You’ve probably heard that preparation is essential when it comes to interviews. A list of questions to ask the hiring manager should be at the top of your preparation list. Hiring managers always provide time after discussions for job candidates to ask questions.
During an interview, hiring managers usually ask, “Do you have any questions?” This is your chance to inquire about anything you have yet to learn during the talk.
You should always be prepared with good interview questions to ask the hiring manager to indicate your interest and engagement in the interview. In addition, the questions for the hiring manager might reveal a lot about you to the recruiting staff. If you’re searching for your initial job or are a trained professional, making an excellent first impression during an interview is critical to securing an offer.
During a job interview, questions to ask a hiring manager are insightful and valuable as questions are a terrific approach to exhibit your professionalism, intelligence, and devotion. Unfortunately, many candidates need help with questions for the hiring manager. That error results from either a lack of preparation or the stress of the interview. How can you ensure your success during the recruiting process? Remember that the most important interview questions to ask a hiring manager are the ones that come up spontaneously throughout the conversation.
If you already have a few questions to ask the hiring manager prepared, you will be able to ask the recruiting manager thoughtful and relevant queries. In this post, we’ll look at the greatest questions to ask a hiring manager during an interview and the ones you shouldn’t ask.
In this blog,
What is a hiring manager?
Why Prepare Questions for the Hiring Manager?
How many Questions can you ask your Hiring Manager?
What types of Questions can you ask your hiring manager?
- Questions about company culture
- Questions about the company’s past and future
- Questions about your role
- Questions about your team
- Questions about the interviewer
30 Best Questions to Ask your Hiring Manager
Questions to Ask your hiring manager if you are short on time.
Questions to Ask your Hiring Manager to turn an interview into a good one.
Questions you shouldn’t ask the hiring manager
Tips for asking challenging and genuine questions to your hiring manager.
Takeaway
What is a hiring manager?
The hiring manager is often the manager or supervisor filling a vacant job. Whatever their daily responsibilities, they are an essential part of an employee recruiting team. In addition, they oversee the position and department into which a new employee is absorbed.
As such, they are in charge of designating a mentor, new employee welcome and onboarding, integrating the employee with the rest of the department’s personnel, ensuring the continued overall direction of the new employee’s job and objectives, and all other obligations that come with the manager’s function. A candidate is allowed to ask questions to ask in a management interview, so keep a list ready!
Depending upon the size of the firm and the number of positions being filled, the hiring manager may be involved in all aspects of employee recruiting. For example, they might go over incoming resumes and applications and conduct phone interviews to see if the candidates are qualified enough to warrant the employee time committed in an onsite consultation.
Why Prepare Questions for the Hiring Manager?
As an interviewee, asking the hiring manager questions might help you stand out from the crowd. It also demonstrates to the hiring manager that you are interested in the discussion and employment opportunities. Finally, more preparation can help to calm anxiety since you already know how you’ll respond when asked, “do you have any questions?”
How many questions can you ask your Hiring Manager?
When you prepare several questions to ask the manager in an interview, it’s critical to understand how many you may ask.
The amount of questions to ask a hiring manager varies depending on the length of the interview. The longer the interview, the more significant questions you’ll be able to ask. As a general guideline, you should have time to ask three to five questions. Of course, this depends on a variety of things, including the length of the interview and whether or not the interviewer needs to arrive on time.
Prepare additional hiring manager questions. If one of your questions is no longer relevant or the recruiting manager replies without your asking, keep it in mind. If you want to ask three questions, prepare five. Prepare 8-10 questions if you will get the time five questions to ask managers.
Prioritize your list of questions because you will only have time to ask some of them.
What types of Questions can you ask your hiring manager?
Great interview questions come in various types. Each category has a distinct purpose.
- Questions about company culture
- Questions about the company’s past and future
- Questions about your role
- Questions about your team
- Questions about the interviewer
Let’s take a deeper look at interview questions for managers so you can start brainstorming questions.
Questions about company culture.
What is the company culture like at this firm? It’s critical that you understand this before accepting a job offer.
A company’s dominating culture may make or break your experience. It might be the difference between a rewarding profession in which you flourish and one that leads to burnout. What, for example, does the firm do to build a sense of belonging?
Today, culture is the number one reason prospects pick a firm. But, again, the interview can be used to understand what it’s like.
Inquiring about corporate culture helps you spot red flags. These might include hiring prejudice and if your recruiting manager places a premium on inclusivity.
Questions about the company’s past and future.
What is the company’s history, and where are they going? What are your prospective team’s following objectives? You might have questions for the hiring manager about the company’s past and future to grasp your possible function and its context better.
How did they rise to the top of the industry? What plans do they have to continue to lead in the future?
However, avoid asking obvious questions that anybody might readily find out with a fast Google search or by reading the company’s website. You would like to appear knowledgeable and thoughtful. Don’t ask this question, for example, if the firm’s website clearly explains who created the company and how it started. It may appear that you needed to conduct adequate research before the interview.
You may also inquire about workplace diversity and what the organization is doing to make it a priority.
Questions about your role.
The hiring manager must determine if you are a suitable match for the position. But you do as well. You can ask clarifying questions to learn more about the position and what they anticipate from you. These are very important questions to ask a manager.
For example, what are the specific functions and responsibilities that you’d have that need to be included in the job description? Will you receive on-the-job training to ensure your success and empowerment in this role? What is the hiring or onboarding process like? Can we do a functioning interview?
You might also inquire about the career paths that other persons in this position have taken. This will make it simpler for you to plan your future career.
Questions about your team.
You will not be working in a vacuum if you acquire this position. As a result, learning more about the folks you’ll be working with is critical. You may become a resilient employee with the support of a resilient team.
You can inquire about your team members’ duties. However, you may also ask about how they work with others. It would help if you also learned about the working styles of the folks on your team. Are they meticulous, rational, or supportive?
Alternatively, inquire about your possible leader’s management style.
Questions about the interviewer.
Last but not least, inquire about the hiring manager’s professional path. You may also ask why they choose to work for this firm and what they appreciate most about their job.
30 Great Interview Questions You Should Ask Your Hiring Manager
Do you need help with what questions to ask your recruiting manager? Do you need some particular example questions for your upcoming interview? Here are 30 concerns to ask a hiring manager during an interview:
- What is a typical day like in this position?
- What kinds of projects might I be involved in?
- Please detail any current active projects and activities I would assist with within this role.
- Is this a new or existing position?
- How high is the turnover rate in this department?
- Which of the primary tasks of this position is most important to you?
- What skill sets do you feel the perfect applicant must have to be successful in this position?
- Can you identify the most significant problems someone in this position will face?
- What are your expectations for someone in this position over the next 12 months?
- How long have you been with this company?
- What do you enjoy most about working at this company?
- What is the most challenging aspect of working for this company?
- Why did you choose to work for this company?
- What are the critical values of the company?
- What are the company’s primary priorities for the coming year? What, three years? After five years?
- Please tell me about the team I’d be working with within this position.
- Daily, to whom would I report?
- What are the team’s main strengths and weaknesses?
- Within the next six months, where do you envision this department going?
- What other departments would I be collaborating with in this role?
- Could you please explain the business culture?
- Is your workplace more collaborative or independent?
- Do members of this team socialize outside of work?
- Are there any office customs?
- I should be aware of the following phases in the interview process.
- What happened to the former occupant of this position?
- What is the average career path for someone recruited for this position?
- How do you rate the individual in this position’s performance?
- What do you consider the most significant impediment on your path right now? What will be improved after the impediment is removed?
- How will I know when I’ve made it to this company?
Questions to Ask your hiring manager if you are short on time
If your interview lasts longer than planned and you’re pressed for time, you might only be able to ask some of the questions (and follow-up questions) you want. So here are three of the finest questions to ask when you’re short on time and why they’re essential.
1. What do your most successful employees do differently than others?
Inquiring about the most successful staff provides two advantages. First and foremost, it will assist you in learning more about what it takes to thrive at this organization. However, it will also demonstrate to your future employer that you are open-minded, driven to achieve, and think beyond the box. It’s not an obvious question that anyone would think of, which is why it’s so brilliant.
2. Are there prospects for career development in this role?
When you inquire about career growth prospects with a hiring manager, you demonstrate that you are concerned about the larger picture.
You’re demonstrating that you’re prepared to commit your time to our firm and make a long-term impact.
3. What are your expectations for the person in this role to accomplish in their first 90 days?
Career goals are crucial, but so is a short-term success. If you obtain the job, this question will tell you precisely what expectations will be placed on you immediately.
Questions to Ask your Hiring Manager to turn an interview into a good one.
What are some good questions to ask during a bad interview? If you’ve been looking for work for an extended period, you may suffer from job search depression. But don’t let another failed interview derail you. Here are five practical interview questions you may ask to turn things around.
1. What excites you the most about the company’s future?
Ask this question to demonstrate your interest in the company’s future. It can also help you establish rapport with your interviewer. They get to discuss something that interests them. In exchange, you will learn more about the company’s future.
2. What distinguishes working for this firm from other places you’ve worked?
You demonstrate thoughtfulness by asking this question. It also helps you create rapport and learn more about the hiring manager. Your hiring manager’s job differs from the one you’re applying for. On the other hand, insight into their significant issues and likes might provide a glimpse into the help and assistance you can provide.
3. What are the expectations for workflow management?
Almost every business has enough work to keep everyone occupied 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In practice, everyone gets to go home. So how do you know when you’ve had enough for the day? What are the expectations for working on weekends and replying to emails outside regular business hours?
4. How will this position contribute to the company’s purpose and objectives?
This selfless inquiry demonstrates your interest in the company’s future. As a result, the hiring manager will understand that you aren’t only concerned with your achievement.
5. What possibilities will there be for me to learn and grow?
Does the firm provide official or informal mentorship and coaching to help you advance in your career? Does it invest in continuing education or professional development to help you progress in your career? Significant firms seek to recruit people committed to their personal and professional development. Therefore, demonstrate to your hiring manager that continuing education is crucial in the job market and to you.
Questions you shouldn’t ask the hiring manager.
Some interview questions might have a detrimental impact on your interviewers. It may diminish your chances of being hired for the job. When you go for a job interview, keep it in mind. Here are a few questions you should avoid:
1. What exactly does this company do?
Before the interview, you should conduct preliminary research about the firm. Consider looking through the company’s website. Before attending your interview, you should thoroughly understand the company’s operations.
2. How do I schedule days off?
This inquiry may make you appear uninterested in your job and more concerned about your vacation. This sends a negative message to the employer. This type of information is frequently discussed during orientation.
3. Can I work from home?
If this employment enabled you to work from home, it would have stated so in the job description. Unless otherwise noted, you should anticipate that this role will need you to report to work every day.
4. How long will it take for me to get promoted?
Although this may demonstrate your ambition, it may also indicate that you need to be more interested in the position being offered. Instead, show your enthusiasm for your existing employment. As you work with the organization, you will learn more about promotions.
5. What kinds of benefits are offered?
Once the post has been offered, benefits should be considered. You can inquire about insurance, vacation, and sick days after they provide employment, but before you agree. When you ask about it too quickly, you may give the idea that this is all you’re interested in.
Tips for asking challenging and genuine questions to your hiring manager.
No inquiries are officially forbidden as long as you focus on your needs and goals. You don’t want any lingering doubts when you decide to take this employment. However, remember that the recruiting manager may be your future employer. Therefore, being careful of how you frame complex inquiries can provide the groundwork for a fruitful working relationship.
Here are some pointers for asking difficult questions:
1. Demonstrate that you’ve done your research.
Hiring managers want to know that you are enthusiastic about joining their company. One method to show interest is to cite insights from your pre-interview study that jumped out to you and encourage the chance to continue the conversation. In addition, you may indicate that you’ve done your homework by prefacing inquiries with “I observed.”
2. Lead with your desire to learn. Approaching questions with curiosity can help you keep an open, nonjudgmental tone. It’s best to avoid opening queries with “why,” which might come out as aggressive or illegitimate defensiveness.
3. Focus on questions the hiring manager is best prepared to answer.
Your recruiting manager can answer questions about the position and team, but they may need help addressing queries concerning income and perks that fall outside their purview. Consider returning to the position, the team, or the hiring manager’s experience with each inquiry.
Let’s look at a concrete scenario using these suggestions. For example, rather than asking why the corporation laid off hundreds of people a month previously, you may say, “I observed the company has been experiencing some restructuring in recent times. How do you see this team’s chances of success under the existing structure?”
Takeaway
Interviews may be difficult for people from many walks of life. However, knowing what questions to ask a recruiting manager will help you create a good impression. You want to take advantage of this chance to ask questions. It’s an opportunity to continue proving yourself while determining whether this position is a good fit.
Just choose the ones that are most relevant to you, your hobbies, and the work at hand ahead of time. Then write them down, either on paper or on your phone, and review them to ensure they’re fresh in your memory. And, of course, respect the interviewer’s time. Choose two or three questions most essential to you if you were scheduled to speak for an hour, and they turn to you with 5 minutes left.
When you get a job offer, you will always have additional time to ask questions.
You may not have time to ask questions at the end of the interview. If this occurs, you should only ask, “What are the following steps?” so you know what to expect from the recruiting manager and when to follow up on the interview.
This blog is curated by NWorx; we specialise in employee excellence and workplace productivity enhancement. Confused about what questions you can ask a hiring manager at an interview? We can help; visit the NWorx website to get in touch or book a demo with us.
References:
https://www.betterup.com/blog/questions-to-ask-hiring-manager
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/questions-to-ask-hiring-manager
https://in.topresume.com/career-advice/13-of-the-smartest-questions-to-ask-a-hiring-manager
https://www.coursera.org/articles/questions-to-ask-hiring-manager
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/interview-questions-ask-hiring-managers
