10 Questions Never to Ask in Job Interviews

You know enough to bring a list of questions to a job interview. When the interviewer asks you, "So, do you have any questions for me?" the last thing? You want to say is "No." But that could be the best option if you're at a loss for words, because some interview questions are better left unasked.

Here are 10 highly unsuitable interview questions that should never make an appearance, unless you don't want the job:

1. "What does your company do?"
This was a reasonable interview question in 1950 or in 1980, before the Internet existed. Today, it's your job to research any company you're interviewing with before setting foot in the door. We need to show up for a job interview knowing what the employer does, who its competitors are, and which of its accomplishments (or challenges) have made the news lately.

2. "Are you going to do a background check?"
It is amazing how many job candidates ask this question, which provokes alarm on the part of the interviewer, instead of the more general, "Can you please tell me a little about your selection process, from this point on?" Lots of people have credit issues that cause them worry during a job search, or aren't sure how solid their references from a previous job might be. If you're invited for a second interview, you can broach any sensitive topics from your past then. Asking "Will you do a background check?" makes you look like a person with something to hide.

3. "When will I be eligible for a raise?"
Companies fear underpaying people almost as much as they fear overpaying them, because a person who's underpaid vis-a-vis his counterparts in the job market is a person with one eye on the career sites. Instead of asking about your first raise before you've got the job, you can ask (at a second interview) "Does your organization do a conventional one-year performance and salary review?"

4. "Do you have any other jobs available?"
A job search requires quick thinking about straight talk, and if a job is far below your abilities, you're better off saying so than beating around the bush with this question. You don't have to take yourself out of the running; you can say, "The job sounds interesting, but frankly I was earning 30% more and supervising people in my last job. Could you help me understand the career path for this role?" That's the cue for the interviewer, if he or she is on the ball, to highlight another job opening that might exist.

5. "How soon can I transfer to another position?"
You're broadcasting "I'm outta here at the first chance" when you ask this question. If you like the job, take the job. If it's not for you, wait for the right opportunity. Almost every employer will keep you in your seat for at least one year before approving an internal transfer, so a job-search bait-and-switch probably won't work out the way you'd hoped.

6. "Can you tell me about bus lines to your facility?"
Get online and research this yourself. It's not your employer's problem to figure out how you get to work.

7. "Do you have smoking breaks?"
If you're working in retail or in a call center, you could ask about breaks. Everyone else, keep mum; if your need to smoke intrudes so much on your work life that you feel the need to ask about it, ask your best friend or significant other for smoking-cessation help as a new-job present. Lots of companies don't permit smoking anywhere on the premises, and some don't like to hire smokers at all. Why give an employer a reason to turn you down?

8. "Is [my medical condition] covered under your insurance?"
This is a bad question on two counts. You don't want to tell a perfect stranger about your medical issues, especially one who's deciding whether or not to hire you. Ask to see a copy of the company's benefits booklet when an offer has been extended. This is also a bad question from a judgment standpoint; no department managers and only a tiny percentage of HR people could be expected to know on a condition-by-condition basis what's covered under the health plan. Anyway, your pre-existing condition won't be covered under most corporate plans for at least a year.

9. "Do you do a drug test?"
If you have a philosophical objection to drug tests, wait until they ask you to take a drug test and tell them about your objection. Otherwise, your question sounds like, "I'd fail a drug test," so don't ask.

10. "If you hire me, can I wait until [more than three weeks from now] to start the job?"
Employers expect you to give two weeks' notice. If you're not working, they'd love to see you more quickly. If you ask for tons of time off before you start working -- unless you have a very good reason -- the employer may think, "How serious is this candidate about working?" In any case, a start-date extension is something to request after you've got the offer in hand, not before.

The Secret Technique of Hiring Managers

How to Anticipate and Succeed in Behavioral Interviews

Let's be honest: Coming out of college, you probably don't have that much real world experience. So how are you going to talk about past experiences in a job interview for a sales position if you haven't sold anything? And how is a potential employer going to gauge whether you'd be a good fit for the company?

Hiring managers have a secret -- it's called behavioral interviewing, a technique developed in the 1970s for employers who were frustrated that the people they interviewed turned out to be much different than the people they actually hired.

What Behavioral Interviews Show

Why the big deal about it? One study showed that behavioral interviews were 55 percent predictive of future job behavior while traditional interviews clocked in at only 10 percent. And behavioral interviewing also cuts through resume exaggerations -- according to the Society of Human Resource Management, 51 percent of resumes have inaccuracies.

If you're being asked open-ended questions that force you to draw on events that have happened in your life to answer, you've got yourself a behavioral interview. The difference between "What's your weakness"? and "Tell me about a time you failed at something" might not seem like much, but it forces you to give a different kind of answer.

"Employers love behavioral-based interviewing because it allows them to see patterns that are often missed when people are answering basic questions," says principal of Human Resource Solutions, an HR consulting firm. "Employers can get past what a candidate says and focus on how they respond."

Behavioral interviewing also helps employers get over that hurdle of experience, so any experience you've had is fair game -- extracurricular activities, Greek life, relationships. You can even go back to things that happened to you in Boy or Girl Scouts, or on a sports team.

Simple Preparation Tips

Some employers like behavioral interviews because they think you can't prepare for it. Think again. No matter how many employers say you can't prepare for them, you can still dig deep into your memory before the interview and be ready to talk experiences that could fit situations your potential employer throws at you.

Here are some questions you might encounter, courtesy of Scott Weighart, author of "Find Your First Professional Job: A Guide to Co-ops, Interns and Full-Time Job Seekers":

Tell me about a time you:

• failed at something

• had to take an unpopular stand

• really had to go way above and beyond

• had to show exceptional attention to detail

• dealt well with a difficult colleague/co-worker

• showed that you can multitask under pressure

Make sure you prepare your stories, too -- you might be able to wing it, but you won't give the best answers if you do.

And don't even think of making stuff up. "You don't want to invent stories about yourself that aren't true. Those would be seen through pretty quickly because you need so much detail," says Weighart.

What is Self Analysis?

The transition from student life to working life represents a significant milestone in anyone's life. While it is not necessary to constantly contemplate life and its meaning, it is often said that at such important milestones, it is important to think carefully, or risk the possibility of drifting for ever after.

This then leads to a situation, some years down the track, when you may say to yourself, "If only I had thought a little more carefully back then."

Now is the time to think once again, "What do I want to do in the future?" and "What are my dreams?" In other words, you must make the effort to think in earnest about the kind of life you want to lead from now. It is these thought processes that are referred to as "self analysis."

One of the foremost experts on career development and research was Professor Emeritus of Columbia University D.E. Super (1910-1994). According to Professor Super, everyone has what he termed a "self-concept," concerning "what I like and don't like," and "What kind of things do I find enjoyable?" He had the following to say concerning the relationship between selecting a job and self-concept.

• If your self-concept is unclear or not well defined, this will result in inappropriate job selection, or dissatisfaction with the job you choose.

• Through work it is possible to express "individual skills (what you do best)", "interests (what you want to do most),"and "values (what you think is most important." If this is not the case, you will find your job boring and without meaning.

It is important to consider an approach for self-advancement whereby you engage in self analysis and use it to identify the type of work and company through which you could achieve the things you want to do.

However, there are also people who believe that "you cannot decide now what is in the far distant future." As an entry point into working life, at the very least you should consider "the things I am good at," "the things I find enjoyable," and "the things I like." From this starting point, it is perfectly acceptable to gain various experiences in the process of working, from which the "things you want to do" may change somewhat. In the case of companies it is said in general that a person should identify "their individual expertise" by about the time he or she is 35.

How to implement self analysis?


So, in specific terms, what is the best way of implementing self analysis? Firstly, try to answer the following three questions:

• What can you do, and what are you good at?

• What do you want to do, who do want to please, and what kind of people do you want to work with?

• Why do you want to do such a job and what are you aiming for? What are your dreams?

Extract from "Career Counseling for Dynamic Companies and Individuals"

There are probably many people who cannot immediately respond to these questions. If this is the case, use the following as a source of reference.

• Ask your friends and parents what your good points are What you may think of as completely natural may be viewed by others as an excellent strong point.

• Think back and write down what you found enjoyable in the past.

• Write down things you think you are better at than other people. This can include things you have studied at university.
  

• Write down any particular things that are important to you, and things that "you won't budge from."

If you are still not sure…
- Utilize assessment tools for self-understanding -

Even after a great deal of thought you are still none the wiser, it may be a good idea to use assessment tools.

Assessment means to "examine or evaluate something." From the point of view of someone taking a test, this means "understanding yourself just as you are now." However, you should avoid focusing purely on the results of such assessments and depending on them. Assessment tools are at the very most a supplementary means of "considering how to use the results for your own future."

Bearing in mind this premise, you can utilize the following assessment tools, that are representative of those aimed at students.

R-CAP (RECRUIT Career Assessment Program)

This is an assessment with a style that utilizes value systems thought to be related to career tracks (preferences, interests and concerns, intentions, values in narrow terms) and thought processes. Skills, knowledge and intellectual capacity are not utilized.

http://www.r-cap.net/RCAP07/index.html
(Fee required)

Standard diagnostic CPS-J (Career Planning Survey - Japanese Version)

This is an assessment tool that attempts to enable understand themselves appropriately from the dual aspects of "interest in work" and "self assessment in terms of skills."

http://www.nipponmanpower.co.jp/ps/think/cpsj/index.php
(Fee required through credit card payment)

This back one more time on your past actions to date

Once you have grasped a picture of your own skills, interests and sense of values as described above, the next step is to look back on your own past actions to date, to see to what extent you can put your skills and strengths into use to achieve the results you require.

As a student what are the things that have given you the greatest sense of achievement? Among these, what was the most difficult or challenging? How did you overcome this challenge? Look back and recall not the result, but the actual process you went through in order to achieve that result.

By recalling such actions you can identify the "pointers to overcoming challenges" that you have devised to resolve problems. It is no exaggeration to say that when you join the workforce you will be faced with problems that require solutions on an almost daily basis. If there is something in the past that you devised that worked in overcoming a challenge, the same method is more than likely to be useful in the future.

For the sake of a fulfilling life as you move forward, spend a little time now to consider your future. Employment is not a goal in itself, for each individual it represents a start.