Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor released its jobs figures for the month of May. The report, summarized here in an article in The New York Times, said that 217,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in May and the unemployment rate remains 6.3 percent.
The jobs report also says that the number of Americans who are employed has finally reached the figure it was at before the economy collapsed in September, 2008.
It’s nice that there has been some good news lately on jobs, but the news is still grim for millions of people who have been unemployed for a long time and fear they might never be employed again. In fact, the percentage of the American adult population who are employed is at 62.8 percent, the lowest level since the late 1970s. Many people have just given up.
I’m not an employer so I can’t hire people, but I have written columns that I hope will help people get jobs. Below is my latest effort – “Five Best Questions To ASK While An Employer Is Interviewing You.”
Five Best Questions To ASK While An Employer Is Interviewing You
The telephone rings. A prospective employer wants to talk to you.
The first thing you should realize is that this conversation might be a de-facto job interview. The company might have decided before it phoned you to interview you in person, but what you say during the telephone conversation could make a good first impression that will help you land a job.
The second thing you should realize is that you should learn as much as possible about this prospective employer before its representatives begin interviewing you in person. Job seekers often spend considerable time formulating answers to questions they might be asked during an interview, but they spend far too little time preparing questions that they should ASK. These questions could be crucial because they give job seekers a chance to demonstrate what they know about the prospective employer.
Companies are much more apt to offer jobs to people who show they are interested in them. Consequently, job seekers should comprehensively research every company that interviews them. With that in mind, here are the five best questions to ask during a job interview.
1. What’s the employer’s long-term plan for (fill in the blank)?: The fill in the blank part is based on the comprehensive research that you did before the interview. Frequently, job seekers learn important information during their research such as the company is building a new facility or preparing to sell a new service or product.
2. Is the employer’s most important short-term priority (a, b or c)?: The a, b or c is based on the comprehensive research that you did before the interview. The company’s website might have articles about several issues and topics. Job seekers should be prepared to discuss them intelligently.
3. How can I best help the employer while I’m working at this job?: Employers are far more interested in what job seekers can do for them than what they can do for themselves. This question can lead to job seekers talking about their knowledge of some of the company’s specific projects, how their skills can help the company, and how they have been a team player in their past jobs.
4. Does the best career path for someone with this job require (fill in the blank)?: Job seekers who have already expressed an interest in helping the company in the short term have more latitude in expressing their interest in working for the employer for several years. For someone who is seeking a job as a newspaper reporter, the “fill in the blank” could be “covering many beats before becoming an editor.” The question gives job seekers a chance to demonstrate their knowledge about other jobs in the company.
5. When can I expect to hear from you?: That sounds like a really dull question. It is, but it’s also the first question that job seekers should ask after the interviewers inform them that the interview is over. After asking this question, job seekers should express their enthusiasm about the job. Hopefully, they’ll also be given a chance to ask whether they should keep in touch with the interviewers via phone or e-mail – and they should make sure that they do stay in touch with the interviewers.
CareerBuilder, Monster.com, and Forbes magazine have additional tips on the best questions job seekers should ask interviewers.
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