Testing for the company: asking the right questions at the interview
Recently, we wrote about what questions we ask at an interview with candidates for vacancies at Maxillect. Now I want to look at the problem from the other side of the “barricades” - from the position of an employee. Although today I lead the company, in my life I have had to participate in more than a dozen job interviews. I even once described my experience in articles, recommending not only answering questions, but also asking them myself. And experience has shown that some questions will give you even more information than you expect. We’ll talk about them.
Interviewing is always a mutual process. Not only the company chooses a candidate, but also the candidate company. This is especially true in the IT segment, where a lot of doors open for a qualified specialist, but not all of them allow self-realization (whatever you yourself mean by this wording).
My article is for those who care about what awaits him in a new place, in addition to a formal agreement on a certain level of payment.
')
To get more information, it is very important to look at how people talk about the company and the rules adopted in it. I always closely watched the intonation, facial expressions, pauses between the words of the employee who was interviewing me. On the one hand, people like to listen to them carefully. The skill of active listening is generally a useful thing. On the other hand, I received valuable information - meta messages that told even more than voiced words. But even without analyzing non-verbal, many useful conclusions can be drawn.
What should I work on and how (and all related issues, if this has not yet been discussed)?
Descriptions of projects in vacancies are rather vague. Sometimes this is due to the fact that the HR managers themselves have a poor idea of ​​what exactly the developers are doing, or the company is tied hand and foot with rigid NDAs and is afraid to give out "extra" information. However, you cannot settle for a pig in a poke. Project details are always needed.
In this list I will limit myself to only one question regarding the discussion of the details, thus indicating the direction of interest. But it’s clear that it’s worth asking about everything that you haven’t been told for some reason — about the process of further approval of the candidate, work schedule, acceptance criteria, rules of interaction, etc.
Why should I choose this particular company?
It is very interesting to hear how the employer explains the benefits of his company. If you are a creative person, and company representatives simply list the social package and corporate events (paintball, etc.), you can only sympathize. Another thing is if people talk about how much effort they put into the company so that it acquires a modern look, touch on the history of its creation, and talk about some global goals.
Why did they choose this company (what do they like about the company)?
As part of an interview for a vacancy, it is rarely possible to talk with co-founders, for whom business is the realization of their own ambitions and aspirations. And the answers of employees are valuable because you change the context of the conversation. People will definitely tell you something about themselves. And this is very entertaining and useful.
As in the previous question, it is worth paying attention to what exactly the employee lists. If only a social package comes to mind, you should think about it.
Does the company have a mission and development strategies for the coming years? What are they?
It should be noted that the question must be asked with a smart look of a person who understands that without a healthy ideology and strategy the company has no future. There can be several answers:
Ask about the staff turnover, especially in the group where you have to work (alternatively, how many employees work on average, the process of dismissal, or why a vacancy has been vacant if it’s not about opening a new position)
It is useless to lie here, because information about the problems of various companies flies very quickly. Here, of course, it is important to separate rumors from real information, but this is a topic for another discussion. As part of the interview, you are interested in the position of the company representatives. If they begin to carry all kinds of nonsense, hiding the true reasons, run from there.
Ask to describe the relationship in the team
I believe that in business there should not be a lie that “company employees are like one family”. Employees come to the company for the sake of money, self-realization and other intangible moments, and each family should have its own and separated from work. Do managers and HR companies adequately perceive this? It is worthwhile to find out at the start, so that later it does not turn out that the company claims to be 100% of your waking time.
Ask the manager about project management
Problems with projects in the organization usually mean that weak project managers or senior managers work there. At the interview, it is important to notice these problems so as not to get into the company, where things are not at all like its representatives told.
It is easiest to assess the situation in a conversation with a manager who came for an interview. To understand whether the formal project manager is also a Manager (with a capital letter), it is often enough to ask him: what is project management, what is the manager’s job, what process is used in the project, what books on management, in his opinion, are worthy of attention ? It is important to ask these questions with a simpleton's smile on his face, which appears when a guru is asked. It was interesting for me to observe how people begin to look for answers, while realizing the fact that they already started asking “on the subject”. There were many answers, I will give only a few typical ones:
By the way, during this conversation you may be bitten. This can only be understood by the way the answers to questions begin to be conveyed to you, i.e. according to the meta-messages of the company representative. Such insightful interlocutors are rare, but it is always interesting to talk with them.
The topic of the interview is eternal and very interesting. When I began to approach her from this perspective, each new conversation with company representatives began to bring me pleasure. And a psychological workshop is not bad. The main thing is not to overdo it. And even more importantly, make sure that the conversation is conducted in a friendly atmosphere, where questions about nothing would be mixed with those that you would definitely like to ask.
Success in finding a job where you could not only organically fit into the existing model of the company, but also manage to change it, seeing and justifying the need for changes!
And what questions do you ask at the interviews? Maybe you have some interesting stories to remember?
Author: Maxim Korotkov
PS If you were refused at the end of the interview, I recommend clarifying the reason. An interview is a very short interaction format, like a first date. And there can be many reasons for failure. Fortunately, many of them are easily fixed if you are aware of the problem. Perhaps you present yourself poorly or you really lack some very specific knowledge that can be pulled up in a week or two of intensive training ... Or you have already outgrown the position for which you are interviewing. One way or another, it’s best to know such things about yourself.
PPS We publish our articles on several Runet sites. Subscribe to our pages in VK , FB or Telegram-channel to learn about all our publications and other Maxilect news.
Interviewing is always a mutual process. Not only the company chooses a candidate, but also the candidate company. This is especially true in the IT segment, where a lot of doors open for a qualified specialist, but not all of them allow self-realization (whatever you yourself mean by this wording).
My article is for those who care about what awaits him in a new place, in addition to a formal agreement on a certain level of payment.
')
How do you ask these questions?
To get more information, it is very important to look at how people talk about the company and the rules adopted in it. I always closely watched the intonation, facial expressions, pauses between the words of the employee who was interviewing me. On the one hand, people like to listen to them carefully. The skill of active listening is generally a useful thing. On the other hand, I received valuable information - meta messages that told even more than voiced words. But even without analyzing non-verbal, many useful conclusions can be drawn.
My favorite questions
What should I work on and how (and all related issues, if this has not yet been discussed)?
Descriptions of projects in vacancies are rather vague. Sometimes this is due to the fact that the HR managers themselves have a poor idea of ​​what exactly the developers are doing, or the company is tied hand and foot with rigid NDAs and is afraid to give out "extra" information. However, you cannot settle for a pig in a poke. Project details are always needed.
In this list I will limit myself to only one question regarding the discussion of the details, thus indicating the direction of interest. But it’s clear that it’s worth asking about everything that you haven’t been told for some reason — about the process of further approval of the candidate, work schedule, acceptance criteria, rules of interaction, etc.
Why should I choose this particular company?
It is very interesting to hear how the employer explains the benefits of his company. If you are a creative person, and company representatives simply list the social package and corporate events (paintball, etc.), you can only sympathize. Another thing is if people talk about how much effort they put into the company so that it acquires a modern look, touch on the history of its creation, and talk about some global goals.
Why did they choose this company (what do they like about the company)?
As part of an interview for a vacancy, it is rarely possible to talk with co-founders, for whom business is the realization of their own ambitions and aspirations. And the answers of employees are valuable because you change the context of the conversation. People will definitely tell you something about themselves. And this is very entertaining and useful.
As in the previous question, it is worth paying attention to what exactly the employee lists. If only a social package comes to mind, you should think about it.
Does the company have a mission and development strategies for the coming years? What are they?
It should be noted that the question must be asked with a smart look of a person who understands that without a healthy ideology and strategy the company has no future. There can be several answers:
- Refuse to tell. Clinical case.
- They want to tell, but can’t explain anything clearly. This suggests that the company has an authoritarian management system where freedom of decision-making and responsibility for them to the lower levels of the hierarchy are not delegated. If you are used to doing more than what is required of you, and also take the initiative even when you are not asked, do not be afraid to put pressure on the company management - you should not work in such a place.
- They will tell with interest what they see fit. In this case, you can ask about what mistakes were made when planning the development of the organization, what problems should be addressed in the first place.
Ask about the staff turnover, especially in the group where you have to work (alternatively, how many employees work on average, the process of dismissal, or why a vacancy has been vacant if it’s not about opening a new position)
It is useless to lie here, because information about the problems of various companies flies very quickly. Here, of course, it is important to separate rumors from real information, but this is a topic for another discussion. As part of the interview, you are interested in the position of the company representatives. If they begin to carry all kinds of nonsense, hiding the true reasons, run from there.
Ask to describe the relationship in the team
I believe that in business there should not be a lie that “company employees are like one family”. Employees come to the company for the sake of money, self-realization and other intangible moments, and each family should have its own and separated from work. Do managers and HR companies adequately perceive this? It is worthwhile to find out at the start, so that later it does not turn out that the company claims to be 100% of your waking time.
Ask the manager about project management
Problems with projects in the organization usually mean that weak project managers or senior managers work there. At the interview, it is important to notice these problems so as not to get into the company, where things are not at all like its representatives told.
It is easiest to assess the situation in a conversation with a manager who came for an interview. To understand whether the formal project manager is also a Manager (with a capital letter), it is often enough to ask him: what is project management, what is the manager’s job, what process is used in the project, what books on management, in his opinion, are worthy of attention ? It is important to ask these questions with a simpleton's smile on his face, which appears when a guru is asked. It was interesting for me to observe how people begin to look for answers, while realizing the fact that they already started asking “on the subject”. There were many answers, I will give only a few typical ones:
- You are denied the answer and "put in place." A person is either not sure of his knowledge, or not ready for dialogue during further work. Most likely, the same lack of voting rights will manifest itself later in the work. Think: do you need it ?!
- They carry an open heresy, and do it with confidence. About people who do not doubt the correctness of their decisions, a lot of aphorisms have been created.
- They will pause, there will be phrases in the answers: “in different ways”, “they took something from here”, “the process for the developer”, “the manager helps, creates the conditions for work”, “you can take something from everywhere”. You are very lucky to find adequate people (in my understanding of this word) where you will not be sacrificed for a mistake, they will not be punished for the initiative and they will try to use your strongest qualities and knowledge in the process.
- They tell you even more than you expected. It happens if your intonation and facial expressions aroused an ocean of trust in the person you are interviewing (or already interviewing?). Just listen and remember. Such people at interviews are quite rare, but I have met.
By the way, during this conversation you may be bitten. This can only be understood by the way the answers to questions begin to be conveyed to you, i.e. according to the meta-messages of the company representative. Such insightful interlocutors are rare, but it is always interesting to talk with them.
The topic of the interview is eternal and very interesting. When I began to approach her from this perspective, each new conversation with company representatives began to bring me pleasure. And a psychological workshop is not bad. The main thing is not to overdo it. And even more importantly, make sure that the conversation is conducted in a friendly atmosphere, where questions about nothing would be mixed with those that you would definitely like to ask.
Success in finding a job where you could not only organically fit into the existing model of the company, but also manage to change it, seeing and justifying the need for changes!
And what questions do you ask at the interviews? Maybe you have some interesting stories to remember?
Author: Maxim Korotkov
PS If you were refused at the end of the interview, I recommend clarifying the reason. An interview is a very short interaction format, like a first date. And there can be many reasons for failure. Fortunately, many of them are easily fixed if you are aware of the problem. Perhaps you present yourself poorly or you really lack some very specific knowledge that can be pulled up in a week or two of intensive training ... Or you have already outgrown the position for which you are interviewing. One way or another, it’s best to know such things about yourself.
PPS We publish our articles on several Runet sites. Subscribe to our pages in VK , FB or Telegram-channel to learn about all our publications and other Maxilect news.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/461005/
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