Page 16 - John Kador - 201 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview-McGraw-Hill (2002)

INTRODUCTION

over the world. Scared and frustrated, employees still fortunate to have
a job are staying put, decreasing opportunities for career advancement.
For organizations, the stakes for making the right hiring decision
are higher than ever before. Business moves more quickly today than
ever before. Organizations are leaner and more networked. If a criti-
cal task is not performed, the whole operation is at risk of falling apart.
Often a critical hire is all that stands between organizational failure
and success. Organizations today have no guarantee of second
chances. They must get it right the first time.

RAISING THE ANTE FOR JOB SEEKERS
In their struggle to survive, increasingly lean organizations are making
decisions that also raise the ante for job seekers. Companies today are
putting a premium on human productivity. They want to hire people
who can add significant value from day one. Any job candidate who
cannot demonstrate his or her value proposition within a few minutes
into the job interview cannot be expected to advance.
Few organizations today are content to hire merely qualified per-
formers capable of acceptable performance. In a buyer’s market, they
feel they don’t have to settle for anything less than superstars at every
level of the company. These organizations look for individuals who
can demonstrate consistently outstanding results as well as the ability
to stretch well beyond traditional measures of performance. These are
the movers and change agents who can apply thought leadership to the
challenges of the organization.
Interviewers today want to see immediate evidence that you are ac-
tion-oriented, engaged with the long term, committed, zestful, and cu-
rious. These are the attributes that will get you a job. If you act passive,
disengaged, short term–driven, self-centered, and apathetic, you’ll be
passed over. Your ability to ask meaningful questions will tell the in-
terviewer if you project the first set of attributes or the latter.
Does the contemporary job interview seem like a high hurdle to
jump? It is. And you won’t get more than a few minutes to demonstrate
that you are a world-class contributor.
Organizations have beefed up the entire employee selection process
to weed out the amateurs, impostors, and other wanna-bes. The job

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