how do you respond to interviewer when asked "do you have any other questions"?

[JD50]

Originally posted by: fpanatf

Originally posted by: Daverino
The question, "Do you have any questions for me?" is an interview question. Treat it no differently than any other question that the interviewer would ask. If you say 'no' it may peg you as incurious or uninterested. The interviewer is not asking the question for his or her own health. It is another means of evaluation. Believe me, I do a lot of interviews. The make or break question I always ask is, "What does *my company* do?" If the interviewee doesn't know the answer, and can't show me that they've done any research on my company before walking in, I know they aren't interested in working for my company specifically. . . they just want a job.

There are always questions to ask the interviewer, and a bunch of good ones have been mentioned. Ask the interviewer his opinion about the company. Ask about corporate culture. Ask about current projects. Ask for things to be demoed. But don't say you have no questions. If the interviewer considers it a critical question, you've just screwed yourself on the last question of the interview and that's the one he or she is going to remember.

I had to create another account (which I'm sure will be promptly banned since you folks here have mommy issues) just to tell you what a moron you are.

Interviewing isn't a game, so why don't you stop treating it as such? I'd say from your response you are yet another unqualified douche bag who is making life difficult for lots of people because you've come to misunderstand the purpose of an interview.

"Ask the interviewer his opinion about the company". Seriously? What's an interviewer going to do... trash talk the company? Talk bad about the managers? Why would you even suggest a question like that when the answer is going to be the same generic "oh this company is great I love it here" EVERY SINGLE TIME?

Marking an interviewee down because they don't ask a question at the end should be a felony.

Example: douche bag interviewee #1 (that you hired because he was just stupid enough to not pose a threat to your worthless ass) asks you about "corporate culture". So you run your mouth then give him a grade "A" because he was the good little interviewee who passed your test.

Interviewee number #2 doesn't ask a question, so you mark him down. Only thing is, he has a friend on the inside who told him exactly what the corporate culture is like. So his knowledge is equal to that of interviewee #1, but you marked him down because he didn't play your stupid game.

And no, you can't mark him down either for not making use of that extra time to ask a question, otherwise you have to start grading each question for merit and the number of questions ask.

Get the picture? You're a moron. Whether you are a business owner or manager. It doesn't matter. Owning a business, making money; these things don't mean you are successful.

Crawl out of your pathetic ego sometime and take a look around at the few people who don't suck at life and see how they treat people. Go study the owners who win awards for their talent. You'll find a common theme. They don't interact with people as if they are filling out a checklist on the inside cover of a bargain bin Barnes and Noble "how to perform an interview" sh*t book written by some can't-do wanna be HR rep.

Edited to add quote.

Edited again. Nearly everybody in this thread sounds like a pathetic loser. Bunch of nobodies desperate for a job who are too afraid to NOT play the interview game; just want to get the job and not burn bridges so they can go get that paycheck and buy toys. Fail more at life, sheep.

That was an awesome rant, do you have anything else to add?

 

[ultimatebob]

Heh... I guess that this is what happens when you try to ask a serious question in ATOT.

Oh well... I blame myself for not answering "blow and hookers". All questions in ATOT can be answered that way

 

[Regs]

Well, in all honesty ultimatebob, I think there is a few here that are really on blow.

 

[MotionMan]

The original question was:

Topic Title: how do you respond to interviewer when asked "do you have any other questions"?

(Emphasis added)

I assume OP meant AFTER he had already asked all his good questions (like the ones posted in this thread).

I am not sure there is a good question to "keep in reserve" since you should ask all your questions before the interviewer gets to the point of asking you if you have any more questions.

The funny thing is, if you keep asking questions after being asked, "Do you have any other questions", the interview will never end .

MotionMan

 

[Daverino]

Originally posted by: fpanatf

Originally posted by: Daverino
The question, "Do you have any questions for me?" is an interview question. Treat it no differently than any other question that the interviewer would ask. If you say 'no' it may peg you as incurious or uninterested. The interviewer is not asking the question for his or her own health. It is another means of evaluation. Believe me, I do a lot of interviews. The make or break question I always ask is, "What does *my company* do?" If the interviewee doesn't know the answer, and can't show me that they've done any research on my company before walking in, I know they aren't interested in working for my company specifically. . . they just want a job.

There are always questions to ask the interviewer, and a bunch of good ones have been mentioned. Ask the interviewer his opinion about the company. Ask about corporate culture. Ask about current projects. Ask for things to be demoed. But don't say you have no questions. If the interviewer considers it a critical question, you've just screwed yourself on the last question of the interview and that's the one he or she is going to remember.

Get the picture? You're a moron. Whether you are a business owner or manager. It doesn't matter. Owning a business, making money; these things don't mean you are successful.

Crawl out of your pathetic ego sometime and take a look around at the few people who don't suck at life and see how they treat people. Go study the owners who win awards for their talent. You'll find a common theme. They don't interact with people as if they are filling out a checklist on the inside cover of a bargain bin Barnes and Noble "how to perform an interview" sh*t book written by some can't-do wanna be HR rep.

Edited to add quote.

Edited again. Nearly everybody in this thread sounds like a pathetic loser. Bunch of nobodies desperate for a job who are too afraid to NOT play the interview game; just want to get the job and not burn bridges so they can go get that paycheck and buy toys. Fail more at life, sheep.

Well, safe to say you'd never be hired at my company. . .
Here's my perspective. You're interviewing for a job. So are 10-20 other people. You will not distinguish yourself with your education, because the people that are competing against you have the same education level. You will not distinguish yourself with your accomplishments, because you are competing against people with the same level of accomplishments. You are competing against clones of yourself, regardless of how special a snowflake you think you are.

Every time I'm going to hire the more enthusiastic person over the less enthusiastic one. Every time I'm going to hire the more curious person over the less curious one. Every time I'm going to hire the person who can communicate clearly and directly over someone who cannot. Every time I'm going to hire the person who has bothered to read the job description over someone who has not. It is not a game. A good interviewer isn't evaluating your answers to questions so much as how you answer the question. You and everyone else has had an internship at IBM/Microsoft/Google/Adobe/etc. I'm not asking you what you did there because I want to learn about their internship programs. I'm asking you what you did there because if you can't explain it to me cleanly and concisely in 5 minutes or less you're going to be the type of employee who wastes everybody's time with confusing emails and aimless meetings. Why do I want you to ask a question? Because you can. . . it's easy. If you say you don't have any questions you're telling me one of two things: First, you think you know it all which is going to bite everyone in the ass when you develop something off-spec because you thought you understood it and didn't think you needed to ask questions. Second, you haven't been paying attention in the interview enough to ask a question, which is going to bite everyone in the ass when you develop something off-spec because you weren't sharp enough to know you needed to ask questions.

By the way, the easiest way to avoid having to answer 'Do you have any questions?' at the end of an interview is to ask questions during the interview. The only reason I ask the question is because I'm not sure of your ability to ask questions.

And for fpanatf: Coming into an interview to show off how cool your anti-social personality disorder is working out is not going to get you a job.

 

[alkemyst]

"HOLD ON, I NEED TO ASK ATOT FOR ANY QUESTIONS!"

 

[Daverino]

Originally posted by: MotionMan
The original question was:

Topic Title: how do you respond to interviewer when asked "do you have any other questions"?

(Emphasis added)

I assume OP meant AFTER he had already asked all his good questions (like the ones posted in this thread).

I am not sure there is a good question to "keep in reserve" since you should ask all your questions before the interviewer gets to the point of asking you if you have any more questions.

The funny thing is, if you keep asking questions after being asked, "Do you have any other questions", the interview will never end .

MotionMan

Good point. I missed the topic drift. . .

 

[rudder]

Do you offer healthcare to domestic partners?

 

[JDub02]

i would ask if they know of any place to buy bulk beef ... preferably something alternator sized.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: venkman
"so tell me about the chicks that work here....would you say maybe 7s on average or we talking more like wildebeest 3s".

 

[fulltilt39]

ask if they give out free iPods

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
What.... is the capital of Assyria?

:thumbsup::laugh:

 

[oogabooga]

so... how about them cubs?

 

[TridenT]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
"When will we be switching to VBulletin?"

:laugh:

I lol'd.

 

[Farang]

"Ask the interviewer his opinion about the company". Seriously? What's an interviewer going to do... trash talk the company? Talk bad about the managers? Why would you even suggest a question like that when the answer is going to be the same generic "oh this company is great I love it here" EVERY SINGLE TIME?

When I asked people why they liked they job, you could tell the canned answers from the not. I take a lot away from that because if you really like your job, it should come naturally to explain why. My current job I asked how long the interviewer had been working there and what she liked about the job, and she had a genuine answer after 6 years with the company. Other times I asked the question and got one lady to say "cutting edge" about 10 times in 3 minutes (canned answer), for example. Her co-interviewer said he liked his pay check, ha ha ha, but really he liked whatever, I don't even remember what he said because it was bullshit. Sounded like a shit place to work.

 

[dwell]

Topsy-turvy that mother fucker

 

[TehMac]

I LOVE the rant in the middle of this thread, and Harvey's response, haha

 

[Darthvoy]

I usually ask a bs question about the company. Something pertaining to the position you are applying for and its role in the company. The important thing to have a question. Anything.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: spidey07
I normally ask about reviews, how they view promotions and more importantly company culture.

These are good suggestions. Saving them for last might be a good strategy and a decent way to end with a "bang" too. The problem is that most interviewers aren't good at interviewing, so they won't sense that you have no more questions and will simply ask: "do you have any more questions?" as a way to end the interview. That being said, the best response is probably "When can I start?"

Meh. I'm more of a two way street. I'm interviewing the interviewer as well. You have to convince me I WANT to work for you. This power comes up when negotiations start. First off convince me I want to make a long term commitment - culture, future opportunities, example projects and sphere of influence. Then convince me it's worth it compensation wise.

Worst thing you can do is "hat in hand, I need this job". Another tactic is bringing up planned responsibilities and decision making where the interviewer goes into sales mode "How would you feel about two, yes 10 people working <gestures hand underneath the other> directly under you?". Instead of "when can I start" the answer is "So is that an offer?"

Read the book "how to make 1000 bucks a minute". Will tell you everything you need to know to turn it into them wanting you to work for them, not the other way around. You and your services are a premium product, act like it.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: fpanatf

Originally posted by: Daverino
The question, "Do you have any questions for me?" is an interview question. Treat it no differently than any other question that the interviewer would ask. If you say 'no' it may peg you as incurious or uninterested. The interviewer is not asking the question for his or her own health. It is another means of evaluation. Believe me, I do a lot of interviews. The make or break question I always ask is, "What does *my company* do?" If the interviewee doesn't know the answer, and can't show me that they've done any research on my company before walking in, I know they aren't interested in working for my company specifically. . . they just want a job.

There are always questions to ask the interviewer, and a bunch of good ones have been mentioned. Ask the interviewer his opinion about the company. Ask about corporate culture. Ask about current projects. Ask for things to be demoed. But don't say you have no questions. If the interviewer considers it a critical question, you've just screwed yourself on the last question of the interview and that's the one he or she is going to remember.

I had to create another account (which I'm sure will be promptly banned since you folks here have mommy issues) just to tell you what a moron you are.

Interviewing isn't a game, so why don't you stop treating it as such? I'd say from your response you are yet another unqualified douche bag who is making life difficult for lots of people because you've come to misunderstand the purpose of an interview.

"Ask the interviewer his opinion about the company". Seriously? What's an interviewer going to do... trash talk the company? Talk bad about the managers? Why would you even suggest a question like that when the answer is going to be the same generic "oh this company is great I love it here" EVERY SINGLE TIME?

Marking an interviewee down because they don't ask a question at the end should be a felony.

Example: douche bag interviewee #1 (that you hired because he was just stupid enough to not pose a threat to your worthless ass) asks you about "corporate culture". So you run your mouth then give him a grade "A" because he was the good little interviewee who passed your test.

Interviewee number #2 doesn't ask a question, so you mark him down. Only thing is, he has a friend on the inside who told him exactly what the corporate culture is like. So his knowledge is equal to that of interviewee #1, but you marked him down because he didn't play your stupid game.

And no, you can't mark him down either for not making use of that extra time to ask a question, otherwise you have to start grading each question for merit and the number of questions ask.

Get the picture? You're a moron. Whether you are a business owner or manager. It doesn't matter. Owning a business, making money; these things don't mean you are successful.

Crawl out of your pathetic ego sometime and take a look around at the few people who don't suck at life and see how they treat people. Go study the owners who win awards for their talent. You'll find a common theme. They don't interact with people as if they are filling out a checklist on the inside cover of a bargain bin Barnes and Noble "how to perform an interview" sh*t book written by some can't-do wanna be HR rep.

Edited to add quote.

Edited again. Nearly everybody in this thread sounds like a pathetic loser. Bunch of nobodies desperate for a job who are too afraid to NOT play the interview game; just want to get the job and not burn bridges so they can go get that paycheck and buy toys. Fail more at life, sheep.

---

You are the one with mommy issues. Your mommy phoned us to apologize for your behavior. She says you still haven't stopped wetting your bed and pooping your diapers.

Harvey
Senior AnandTech Moderator

On the contrary. Just as Harvey noted, you sound like someone who would go running to mommy crying, "I had a good interview, but they asked me a trick question about whether I had any questions for the interviewer."

It is NOT a trick question. It's a perfect question to see how serious of an employee your candidate may be. Yooohooo! Moron! That question is asked VERY FREQUENTLY by interviewers. If you go to an interview and are NOT prepared to answer that question by asking some pertinent question, you probably are NOT going to get the job, at least not if the other candidates are equally qualified and do have some sort of intelligent questions prepared in advance - because they're interested in the job enough to put forth some preparation time before the interview.

Being ready with some questions to ask when asked "do you have any questions?" shows that you're motivated enough to prepare for the interview.

fwiw, I've only interviewed for jobs I've really wanted, and I've always been motivated enough to be ready for virtually any question they could ask me. And, I was ready for that question last time - it was for a teaching position. "Do you have any questions for us?" "Yes, I'm wondering what your perspective is about student disciplinary problems in the high school. What kind of support do the faculty receive from the administration on student discipline, and what are the most common problems involving student disciplinary actions? To be quite honest, although I spent most of my life only 15 miles away, I've only had minimal contact with people from this high school. Of those who I was able to contact in regard to the current atmosphere, I received slightly mixed responses. But, that seemed highly related to how much of a discipline problem I suspected their own child was."

Think about all the information I was able to convey about my seriousness toward the position through that question. Oh, that was 10 years ago & I got the job. Prior to that, I got the job. Prior to that, I got the job. Prior to that, I got the job. I turned 43 today & have been continuously employed since I was 15 or 16. Only once, when I was 15, was I ever turned down for a position. It was a minimum wage job for a high school student; there were over 100 applicants for that position. Nothing made me stand out enough to even get the interview.

 

[bobdole369]

how do you respond to interviewer when asked "do you have any other questions"?

What do your employees fear?

 

[Adrenaline]

you already asked what you could and don't have any more, but you want to end it on a high note.

"I don't have any at this time"? sounds so stiff

I usually have 3 questions in mind when would go in for an inteview. I always viewed it as being prepared. When they would ask that question at the end I would say something like, "I had 3 questions and you answered 2 of them and just have one left now." You could elaborate on the other two questions and answers you got, and ask the third. I thought it always showed an attention to detail.

 

[lokiju]

When do I start?

 

[vshah]

Do you have any wet wipes handy?

 

[stinkynathan]

If you've truly exhausted your supply of questions about the company, I use my answer to this final question to (hopefully) seal the deal on the interview.

Example:
Formal interview section. Then,
Interviewer: "Now, what questions do you have?"
Interviewee: Questions about the company, the position, culture, things brought up in the interview
Interviewer: "Do you have any more questions?" (to me this signals it's time to wrap things up.)
Interviewee: "Yes. What is the next step in the interview process?" (for 1st/2nd interviews)
OR "Have I said anything today that prevents you from offering me this position today?" (for your final interview. Also gives you a chance to rebut any concerns they may have about you.)

In the case of the interview process question, it can also let you know where you stand compared to other candidates. In my last interview it let me know that I was at the top of the stack and they wanted to fly me to Pittsburgh for another round of interviews.