Interviewing Potential Employers

Graduating from college is an exciting and hard-earned milestone for any student. However, many students begin interviewing with potential employers before graduation so they can start their careers as soon as their degree is in hand. It's easy to focus on acing the interview and getting hired to help manage the looming responsibilities of adulthood — paying back student loans, covering rent, buying groceries and other aspects of being an adult are right around the corner.

So, it can be easy to forget that the interview process is a mutual vetting between a possible employer and employee. As a potential employee, it’s just as important for you to interview the employer to understand if they’re the right fit for you. Considering that the average person works 40 hours a week and there are 52 weeks in a year, you could be spending 2,080 hours at your job annually, so it’s important to know if the company and role align with what you’re looking for.

Questions To Define What You Value in an Employer

This may not be your first job, but it may be your first time interviewing and working in your chosen career field. There are a few important questions to ask during the interview. Before preparing those questions ahead of an interview, it’s important to understand what you value in an employer. To help discover what you value, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. What type of career growth am I looking to achieve?
2. What is my timeline for achieving career growth?
3. What type of company culture is most important to me?
4. What level and type of communication is needed for me to excel?
5. What type of mentorship works best for me?

Use your answers to these to determine what you would like to ask an employer to find out if the job fits with your values. The Harvard Business Review identified 38 savvy questions to identify if a potential employer fits the values you hold. Indeed also compiled 32 questions to ask a potential employer. I have chosen five questions from both sources that align with the value questions above that you can ask during an interview. Remember, choose whatever questions work best for you.

1. What learning and development opportunities will I have in this role?
2. Are there examples of a career path beginning with this position?
3. Is there anything I should read, listen to or watch before starting that will help me have a shared understanding with my colleagues?
4. What are the characteristics of successful team collaboration in this work environment?
5. How would you anticipate working with the person in this role?

Finally, while there are many interview questions to prepare for, remember that asking your own questions is an important aspect of the process. The questions you ask will share just as much about you as the questions you answer. So, be sure to prepare questions you would like to ask based on the values you hold and use each interview as a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity.

Sources:

https://hbr.org/2022/05/38-smart-questions-to-ask-in-a-job-interview

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/questions-to-ask-in-an-interview