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    9 Do’s and Don’ts of Asking Questions in Job Interviews

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    The path from unemployment to employment has several steps, and for most, the first step after application is the job interview. The primary function of the interview is to allow the hiring manager to interact with candidates in order to determine if their qualifications and experience are a fit for the job’s requirements, as well as how they might fit into or add to the company’s culture and values.
    However, the job interview has a secondary function, but equally important for job seekers – the chance to interview the interviewer. The questions job seekers choose to ask in the interview are of paramount importance for two reasons:

    They demonstrate candidates’ preparation for the interview and interest in the job and company.
    They balance the scales in candidates’ favor, allowing them to determine if the job and company are truly a good fit for them.

    As a job seeker, choosing the right interview questions should be part of your interview preparation. Though there are many articles and blogs listing questions that candidates should ask in interviews, choosing the right ones and tailoring them to the role, the employer and your individual needs will help set you apart from the competition. Let’s look at nine best practices for asking questions in job interviews.
    1. Ask About Job Duties and Expectations
    Hiring managers love inquisitive minds. They want to know you’re interested in the role beyond what you’ve been told and that you’re anxious to learn more. Prepare questions on what the role will involve and what will be expected of you.
    2. Ask About Learning and Growth Opportunities
    Employers don’t want to hire people who are satisfied working the same job for the rest of their careers. They want to hire employees who are interested in constantly learning, growing, and evolving. Show the interviewer that this is a priority by asking about training, continuing education, and mentoring opportunities.
    3. Ask About Company Culture and Values
    Asking a generic question about a company’s culture is predictable, but tailoring the question based on elements of the culture that the company is known for or that interest you shows you’re familiar with the employer brand. Every company has values that are ingrained in their culture and essential to their employees. By showing interest in them and how they align with your values, you show that you’re interested in more than just a paycheck.
    4. Ask About Success
    Finding out how the interviewer defines success, what makes others successful at the company, and what will define success in the role for which you’re interviewing demonstrates your interest in achieving the same.
    5. Ask Follow-Up Questions
    While preparing questions in advance is essential to a successful job interview, it’s also a good idea to ask questions based on topics that you just discussed with the hiring manager. By following up on these topics later in the interview, it shows you were astute enough to take note of specific details in the conversation, and inquisitive enough to want to know more.
    6. Don’t Ask Anything That’s Easy to Research
    By asking overly simplistic questions about the company that can be answered with a quick Google search, it shows you weren’t willing to do any advance research or put any thought into preparing your questions. The same goes for questions about the role that can be answered by reading the job description.
    7. Don’t Ask About Salary or Time Off
    It’s never a good idea to convey a “what can YOU do for ME” attitude in a job interview, and calling attention to salary, benefits, or time off does just that. Though you will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not to accept an offer, keep the focus on the job, the company, and how you can contribute to both until the interviewer broaches these subjects or after an offer is made.
    8. Don’t Ask Anything Predictable
    If a question is general enough to be asked by any candidate at any job interview for any company, it’s probably not a good question. Spend time preparing your questions to ensure they are unique to your situation; they make the interviewer think and show you did your homework.
    9. Don’t Ask Anything Controversial or Negative
    If the company or one of its leaders has been in the news recently for the wrong reasons, don’t call attention to it in the job interview. Though this may be a valid reason for rejecting a job offer, posing questions to the interviewer about scandalous news or controversial topics won’t work in your favor.
    How you respond to a hiring manager’s inevitable closing interview question, “Do you have any questions for me?” can make or break your chances of landing a job offer. In addition, it’s an often-underutilized opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of and interest in the job and company, gain an advantage over your competition, and determine whether or not it’s where you want to spend the next several years of your career. By preparing questions in advance tailored around subjects that employers use as determining hiring factors, you can control the direction of the interview and, as a result, the direction of your career.
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      4 Trends Shaping Learning & Development for Multinational Companies

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      The pandemic and the economic downturn in recent months has forced many business leaders to reconsider their approach to Learning and Development. A report by TalentLMS reveals that 67% of HR managers have an increased L&D budget in 2022 while LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning report states that L&D leaders are twice as likely to have a seat at the C-suite table today, compared with during pre-pandemic times. With international talent management being one of the most challenging areas in the post-pandemic era, there are four trends that can help L&D pros reframe this new pressure.
      1. Upskill & Reskill
      The pandemic has pushed forward digital transformation across many industries. In the public sector alone, 34% of jobs are expected to be replaced by automation by the early 2030s. Companies willing to keep up with the rapidly evolving digitalization while also keeping down their recruitment costs need to focus on upskilling the employees they already have. Building in-house upskilling and reskilling programs might thus be a great investment in helping your business grow sustainably. Many prominent MNCs like IBM or DHL have already launched such programs to make sure they have all the skills they need in the future within their company.
      2. Create Ecosystems
      Given the pace of digitalization mentioned above, organizations should rethink the ways to encourage their employees across different regions to acquire new skills more actively than before. An effective and easy-to-use learning ecosystem could be a great help in engaging the staff in new learning programs. At Milengo we define a learning ecosystem as a digital environment that brings together three training content, learning analytics, and feedback tools, and is available to all the employees regardless of their geographical location. Fortunately for L&D managers, there are plenty of companies providing ready-to-use non-code solutions for creating a learning ecosystem, such as Leapsome, 360Learning, and many more.
      3. Emphasize Video Content
      CIPD research says that the usage of video content has increased over pandemic, and continues to be the most successful and engaging format of corporate learning, followed by curated content, and microlearning. This is definitely a reason to consider making multimedia content a cornerstone of your employee learning strategy. However, video content has longer production cycles and higher costs compared to traditional text formats. This might be an even greater problem for multinational teams that need to deliver their L&D materials in multiple languages and adjust the content to multiple markets. So, make sure you maximize the use of automation tools for video creation, editing, summarizing, and transcription to optimize your production cycles.
      4. Localize L&D Materials
      With cultural and language barriers being a big challenge for many remote multicultural teams, standardizing all your L&D materials in English might not always be a way out. Depending on the industry you are in, your employees might not all master English well enough to complete an upskill or learning course. Also, there’s evidence that using English as a shared language between non-native speakers may lead to “invisible errors”: situations when both the speaker and the hearer misunderstand each other but neither of them realizes that they get something wrong. At the same time, employees who are addressed in their native language have more resources to identify and resolve misunderstandings. If you are following the pathway of multilingual learning content production in your company, services like AI Voiceover might save you time and costs on localization and editing of your learning materials.
      The fact that L&D is gaining more attention from organizational leaders is great news, considering the number of tasks L&D managers are facing in 2022. Now L&D leaders should ensure they are using their time and budgets in the most effective way with a good deal of outsourcing, automation, and upskilling themselves.
      By Julia Staszak, Head of People and Finance at Milengo.
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      How Can Job Seekers Make Themselves More Attractive to Recruiters?

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      Just as the labor market changes quickly and unexpectedly, so too does the recruiting industry. As the workforce rebounds from COVID-19 and unemployment rates continue to drop, job seekers have more options from which to choose, making hiring increasingly difficult for employers, and sourcing top talent more challenging for recruiters.
      Though job seekers may have more options than in the past two years, this doesn’t mean they will all be viable. The Great Resignation has made qualified candidates a rare commodity, making it even more important for both active and passive job seekers to showcase themselves in ways that make them attractive to recruiters when their skills are a match for open positions. Let’s look at some areas job seekers should focus on in order to ensure they appear on recruiters’ radars.
      Prioritize Personal Brand
      A strong personal brand is always an asset to a job search, and for some jobs, it’s essential. Recruiters want to see that candidates maintain a professional online persona. While most job seekers know to optimize their LinkedIn page for their search, if their other social media pages are filled with self-indulgent photos or negative or offensive content, this could be a red flag for recruiters who may be hesitant to submit such candidates to their clients. Similarly, it could be a turn-off to employers who may feel such online behavior shows immaturity or irresponsibility and doesn’t match their values. Despite the common belief that everyone should be free to express themselves, particularly on non-business-related sites like Facebook and Instagram, job seekers should take extra care to send a message of professionalism across all social media platforms.
      Focus Efforts
      It’s not uncommon for recruiters to receive dozens, if not hundreds, of applications for each of their open positions. Job seekers should be sure to only target those positions for which they’re qualified, and not inundate recruiters or employers with resumes for any and all positions to try to gain their attention. This approach may attract the wrong kind of attention, causing the candidate’s name to be remembered for always being unqualified. Instead, job seekers should focus on positions that relate to their skills and experience, and customize their resume for each position they apply to by including relevant keywords from the job description and supporting numbers and accomplishments. Also, candidates who don’t hear back from recruiters after applying should limit their follow-up to one time to avoid coming across as too persistent or aggressive.
      Demonstrate Knowledge
      Job seekers who use their spare time to share news, information, and knowledge with their networks will automatically have an edge over their competition. As recruiters scour the internet and resume databases for top talent, the more choices there are, the more they look for something in candidates’ profiles that makes them stand out. Those who write blogs, share articles, are active in LinkedIn groups, or network and interact with others in the industry make a far better impression than those who only appear interested in having fun online. While not all online activity has to be work-related, job seekers should try to maintain a healthy balance in order to send the right message to recruiters and potential employers.
      Stay Up to Date
      Few things are as frustrating to a recruiter as an interested candidate who has neglected to update his or her contact info. Depending upon whether there are ample qualified candidates to choose from, recruiters will either take time out of their busy schedule to source the candidate’s contact info online or just move on to the next qualified individual. Passive candidates with rare and in-demand skill sets may be indifferent to losing out on an opportunity or creating extra work for recruiters. But for job seekers with a greater sense of urgency, should ensure their contact info is updated and they are easily reachable and quick to respond.
      Continue Learning
      One sure way job seekers can endear themselves to recruiters and prospective employers is through a record of continuous learning. In addition to hiring for education, skills, and experience, most employers also want to hire candidates who are always looking to acquire knowledge. This may be more difficult for those currently employed in a demanding field. However, for job seekers needing to break up the monotony of a full-time search, taking a class or working toward a certification could give them an edge when competing with a number of other qualified candidates.
      Volunteer
      Regardless of industry, every recruiter and employer looks favorably upon volunteerism. During the hiring process, recruiters often take note of what candidates do in their spare time in order to determine how they may fit with a company’s culture. Those who donate their time to charitable causes while listing their volunteer activities on their resume or sharing them on social media show recruiters that they share values with employers committed to community involvement and that they’re interested in helping others and working for something greater than just a paycheck.
      The recruiting industry is constantly evolving. As decreasing unemployment rates have made sourcing top talent more difficult, applicant tracking systems, big data, and artificial intelligence have attempted to streamline talent identification, while also causing recruiters’ roles to change in the hiring process. In response, job seekers must ensure they remain adaptable as well. Though knowledge and experience will always be in demand, candidates must focus on those skills and attributes that will make them stand out among others with similar backgrounds, and how to showcase these to recruiters. Regardless of changes to the job market or recruiting technology, job seekers who do this will have the greatest success transitioning into the workforce.
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      Working to Learn Must Underpin the Future of Work

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      Technological innovations have helped humans separate industrial ages and define periods of time throughout history, thanks to their transformative effect on people’s lives. From the rise of industry to the dawn of the internet, innovation has provided regular timestamps which we have used to define eras. But categorizing history in this way assumes innovation and major socio-economic developments occur simultaneously. In reality, the time difference between the two can be vast.
      For example, business models that have characterized work since the outset of the First Industrial Revolution in the late 18th Century can still be seen in otherwise modern workplaces. Organizations often still view work by the ‘input/output’ model established more than a century ago, measuring employees by their cost (input) and value (output).
      Despite drastic changes to work over the past 100 years, this model has remained largely unchanged. As innovation continues apace and working practices rapidly evolve, how much longer can we measure humans based on input and output?
      Prioritizing agility and adaptability
      More recently, workers have begun to reject the idea of the input/output model by mastering a specific skill set and becoming an expert in a particular field, decreasing costs and increasing value for businesses. Developing this concentrated expertise made sense when demand for skills lasted at least as long as a person’s career, but the constant and accelerating change of the 21st-century workplace means this is no longer the case. Now, due to the relentless pace of innovation, demand cycles for certain skills, or even specific job roles, can rise and fall within the space of a few years. We can only expect these timeframes to get shorter in the future, too.
      As a result, agility and adaptability are superseding specialization as the most valuable qualities for workers to exhibit. Organizations must shift their perception of workers so they are no longer viewed as ‘assets’ with an inherent cost and value, and are instead viewed as part of a humanistic approach predicated on constant development.
      Putting learning and development at the heart of work
      Traditionally, people began their careers with little experience and knowledge, joining a business to grow industry-specific skills and progress upwards by mastering one role. Today, we’re seeing a shift away from simply ‘learning to work’, as modern generations must now incorporate a ‘working to learn approach’. Where individuals could once expect to obtain a job for life and hone a specific skill set for the duration of their career, modern workers must continue the learning process. The speed of technological change means the next workplace disruptor is always right around the corner. To embrace the challenges and opportunities that innovation presents, employees should view their skillset as an ever-evolving toolbox – one that adapts to new demands and expands in accordance to change.
      Replacing expertise at work
      It’s not just the responsibility of the employee to adapt to new workplace demands. Business must also alter their approach by no longer prioritizing and rewarding specific expertise. Instead, employers should recognize that the needs of the business could shift at any moment, and acknowledge the value in rewarding and celebrating employee adaptability. Fortunately, tools exist that can assist businesses in this process by helping them identify which skills will be more in-demand in the future. This allows employers to focus their efforts on reskilling employees and augmenting their existing skillets to meet anticipated future demands.
      Hiring practices must also change too. Businesses must cultivate workforces that are open to – and actively embrace – learning and development. The ability to learn and develop new skills not only helps employees in retaining their roles but also presents a more cost-effective approach by reducing the time and monetary investments needed to recruit new employees. By prioritizing adaptability, businesses can be confident in their ability to deliver a workforce that is fit for the present, and the future.
      By James McLeod, VP of EMEA, Faethm.
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