Interview question "Do you have any question for us"? 5

[BSMEclassof2012]

Hello All,
I have a job interview for a mechanical design Engineer in about a week and I am preparing for it. I haven't had any interview in the past two years so I need some help with it. My main goal will be to make a case of why they should hire me. I have two years of experience from another company, for this job so I have some idea of what I should be preparing for.
I have two questions here.
1) Is there any limit for the number of questions I should ask? I don't want to annoy the other person.
2) What kind of questions do you recommend me to ask from them?
Here is my list,
I. what software do you use for design?(autocad, solidworks, etc)
II. what instruments do you use to measure different quantities?
III. What do you want me to achieve in the next three months ?

 

[JAE]

Here's a dirty dozen - I'm sure there are countless more (like regarding benefits, work hours, 401k, bonuses, etc.)

1. What would be my specific role in your company
2. What type of projects will I be working on.
3. Who would I report to and what is their experience level.
4. Can you describe how engineers at my level are mentored in your firm.
5. Can you describe the short term goals that you would like to see in me starting off
6. Can you describe long term goals for me within your firm - say 5 to 10 years ahead.
7. What sort of outside continuing education does the firm provide for or encourage.
8. What is the ownership structure of the firm? Would there be a possibility of future ownership for me?
9. Describe your firm's policies, expectations and approach for your engineer's licensing.
10. What are some specific needs you are hoping to fill in your firm with this hire.
11. Can you describe some of the current staff and their experience and longevity with the firm?
12. Has the firm received any awards for design in the past?



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[KENAT]

13. Why did the last incumbent of the position leave. (Don't expect this to go down well or get a meaningful response but if you can get the answer it may be telling - assuming it's not a truly new position.)

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[FreddyNurk]

Don't forget that unless you're unemployed and in desperate need of a job, you're also interviewing them.
Its worth thinking about how you'd frame your questions so that you don't give the wrong impression, but its worth finding out about some things before you consider working for them.

See if you can get an idea of how they go about things, one of my previous employers had a great ISO9001 framework and a whole heap of processes, but it turned out that they were only relevant to the other business unit, and the business unit I was employed in flew by the seat of their pants. Snide comments about IT making your life difficult may be an indicator, or it might not be a problem.

Kenat has an excellent question as well, its worth watching for what they're not telling you either.

Depending on size it can be worth enquiring about company structure and history, its certainly worth finding out ahead of time that they don't have a pipeline of work lined up and the tenure might be short if that doesn't change.

 

[MikeHalloran]

When I interviewed for my second job after college, I really, really liked and admired Walt, the guy who interviewed me, as did everyone else with whom I spoke.

What I did not know, because I did not specifically ask, is that I would not be working for Walt, I would be working for a minion of his named Dick, who was universally known and despised throughout a 12,000 person company for being an impediment because he could not make a decision, and an asshole to boot.

If you can't get any interview time with the person who is to be your direct supervisor, you do not want that job.
Trust me.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[urgross]

I know what it's like to work for a Dick.

 

[CheckerHater]

Generally, the question "Do you have any question for us?" means it's time for you to go. The answer is "Thank you for your time"

"For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert"
Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the future

 

[moltenmetal]

I'm sorry, but I don't care how good an interview team a firm has, they're going to leave some questions unanswered in a candidate's mind. The trouble is, unless you've either aced or blown the interview, they're probably going to play their cards fairly close to their chests.

You're definitely interviewing them, too, and depending on how the interview runs, you may not have been given a chance to ask the right questions as you go along.

Asking a few polite questions shows that you care enough to express interest. But if you get the vibe that "it's over", you can always say that your additional questions can wait for a 2nd interview if you are granted one.

I agree: NEVER take a job beyond a co-op internship without meeting the person that you will be reporting to. If the company is too big to know that up front, it may be too big to treat you as a human being in a number of other very important ways. Some people are OK with that, but personally I'm not.

 

[MadMango]

I'm not sure what industry the OP is interviewing in, but some questions that I usually ask in the product manufacturing arena are:

What's the average gestation period between napkin sketches (design) of a project and production units shipping?
If the answer is unreasonably short in regards to the product's complexity, that is a red flag. If it is unreasonably long that is an indication there could be some low hanging fruit to grasp. Of course determining either is based on experience, and with only 2yrs experience, that might not be enough to make the right guess.

If you are not ISO 9001 certified, is there any plan to adopt it?
If they are not willing to, either they don't need it or they don't see the benefit (EU sales). There is no right or wrong answer, just gives me insight to the company.

Are you using an MRP or ERP system?
Depending on the size and complexity of their products, this can be a red flag. If you don't know the difference, that's something to learn.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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[coloeng]

CheckerHater,

If an interviewee doesn't have any relevant questions for me when I am interviewing them, they a) either know everything there is to know about my company and how it operates (doubtful), or b) aren't really interested in the job. I think it is very important for a potential candidate to have questions of their own, as has been said previously, they are not only interviewing for a job, they are interviewing the company.

 

[rotw]

- If you can manage to understand a bit how they treat their sub-suppliers, and I say sub-suppliers not their clients, you will have a fairly good idea of the type of company you will be working for. It's about the procurement/supply chain process, and I confess it's hard to probe in an interview question but it could give a valuable insight of the work ethics.

- Are they hiring in a rush ? this means they MAY NOT BE looking at your value but just trying to keep up with their workload and deliverables (possibly it is summer time and managers did not want to change their vacation plans?) or they committed to a project target/schedule which is impossible to achieve just because they needed a contract so badly...understandable in the current challenging economy.... So if you manage to probe the real context of the recruitment and what is behind the scene, it would help you understand how you will be treated. Well if its a good company, you can use this as opportunity to get onboard..but its good to know this in advance; it may end up tough anyway.

- Try to understand the performance metrics which are used. If they look at metrics and are OBSSESSED by metrics then you know its better to have good relationship with management.

- Understand their time accounting system. Do you check in/out or is it flexible? depending on the system which is used you may become under strong pressure when there is nothing in the backlog and project pipeline is empty. When it is supposed flexible, expect to work non paid extra hours like a modern slave - the work being result oriented, not clock oriented as they say.

- Probe the compensation/bonus system, their revenues and cash flows (in short numbers with a lot of zero or just a few?). One reason is you may end up negotiating a salary good enough for yourself but perceived as high relatively to their system of reference. As a result, they may push you to work very hard in order to get a return on the last cent they invested in you and also very fast - this can be awkward like no time enough for you to get up to speed properly.

- Understand the number of people in the local office/ department where you will be working at (on a corporate level you should be able to find the info from the net / Wikipedia, so don't bother). In this way you could figure something about the atmosphere: e.g. small group, very friendly but you will be under close scrutiny

- Understand if they have global offices ? guess they have for sure. Where will you be in this set up ? If you are in a middle of a challenge where you are trying to keep up with quality vs. (too) aggressive cost saving business (edit: outsourcing) strategies - well ...good luck.

 

[AnimusVox]

If things go well and you either can't think of anything you're comfortable asking your interviewer or feel things are going well with the interview, I might suggest asking the interviewer how they started with the company and what drew them to it, and following up on their response based on what they say. Sometimes it's good to take the spotlight off yourself and asking what they like about the company. I would definitely suggest sticking with a conversational tone, though; and avoid asking them questions they're thrown off by (i.e. what don't you like about the company, etc)

I often feel like the best interviews don't feel like interviews at all, and sometimes the best way to achieve that is to start a conversation with some dialogue. I personally am not a fan of either talking about myself for a period of time or trying to sell myself to someone.

 

[1gibson]

Yes, where's the coffee maker?


If you don't ask SOMETHING then you need to explain that all your questions were answered, due to a combination of your research beforehand or by their thorough interview process. But, this is the brief period of time where you've made it through the hard part, and everyone can relax a bit and see how you get along. Ask something funny, do something to reduce tension, ask if there is a company dodgeball team, whatever.

 

[KENAT]

Well, not sure how funny I'd try to be but you could ask "So when do I start".

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[IRstuff]

I think that if thread title question is asked of you at the end of the day, you've kind of failed, in a way, and it's almost too late to rectify the situation. Typically, though, you interview with several people, and you should ask questions of each of them. They're going to get together afterwards, and confer about you, and you need to have demonstrated that you're interested, engaged, qualified, and able to help them.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
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[KENAT]

Just remembered, one interview where this came up I actually took it as an opportunity to go back and re-answer a question they'd asked me earlier that I wasn't entirely happy with my response. I got offered the job but didn't take it as between interview and offer I'd determined I was "coming to America".

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[Keith1029]

To OP:

1. Yes there is; see 3 below.
2. The types of questions you should ask should be, and should be limited to:
A.) Questions that are relevant for you to asses the positions fitness for you (culture, expectations, quality) such as the ones on JAE's list.
B.) Questions that are a segue into selling yourself such as "Based on this interview is there any skills/abilities that you are concerned about that I could expand upon" but be warned that questions like these are easily seen for exactly what they are, a commercial for you, so if you ask a loaded question you better be able to follow it up.
C.) Questions that establish a rapport with the interviewer (mileage may vary)
3. Questions that should be avoided are questions you don't actually care about the answer to: If you ask what instruments we used to measure certain quantities would it matter if I said micrometer, CMM, Caliper or mass spectrometer? How would that affect your assessment of the job? Or would you accept the job regardless and just learn or train on anything you don't know?
It is surprisingly easy to spot questions that are frivolous (and not a joke) or that the response obviously isn't going to change your perspective and is just filling space in the conversation or to tick boxes. Asking those a waste of everyone's time so don't. If a question is of genuine interest to you but could be masquerading as one of the above, explain why it is important to you.

Questions about remuneration I would generally save until the time of an offer because they are not relevant unless you get one... But if it meets the above criteria for you, go ahead and ask.

 

[TheTick]

Ask about their pain. What are their biggest problems (within the scope of your work area)?

 

[CheckerHater]

Generally, the question "Do you have any question for us?" means it's time for you to go.

If an interviewee doesn't have any relevant questions for me when I am interviewing them...

You twist my words out of context. I never said that you should be quiet during the entire interview.
There is nothing wrong about supporting the conversation:
Interviewer: "Do you have experience with SolidWorks?"
You: "Yes, which version do you use?"
When interviewer asks how many years of experience I have with SolidWorks 2016, I have some strong opinion about him as well.

"For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert"
Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the future

 

[urgross]

Yeah, that's the ticket, something funny like

1. Do you have mandatory drug testing?
2. Wow, is that a picture of your daughter?
3. Can I work standing up, because I fell down on a pint of whiskey I had in my pocket and stitches don't come out for a few weeks?
4. So, what's your sick leave policy like?
5. Can we cut it short, my Mom's out in the car?
6. Um, do you actually do background checks?
7. Why does it smell so funny in here?
8. I noticed there's a nudie bar around the corner. How long is lunch break? (an actual one from Sparrows Point, MD).
9. Would you pull my finger?