A candidate's view of interviewing

This week's Management Strategies article is geared toward helping job seekers ask the right questions in an interview and avoid buyer's remorse in choosing a new job. At first blush the story doesn't seem to have a lot to do with management, but when you turn the subject around, I believe it can be beneficial to employers and potential employees.

We can all agree that hiring people is expensive, time consuming and fraught with analysis. You know the last thing you want to do is make a bad hire, and we can guarantee the candidate is equally concerned with making sure the job is the right fit. How do we satisfy both parties?

This week's story in Network World suggests that candidates ask very detailed questions of their potential employers, such as:

* Why is this position vacant?

* What happened to the last person? May I talk to that person?

* May I talk to some of the people I will be working with?

* What is your turnover rate?

* What is the exact reporting structure?

* Are there any dotted-line reporting relationships?

All excellent questions that should be asked - and answered. And in reading this article, I realized that if candidates don't ask them, we should provide the information. Honesty is truly the best policy, and being upfront with potential employees will get your relationship off on the right foot.

For example, I once had an employee who took a new position at our company, but left on her own accord after eight weeks when she realized it wasn't a right fit. When interviewing for her replacement, I wondered if I should tell candidates why the previous employee left. I figured I might as well be upfront with the candidates because due to the previous employee's extremely short tenure, the new person would undoubtedly find out eventually. I figured it would be better to hear it from me rather than from someone else, leaving the new employee to wonder, " What did I get myself into? "

More questions, and the case story of someone who failed to ask the right questions, can be found in the story at:

www.nwfusion.com/careers/2001/0409man.html

What are your interviewing tips? Tell me at: mshaw@nww.com

Melissa Shaw is managing editor of Network World. She can be reached at mshaw@nww.com.

Management Strategies archive
Past newsletters.

Interviewing the interviewer
Network World Career Newsletter, 02/08/99