Speak your mind or forever hold your peace. Early signs that you must know in order to avoid potential disappointment.
Whether you are a fresh graduate or a seasoned job seeker, the journey of getting employed is a complicated art by itself. It is an art that demands you to have a pair of sharp eyes for nuance and subtlety in judging every situation critically. Since the job interview is a two-way street, you must remember that the entire interview process is not solely about you.
At the end of the day, it lies on whether the company and its workplace can suit your talents as well as meeting your expectations. Hence, you just need to make sure that you have asked these 4 critical questions to a company before joining to work in it.
Ask to meet your future colleagues.
Sooner or later, you have to be prepared to work together with your future colleagues. While that will be an upcoming challenge for you to discover, another greater challenge at hand will be knowing how to ask the right kind of question to your interviewer especially when it comes to your future colleagues. Most importantly, you should ask about the working schedule in that company. These things include the timing of team meeting so that you can expect how you and your future colleagues work together.
Generally, the word “team player” should be a valuable trait in every employee. Yet, it will not be an issue when you are expected to work alone without any extended supervision from your superior. Another useful question is to ask questions regarding the ability of its employees to devote their time in their hobbies and other passions. In addition, this is another question that allows you to find out whether the company is healthy when it comes to supporting your interests.
Do I fit the company culture?
Culture runs deeper than any attitude or behavior in a company. As such, the company culture can either uplift or ruin its workforce. This is why you need to familiarize yourself with its culture even before joining in. If your interviewer asks about how your friends or ex-colleagues think about you, you can ask about the same thing to the company. Not only that, you can ask about the latest hire in the company so that you can decide whether the company exhibits a high turnover rate.
What does the position entail?
Obviously, you have read about your job and its scope before applying for it. However, you still want to ask and learn from the person that has been working with the company. More often than not, such question definitely enables you to be very familiar with your future job and its constraints. As it turns out, this question becomes increasingly crucial when you are applying from a startup which still undergoes a volatile phase of undetermined goals and variables. In fact, it is normal in a startup culture that the nature of your job can change dramatically from day to day.
For a start, it will be great when you can ask about the current situation that the company faces at the present. Such a question will reveal the company’s expectation of you and your ability in solving its problems. Not only that, but you also get the opportunity to understand the exact nature of your job scope. Basically, you must know whether you are hired to deal with a unique problem, reduce the workload or oversee some execution processes.
Things I can do to surprise you?
Last but not least, this final question can prove to be unconventional but it is able to deliver results that will surprise yourself. In a simpler term, it is all about asking how you can be a valuable team member in the company. As a matter of fact, this question also will offer you an idea to contribute creatively!
In conclusion, these 4 questions are vital for you to get to know about your future company before joining in. Not just that, the best thing of all is that you do not have to pitch yourself too hard in the process.
