Standard interview script usually ends with the recruiter’s question “Do you have any question to me?”. Here it is important not to make senseless questions, but try to get as much information from the recruiter’s answers as possible.

It is always useful to show your employer that you are serious about getting the job. And not only recruiters can make questions with the “double bottom”. However, such questions should be prepared in advance not to ask something banal, not to get the same information, which you can find on the website of the company.

So what to ask a person, who wants to hire you to work? In this post on what to ask the recruiter during the interview our professional resume service presents you the possible variants of the questions.

1. How did the vacancy appear?

This is an important question to get known for how long the position that interests you exists in a company, how many people have occupied it before you, and why it is vacant now? The way your potential employer answers the question may tell you a lot about staff turnover in the company.

If the vacancy is new, it is important to know why company needs such an employee. If it is not new, then you may ask recruiter to specify the strengths and weaknesses of a man, who used to occupy this position before you.

2. What difficulties am I going to face with?

This question will help you to learn the drawbacks of your future work. In other words, what has happened to your “predecessor” (if it is not a new vacancy) what you should avoid and what you should emphasize. Ask in such a way that will make you look confident and fearless in the face of problems.

3. How will my usual day look like?

If it seems that your interlocutor is nervous or does not treat you seriously, then this simple and not abstract question will help you to break the ice.

4. According to what criteria will be my work assessed?

If you want to learn more about the priorities of your potential future employer and about what is important in your work, make this question as well.

5. Why do you like working here?

This is a clever way to learn about the values of the company, its ethics and corporate culture. People usually judge how much successful company is according to these criteria.

6. Who can be called the most successful people in the company and why?

Observe how they will answer you, what tone of the answer is. If the atmosphere in a team is healthy, then they will talk with excitement and enthusiasm about the best workers.

7. What do you think of me?

This is the most direct question. It will help you to get known how much well you have passed the interview and how much honest and open your interlocutors are. When you ask about the critics, it demonstrates enthusiasm and desire to develop, correct your own mistakes and ability to admit your errors.

Try to memorize these questions. They will definitely help you in the right moment, only if you also know how to answer the interview questions that can confuse you.

How to deal with the incompetent recruiter

Our resume writing service shares the advice how to behave at the interview if you talk to a rude and not professional recruiter.

In a professional world you should never neglect human factor. Even the most highly professional specialists can make mistakes because of the inattention, haste and ignorance. However, sometimes there are no excuses for incompetence. And you can face such cases long before being hired to work, namely at the interview.

And even now, when there are so many trainings, seminars and conferences for the recruiters, professionalism of some individuals provokes many questions. Our resume service, which one of the best resume writing services on the Internet, tries to figure out how to behave with an HR manager, who exceeds the limits of his official duties, without losing your face.

1. Do not judge by the “clothes”

As practice shows competence of a recruiter does not depend on age. Even people who have big work experience sometimes make absolutely silly questions. And it is not connected with some special strategy. For example, a young girl may be told that she has not attractive appearance, or she may be reproached for having no children. Be sure that it should not be like that. If you face such a treatment of an HR manager, there is a sense to end the interview at once.

However, very often recruiters are accused of incompetence, relying on their age only. Many people suppose that a 25-year old “girl” can not be well-versed in the profession talking to adult men and women, who apply for serious positions. Here we advise “do not flog a fever”, and try to analyze the nature and the style of the questions and make an attempt not to draw conclusions on the external image.

2. Stay dignified

Many jobseekers complain about the poor preparation of HR managers at the interview. We are talking about the same questions for all candidates, regardless of the position, which they apply for. For example, a locksmith can be asked what hobbies he had in childhood, though his work is almost not connected with creativity, and the most important is his experience and skills. Or an accountant can be asked what sports he goes in for. All this is absolutely inappropriate and in general does not give any useful information to an employer. It seems that a recruiter has just read a couple of “useful” articles and tries to copy the schemes for professionals of completely other fields.

Of course, you can try to argue or to hint at the absurdity of the situation, but it all depends on how much you want to work at this company. Ask whether such a style of leadership and communication with employees is generally accepted in the enterprise, or whether such a scheme of conversation with jobseekers is a personal initiative of an HR manager. If you do not want in suchlike atmosphere, it would be better to refuse from the position at once. However, do not start arguing and trying to “bring back down to earth” the recruiter. Be sure, it is not worth your nerves.

3. Take radical measures

While interview does not go beyond the frames, there is no sense to be nervous or angry. However, there are cases of a really inappropriate behavior of the recruiters. For example, no one says that it is forbidden to make personal questions, but still certain limits should be kept. It is one thing to ask about marital status, and absolutely another is to make questions “below the belt”. It is hard to believe but there are cases when an HR manager may talk about intimate life and even make veiled abuse of a candidate.

This is the case when you should not keep silence and bear such behaviour. You should make recruiter understand that he violates the ethical limits and it is forbidden to carry on the conversation in such a style.

You can also tell about this accident to the direct boss of the manager. Maybe you will not work in this company, but visit the employer after the interview (if there is such an opportunity) or send your comment on the interview to his e-mail. Such a rude and unreasonable prejudgment should not be present in a self-respecting company.

4. Exception to the rule

However, not always rudeness and incorrect questions mean poor preparation of a recruiter to the interview. It happens that such provocations are created purposely, if we talk about stress interview. Such interview allows the employer to understand how you cope with stress and whether you have problems in communication with clients. Suchlike types of interview provoke many arguable questions. But they all are still used in many companies, which hire to work sales and customer service managers, advertising and insurance agents, salesmen and so on.

We recommend you not to lose your dignity at the interview and not to succumb to provocations of inexperienced HR managers. But if the situation gets out of control, do not be afraid and tell about it, especially now when you have read everything you should know about what to ask at the interview and how to cope with a recruiter’s inappropriate behavior.