Your answers to questions rarely define you. It is easy to sound good. It is more difficult to be good: The questions you ask in an interview communicate how you are uniquely qualified.
This is why, when a friend asked for advice before an interview, I told her: Your questions reveal your values, wisdom, and experience. Plus, done well, your inquiries will enable you to learn if your future employer optimizes human potential – or destroys it.
Here are eleven questions to ask to better understand if you are the right fit for an organization:
- How do you define and measure the employee experience?
- What are the greatest barriers to accelerating workflow in the organization? (What actions are being taken to break those barriers?)
- What are three things executive leaders do to demonstrate that the organization’s culture is a strategic priority?
- What sort of culture does the top leadership currently model? (i.e. pace setting, top-down, charismatic, collaborative, etc.?)
- How does problem solving occur here?
- How are decisions made?
- What is the primary method used to align the workforce to a horizontal or cross-functional objective?
- How are colleagues enrolled in change initiatives?
- To what degree do cross-functional colleagues operate with transparency or full information flow?
- To which do employees most identify with – their function or the customer and product? (How is “team” defined?)
- How do you measure employee fulfillment? (Most companies measure engagement. Do not settle for such an arrangement of mediocrity. You deserve to be fulfilled.)
The company you want to work for not only understands your questions – they value them.
