Page 95 - Oscar Adler - Sell Yourself in Any Interview_ Use Proven Sales Techniques to Land Your Dream Job (2008)

ASKING QUESTIONS WITH SKILL AND FINESSE

these questions, when you ask them so directly, you can make
an interviewer feel like he or she is on a witness stand in
a courtroom.

The Benefit of Asking Soft Questions

In contrast, the skill of asking soft questions is a way to help
the interviewer feel more comfortable. This, in turn, will
encourage more detailed responses, allowing you to get a bet-
ter understanding of the benefits that are important to the
interviewer. For example, a typical question that candidates
are encouraged to ask sounds something like, “Tell me about
your company.” (which isn’t really even a question). In
response, you are likely to get a litany of statistics that can be
found on the company Web site—and if you’ve done your
research before getting to the interview, you should know all
these answers.

❏ “We are a Fortune 500 company and a leader in our field.”
❏ “We did $20 million in sales last year.”

❏ “We build the world’s best widgets.”

So here is how you might rephrase this into a soft question:

“I know your company is a leader in the field.
What do you think makes it so successful?”
With this type of soft question, you show that you already
have some knowledge of the company’s position, so the inter-
viewer can skip over the basic statistics and move on to more
meaningful information, including his thoughts and feelings
about where the company stands. He even may reveal some
of his own goals, as well as how he sees you fitting into the
picture.

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