Interview - asking questions

[jljh]

At the end of interviews, when it is my turn to ask questions, my mind sometimes goes blank and I come up with quite weak questions.

Is taking out a question list an acceptable/recommendable practice?

I can only remember 2 occasions when I did well when it is my turn to ask questions, once was when I was prepared, really engaged and interested during the interview and was able to ask relevant questions.

The second time was a phone interview where I have a good list of questions in front of me where I can pick the relevant ones.

Hi, usually for interviews, you would have done some research on the company and the position before going for it, so what I usually do is that I would have a list of questions to ask (usually about working culture, how big is the team, who you will be working with, etc), and will just remember them and ask them when the interviewer(s) asked if I have any questions for them, so I guess the idea is to go for the interview fully prepared, and try not to take out the paper with the list of questions, as I think it seems rather unprofessional.

Be well prepared before the interview. Don't try to think of questions on the spot. Also question you ask should show your interest for the job. Example are like what's the culture like. Ask them share experience. What's their outlook on the coy. Biggest challenge on the job for them. Please don't ask about pay, benefit, got ot or not.

Appear engaged when they answer and show interest in their answers. Can expand on their answers to ask more questions.

[aplover]

When i go for interviews, i have a notebook opened so that i can take down notes during the interview. It's actually a good thing. Then i would also have my list of qns to ask. I would have prepared a list of 10 qns on the next page and pick the top 2 or 3 most relevant ones.

Ask really good qns. Qns that are relating TO YOUR INTERVIEWER OR SUPERVISOR.
- How can i help you succeed in your job/this company?
- What is your most pressing issue at hand?
- What are your key challenges this year?
- What is the biggest threat to your business?
- What are you hoping to achieve in this year?

If you ask these qns that are focused on the interviewer/company, the interviewer would most likely be stumped, but he would be pleasently surprised and remember you better. He most likely wouldn't give you a solid ans, but putting him in a diff spot will make him see you differently.

I would rate these kind of qns as normal qns:
- What are the growth opportunities for this role?
- Where would this role be in 1,3,5yrs time?
- What's the culture like for your company?
- how big is the team?

The above qns are yesterday's substandard qns. Why? Coz they are focused on the interviewee. It's so passe and people know it's cut and paste qns. And biggest problem of all is they are qns that are focused on the interviewee which is what most pple would ask.

The absolute worst kind of qns to ask are anything relating to benefits and salary, working hours. Pls don't ever ask these qns. You can talk about it in the final round or when you are going into details with HR after you are shortlisted and about to be made the offer.

The above list of qns, i just thought of them on the spot while typing this out. It just shows it's not difficult to think of them. And it's not like i go for alot of interviews. So pls don't say you have no qns to ask as it will never look good on you also.