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15 Clever Questions To Ask During A Job Interview To Make The Tables Turn, As Shared By Folks On Twitter
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15 Clever Questions To Ask During A Job Interview To Make The Tables Turn, As Shared By Folks On Twitter

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Sweaty palms, bouncing legs, but very confident speech, it’s not a mystery — we all know how dreadful the whole process of getting hired is. We overstep ourselves every single time, and for some reason, the process doesn’t get easier. However, we seem to have found a golden middle, which helps us “platter” ourselves to our potential employers.

On the other side, how can a possible employer be confident in regards to who they are about to hire? The entire procedure takes approximately 30 minutes, and it’s likely that no matter what you say, the recruiter will go with their gut feeling. The hiring is done based on assumptions from both perspectives and sometimes includes absurd things like mood and physical appearance. So, how can we be absolutely sure that we’re not wasting our time?

However, what if we take the initiative into our own hands and ask things that are really important to us as employees without having to worry about making a wrong impression on our future colleagues?

More info: Twitter

The post sparked a fiery debate concerning the unsatisfactory delivery of some job interviews

Image credits: hodayum

A Twitter user that goes by the name @hodayum started an online debate. She shared her thoughts on how it’s almost always compulsory for employers to ask for references and that she might start doing the same by asking the company to talk to satisfied employees.

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Getting a job is a 50/50 position for both employers and employees. We offer our skills, while they’re offering us an ethical company with a good working environment. So why are we so afraid to clap back and ask questions that are truly important to us? This post was flooded with replies, where people started sharing their opinions regarding this important matter.

Image credits: olowyn

According to the article from this recruiter, references are, in fact, a pure waste of time. It doesn’t define future employees as nobody keeps the contacts of a person who is willing to give a not-so-good review about them to a hiring manager. Instead of asking for a sugarcoated lengthy phone call with a given reference, why not actually conduct a well-structured interview in the first place?

There are plenty of ways to determine whether the employee is suitable for the company, for example, an organized list of questions with various tasks that can show the full potential of the future employee.

@Olowyn, however, doesn’t agree with the fact that references are a little bit overrated.

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But it seems that this ancient way of employers verifying whether the candidate is genuinely good enough for the role doesn’t actually work.

People began suggesting questions that would improve the quality of the conversation

Image credits: Deb5132858368

But since most of us can’t control the hiring process, why shouldn’t we follow the advice of these users?

Why not ask away everything that actually bugs us and use questions that are truly important to us without having to worry about looking arrogant?

The position is likely to be full-time, so why would someone want to risk having to repeat the plot of “Groundhog Day” where you relive the same day over and over again, but at a job that turned out to be unfortunate for you?

Image credits: nikki_1968

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There is almost no way for any employee to predict what kind of company they’re applying for, as most of the time, job interviews are highly unstructured. This means that you will only know what you’re in for after working at a company for a specific amount of time.

Although, if most of us could be as fearless as @TralalaNotToday, the existence of messy companies would decrease significantly.

Image credits: spacesam17

Asking strong questions, even if they seem like they would be uncomfortable for the employer, is a totally reasonable approach to the situation.

It shows that you as an employee did your research and are strict about securing your future with the company that you believe is right for you.

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Image credits: Jess_Lock

Just think about it — the person who is responsible for hiring new folks only wants to know about what kind of people they are professionally and outside of that.

However, the new employee needs to know much more information, for example, the morality of the company, future coworkers, etc.

Image credits: 2Fafou

Image credits: melissa_TVjunky

Image credits: Gittelsgirl

The good news is when you’re asking uncommon questions like @Gittelsgirl, a simple “what does the staff do for lunch?” might save you from full-time suffering.

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Image credits: imadali

After all, asking unusual questions will almost certainly get you an honest answer. The hiring manager probably expects you to ask the same old standard interview questions, but if you decide to take a different turn — you will most likely know what kind of company you’re looking at.

Image credits: FastEddieRo

It’s essential to remember that we’re human beings and not robots. Aside from being the best professionals in our own spheres, it’s extremely important to not let anyone put themselves above us. Our world has been working hard to build an equal society for everyone to co-exist in, so why should we feel intimidated to do things that will leave a positive footprint on our future?

Other fantastic suggestions that will make you confident in choosing the right company

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The original Twitter post received over 80K retweets, almost 495K likes and, as you can tell, a juicy online discussion.

If there are any other interesting and uncanny job interview questions that you have on your mind, leave them in the comment section!

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Darja Zinina

Darja Zinina

Author, Community member

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Darja is a Content Creator at Bored Panda. She studied at the University of Westminster, where she got her Bachelor's degree in Contemporary Media Practice. She loves photography, foreign music and re-watching Forrest Gump.

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Darja Zinina

Darja Zinina

Author, Community member

Darja is a Content Creator at Bored Panda. She studied at the University of Westminster, where she got her Bachelor's degree in Contemporary Media Practice. She loves photography, foreign music and re-watching Forrest Gump.

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Kookamunga
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"What do you see yourself doing in five years?" "Celebrating the five-year anniversary of you asking me that question."

Joran Quinten
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been doing interviews for various tech jobs lately, and we always make sure the interview is a two way street. From employers perspective, hiring too is a costly affair and you want to make sure the the person fits the job and culture. If you don't ask us questions, I'd be concerned about your lack of interest: you're going to be spending quite some time working, so make sure the the job is a match. If you're being interviewed, ask about what matters to you. It might be culture, way of working, growth opportunities or whatever. The interview should never be a one way street.

Mike Loux
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agree. I've done several interviews as a part of a team and we are always happy when they ask us questions. Most of the time, we're trying to sell the position to them even before that happens, but we absolutely encourage it, even if we've already determined they might not be a good fit today...but they might be a good fit later on (we're SW Dev and DevOps) - if they remember us, they might improve their skills and try again down the road (no, we're not Amazon).

Load More Replies...
Jason Melvil
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Terribly curious... if you see a company has over 90 bad reviews on glassdoor out of 125 - why are you even wasting your time and going there in the first place?

Load More Comments
Kookamunga
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"What do you see yourself doing in five years?" "Celebrating the five-year anniversary of you asking me that question."

Joran Quinten
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been doing interviews for various tech jobs lately, and we always make sure the interview is a two way street. From employers perspective, hiring too is a costly affair and you want to make sure the the person fits the job and culture. If you don't ask us questions, I'd be concerned about your lack of interest: you're going to be spending quite some time working, so make sure the the job is a match. If you're being interviewed, ask about what matters to you. It might be culture, way of working, growth opportunities or whatever. The interview should never be a one way street.

Mike Loux
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agree. I've done several interviews as a part of a team and we are always happy when they ask us questions. Most of the time, we're trying to sell the position to them even before that happens, but we absolutely encourage it, even if we've already determined they might not be a good fit today...but they might be a good fit later on (we're SW Dev and DevOps) - if they remember us, they might improve their skills and try again down the road (no, we're not Amazon).

Load More Replies...
Jason Melvil
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Terribly curious... if you see a company has over 90 bad reviews on glassdoor out of 125 - why are you even wasting your time and going there in the first place?

Load More Comments
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