{"id":77,"date":"2016-07-21T11:43:57","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T11:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/career-tips\/?p=77"},"modified":"2022-11-15T17:11:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T17:11:36","slug":"the-questions-you-should-never-ask-at-a-job-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/the-questions-you-should-never-ask-at-a-job-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The questions you should never ask at a job interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interviews are very delicate things. This is probably the first time you\u2019ve met the person opposite you, so you\u2019re having to feel your way and judge the mood in the room. It\u2019s a two-way conversation as you work each other out. They ask you questions and you get to fire some back.<\/p>\n

Asking questions can show you\u2019re engaged and enthusiastic, but it\u2019s a fine line. Ask something tactless, inappropriate or just plain daft and you\u2019ll be straight out the door with a very red face. To stop you from putting your foot in it, here are the questions you should never ask at a first interview.<\/p>\n

Questions you should never ask at a job interview<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. What will I have to do in this role?<\/strong> \u2013 Did you not read the job description? If you have to ask, you probably shouldn\u2019t be there. While you might have specific questions about processes, you should know what the role entails almost as well as they do.<\/li>\n
  2. How much will I earn?<\/strong> \u2013 Because you’re a smart jobseeker you’ve used ValueMyCV<\/a>\u00a0and you’ve got a good idea of how much you’re worth – but the first interview isn’t the time. You’ll be given the chance to discuss – and negotiate – pay if you get a second interview or a solid offer, so don\u2019t jump the starting gun.<\/li>\n
  3. How many hours will I be expected to work?<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s probably in the job description, and if not it can wait until next time.<\/li>\n
  4. How flexible are the hours?<\/strong> \u2013 Asking how flexible they are suggests that you\u2019re not. If you want the job you have to fit around them, not the other way around.<\/li>\n
  5. Are there any other jobs going?<\/strong> \u2013 That sounds like you\u2019re not really interested in this one and are already fishing around. This is the one you want, remember? Let them know you want it.<\/li>\n
  6. Do I get a staff discount?<\/strong> \u2013 You don\u2019t want to sound like you\u2019re only in it for you. Chances are they\u2019ll tell you about the perks in their own time, so don\u2019t come across as greedy.<\/li>\n
  7. How soon can I expect to get promoted? \u2013 <\/strong>So you want their job now, do you? Asking in a general way about how the department is structured can give you a better idea if there\u2019s any career progression.\u00a0 Don\u2019t annoy them by getting ahead of yourself.<\/li>\n
  8. How flexible are you on holiday time?<\/strong> \u2013 They don\u2019t want to know you\u2019re already mentally booking your flights. Asking about holiday time is for further down the line at a second interview, if you must \u2013 chances are they\u2019ll volunteer the information anyway.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Enthusiastic, not pushy. Keen but not greedy. On the whole you can save the finer details until they ask you back or make you an offer. The time to negotiate is not as soon as you walk in the door, it\u2019s when you know they\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Interviews are very delicate things. This is probably the first time you\u2019ve met the person opposite you, so you\u2019re having to feel your way and judge the mood in the room. It\u2019s a two-way conversation as you work each other out. They ask you questions and you get to fire some back. Asking questions can Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}