We always say that interviewing is a two-way street. Both the hiring company and the candidate have to be impressed with each other to continue the process. Either one can terminate the process at any time. That being said, BusinessWeek has an interesting article dedicated to candidates titled Ask The Right Question.
The author provides a strategy to 3 styles of questions all candidates should ask in an interview:
- Here’s My Brain Working Questions
- My Turn Questions
- What Happens Now? Questions
I’ll let the author lay out the strategy for the questions (which is quite well developed). One overly simplistic tip I will share from our experience – candidates should come prepared with questions. I am always amazed at how little preparation some candidates incorporate into the interview process.
This approach is magnified in sales hiring. A sales candidate who asks few questions, or worse – none, is always red flagged. Sales success revolves around qualifying which involves question-asking ability. If a sales candidate does not display any form of that ability, the assumption has to be that their abilities are lacking in this area.