Page 43 - 201 Best Questions To Ask On Your Interview

THE RULES OF THE GAME

I’m sure you agree with the policy that the customer is always right. How
are employees rewarded for going out of their way to put the customer
first?

What gives you the right to assume what the interviewer agrees with?
Ask it straight. There’s no harm in reporting a part of a company’s pos-
itive reputation, if it’s true.

The company has a reputation for excellent customer service. How do
you motivate and empower employees to make exceptional customer
service a priority?

Loaded questions also make you look bad. Loaded questions reveal your
prejudices and biases. Besides being out of place in a job interview, such
questions convey a sense of arrogance or even contempt. They make you
look like a bully. They always backfire on you, no matter how much you
think your interviewer shares your biases. Typical loaded questions
might be:
How can the company justify locating manufacturing plants in the
People’s Republic of China with its miserable record of human rights
violations?
With all the set-aside programs for minorities and people who weren’t
even born in this country, what progress can a white American man hope
to have in your company?

Questions like these reveal your biases, often unintentionally, and can-
not advance your candidacy.

11. Avoid Veiled Threats
Interviewers hate to be bullied, and they will send you packing at the
first hint of a threat. That means if you have another job offer from
company A, keep it to yourself until after company B has expressed an
interest in making you an offer as well. Unfortunately, candidates have
abused the tactic of pitting employers against each other by brandish-
ing genuine or, as is more likely the case, fictitious job offers. A few
years ago, this tactic created an unreasonable and unsustainable cli-
mate for hiring. Don’t test it with today’s crop of interviewers; they

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