions in your introduction so that they can't ask. The questions are always things like, When are you gonna be making a decision? When can I expect to find out the outcome of this process? And the other most common question is like, can you tell me about the culture of the team?
[00:03:32] Now look, that in itself might be an okay-ish question, but there are definitely ways that you can phrase that much better.
[00:03:44] In terms of the answer to the first question, when are you gonna hear back? How long is a piece of string? You'll hear back when we're, when we're done, right? You'll hear back when the process is finished, stop trying to push it.
[00:03:59] [00:04:00] So the other really big mistake that people make in interviews is that they think that this is their opportunity to interview their interviewer. Now I get it right, it's a two-way street. The organization is interviewing you to find out if you are the most suitable candidate for the role, and you wanna find out some stuff about the employer to see if they are actually the kind of place that you wanna work. That's totally fine. But realistically, your opportunity to ask them questions and do your due diligence and go through the checks and balances actually comes later.
[00:04:35] That's what happens between the
8 min