When a job interview is drawing to a close, it’s natural to feel a welcome sense of relief, and an eagerness to wind things up and get home. So when the interview panel asks if you have any questions, it’s tempting to say: “No I don’t have any questions. I think we’ve covered everything I need to know.”
Unfortunately, this will look bad to any hiring sales organisation. Not having ‘further questions’ makes you look disinterested and not fully committed to the company or the role you’ve applied for. It’s clear to the interviewer that you’re not grabbing the opportunity fully, and can’t be bothered to look more closely at the sales job on offer.
What HR people, sales directors and business managers want to hear are a few questions that show you have been listening to what they’ve said about this particular sales role, and are already showing signs that you want to be involved and would definitely fit into the organisation.
For you, this is your golden opportunity to clarify some important aspects of the job, and dig a bit deeper about what’s expected, and what you can do to meet the requirements. Asking three or four sensible questions can have a very positive effect on the impression you leave with the interview panel.
But asking the wrong thing can be really damaging and show you in a bad light.
Experts suggest NOT asking questions like:
• What does this company actually do? You should know this already from extensive pre-interview research.
• How often can I work from home? The sales role may be flexible and require some home working or field sales, but unless that is the case avoid this question. Asking to work from home at the interview stage, might imply that you’re not a team player, you do not work well under direct supervision, or you have a difficult home schedule to work around.
• Does the company monitor internet usage? This could suggest you have previously been in trouble at work for excessive internet usage, so best avoided.
• Who are the competitors? Again, you will look bad for not knowing this already.
• Do you give new recruits a drug test?
Alarm bells will sound with this kind of query because the tone immediately brings your character into question. This will leave the interviewer wondering what exactly you have to hide!
• How well is the company doing? Too big a question for an interview situation, and you should have an idea of this already from your research.
• How much holiday would I get? You should wait until you are offered the position before asking questions about holiday allowance and benefits. It’s something you could ask the HR office by phone if you really need to find out about benefits on offer.
Good questions to ask
Good questions to ask include things about the future timeline of the sales role in question. For instance: How soon are you hoping to have someone in this field sales executive role? What happens next in the job application process for this sales manager job?
Another option is to ask for more information about the role – what are the challenges? How does the team structure work? How is performance measured? Other good subjects to tackle are: What makes someone successful in this organisation? What are the qualities they have?
And of course, it makes perfect sense to round off with a question about what happens next, and how to stay in touch after the interview. How and when will I hear from you after this interview? If I don’t hear from you in a month, may I call you? Who else should I stay in touch with?
Don’t ask too many questions, and don’t ask things that the panel or interviewer have already told you, as of course, this suggests you haven’t been concentrating during the interview.
Good luck with your interviews and don’t forget to sign up for email job alerts.
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