“No Further Questions”

By: Gary Miller

Words That Should Never be Uttered by an Interviewee!

In the courtroom movie scenes, there’s always that moment when the attorney, with flair, says “I have no further questions Your Honor”.   Unfortunately, I hear that way too often and too early in interviewing and our clients tell us the same thing.  The mark of a great candidate is insatiable curiosity about their potential new employer.   I’ve never once had a client give us the feedback that a candidate asked too many questions or that the questions were “so thought provoking they stimulated conversation about things I had not thought of.”  Nope, never heard it.   Interviewing is give and take and yet frequently I hear that candidate experience was more one sided.  “They grilled me with questions”, we hear.  That’s good….they want to know about you.   Do you grill them?  You should.  You should be thrown out of the building after hours because your questions are never ending.  Don’t you want to know what it’s like to work there? What the future holds?  Who you’ll be working with? What you can earn? Where you can go?  What obstacles you’ll face?  What does lunchroom banter typically consist of?  How your potential new manager sees the world?  What are his/her goals dream?  How does he/she see you fitting in? When can you come back and investigate further?   How many more hundreds of questions can you think of?

And sadly, near the end of many interviews, after a couple text book questions on hours and why the job is open, the interviewer asks, “So, what other questions can I answer for you?”   “None really, I think that about does it.”, is what the interviewer often hears.

Come on candidates, take charge…question your way to success.   And if you hear nothing else hear this:  don’t leave the interview without asking the interviewer how they thought you did and where you stand.  After all, wouldn’t you like to know?

Yes, you have further questions…many as a matter of fact.