News

19 Questions You Should Never Ask In An Interview — And What You Should Ask Instead

19 Questions You Should Never Ask In An Interview — And What You Should Ask Instead
by Aine Cain and Rachel Gillett

• Job interviews provide job seekers with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the organization and role they're going for.
• But asking certain questions during an interview might hurt your chances of landing the gig.
• Business Insider compiled some questions to cross off your list, and some good replacements you can ask instead.

Job interviews can get pretty stressful.

Not only do you have to answer the interviewer's questions, but you have to come up with a bunch of questions yourself.

Do yourself a favor and prepare some questions to ask beforehand. And think about what other queries you're better off avoiding.

Here are some awkward or off-putting questions you should steer clear of, along with some decent replacement questions you can ask instead.

Don't ask: 'What does your company do?'

Questions like this will make you look unprepared. To avoid that, never ask anything that can easily be answered with a Google search.

Ask: 'How would you describe the company's culture?'

Talent Zoo EVP Amy Hoover said this question gives you a broad view on the corporate philosophy of a company and on whether it prioritizes employee happiness and development.

Or ask: 'Who do you consider your major competitors? How are you better?'

This question is not for the faint of heart, but it shows that you are already thinking about how you can help the company rise to meet some of its bigger goals, said Peter Harrison, CEO of Snagajob.

Don't ask: 'What will my salary be?'

Hold off on the money talk.

"Candidates have to walk a thin line between gathering information they need about a company and assuming they are going to get the position," Jesse Siegal, a senior managing director at The Execu|Search Group staffing firm, told Business Insider.

If compensation comes up naturally, that's fine. But you don't want to bring up the subject yourself during initial screeners.

Ask: 'Can you tell me what steps need to be completed before your company can generate an offer?'

"Any opportunity to learn the timeline for a hire is crucial information for you," Hoover said.

Asking about an "offer" rather than a "decision" will give you a better sense of the timeline because "decision" is a broad term, while an "offer" refers to the point when they're ready to hand over the contract.

Plus, if you're desperate to learn more about compensation, this question might prompt a discussion about how your pay will be determined.

Read full article on Business Insider.