Ever land your dream job only to find out it was really a nightmare? Such is the possibility when we don’t do our homework. An interview should really go both ways: They’re checking you out / You’re checking them out.

But how do you check them out?

Well, I came across a few questions the other day that would work well in this situation.

Before I get to them, let me say that quoting all the sources of who passed these along would probably take up few hundred words, so let me go with where I stared: Tac Anderson’s post on Knowledge Management at his NewCommBiz blog, which links to Peter-Anthony Glick’s Leveraging Organizational Knowledge blog. You can find all the other credits there.

The Questions:

These questions were originally posted for consultants to use when they’re analyzing a client’s workplace culture. Having been in that role many times, I can see how they’d be awesome for those situations. But I also see how they would help a job seeker in learning about the kind of culture s/he might be getting into. The questions are:

1. What kind of people get promoted around here?
2. What ‘bad’ behaviors are tolerated?
3. What kind of stories do people tell?

Naturally, a job seeker wouldn’t ask these of the interviewer. These are the kind of questions one might ask over lunch with potential coworkers. Or intermingling these questions with others when talking with a receptionist or another employee.

The answers can tell you a lot:

Q. 1 is highly indicative of what management thinks is valuable in a person. Is it always the highly gregarious getting promoted, or is it the slave drivers? Maybe it’s the bean counters, or only the well-dressed people.

Q. 2 indicates where the loose boundaries are—and what one might have to put up with.

The answers to Q. 3 reveal what the rank and file think about the workplace—and what kind of routine culture one might expect.

Sure, it might seem rather bold to be asking these questions, but taking a job is a huge decision, and tough, bold questions need to be asked.

Share This

Filed in Work, Motivation, Team Building, Workplace, Job Seeking, Interviewing