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Interview questions to ask your interviewer

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Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#111

Post by hedora »

lhorie wrote: post #58

As an interviewer, I've been on the receiving end of most of those questions (or some variation of them). It's a pretty reasonable list. One thing though is that most interviewers don't leave a whole lot of room for a barrage of questions so you really need to pick the two or three that you really want the answers to. For example, you probably don't want to waste time asking explicitly about version control at a comp…

Pre-covid, we’d take the person to lunch for a 1:1 or 1:N for this purpose. Those were often very informative. They were meant to be casual, though one candidate (out of hundreds) managed to fail based on the lunch interview alone. If it’s possible, people will find a way, I guess!

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#112

Post by oceanplexian »

anitil wrote: post #101
Buttons840 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually there's a surprise contract waiting for day one of a job, after you've left your other job. Yes, you can still walk away, but it's better to review that contract sooner. If you don't ask to see the contract, it will almost certainly be a day one surprise. And even if you do ask, the legal department, who neither you nor the people interviewing you frequently communicate with, might still have some surprises i…

I've been sprung with these before. Usually trivial, unenforceable issues, but annoying none the less. The worst was I once even had a background check _after_ accepting and signing. Nothing came up, but that could have left me with no job and no recourse. How do you avoid this? It's a particular kind of institutional trickery that may not even be intentional but is very frustrating.

In the US employment is at-will, so it's sort of a moot point. Sure they can fire you because of something on your background check, but they could also fire you 3 days after starting because the manager doesn't like you. Short of a serious felony conviction it's unlikely to come up, and if it does discuss it or move on to thousand of other companies.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#113

Post by Buttons840 »

hiptobecubic wrote: post #105
anitil wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been sprung with these before. Usually trivial, unenforceable issues, but annoying none the less. The worst was I once even had a background check _after_ accepting and signing. Nothing came up, but that could have left me with no job and no recourse. How do you avoid this? It's a particular kind of institutional trickery that may not even be intentional but is very frustrating.

Don't quit until you sign something that says they will be hiring you and paying you until one of you decides to terminate the agreement?

How would that help? Whether it's written or not, the agreement is as you say, until one party decides to end it.

And even with such an agreement, they might still ask you to sign something on day one. If you don't sign it, they may very well decided to "terminate the agreement" on day one.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#114

Post by sircastor »

I always ask “what’s something that you hate/really don’t like about working here.” It’s been instructive in revealing what people don’t like about their companies. In my current role my interviewer’s response had more to do with the immaturity of the company (we don’t have x) yet, rather than bad things that happen. It was indicating to me that it was the right place.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#115

Post by hammock »

duped wrote: post #13
lmilcin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Am I allowed to have side projects that I own? > Does your insurance cover my preferred doctors? (obviously more of an email question) Your contract specifies that and other answers to other questions. Don't ask your interviewer this question, the only thing he/she can do is rely to HR. Best ask HR directly. > Why did the person before me leave? It is unlikely you are ever going to get answer to that and even if yo…

> As a general rule, the only job of interviewer is to decide whether you are fit for the role. These days half the job is convincing the candidate to accept an offer if it comes through.

That's how it always has been, if you're getting good candidates.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#116

Post by nosefrog »

Buttons840 wrote: post #113
hiptobecubic wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't quit until you sign something that says they will be hiring you and paying you until one of you decides to terminate the agreement?

How would that help? Whether it's written or not, the agreement is as you say, until one party decides to end it. And even with such an agreement, they might still ask you to sign something on day one. If you don't sign it, they may very well decided to "terminate the agreement" on day one.

If you're fired, you're eligible for unemployment. You're also eligible if you quit your job for a new company but then they rescind the offer. That's basically as much protection as you get in the US, since most states are at-will.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#117

Post by t-3 »

nosefrog wrote: post #116
Buttons840 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would that help? Whether it's written or not, the agreement is as you say, until one party decides to end it. And even with such an agreement, they might still ask you to sign something on day one. If you don't sign it, they may very well decided to "terminate the agreement" on day one.

If you're fired, you're eligible for unemployment. You're also eligible if you quit your job for a new company but then they rescind the offer. That's basically as much protection as you get in the US, since most states are at-will.

If you get fired on your first day, you won't be eligible for unemployment. Usually, 90 days is required.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#118

Post by user_named »

mabbo wrote: post #52

I recently did a round of interviews with a few companies, and I came up with a list of fun questions for the interviewer, mostly based on my own gripes with my then-employer or things other companies were doing that I didn't like. I caught everyone I asked these to off-guard. > "Every company gets criticized. What's a piece of criticism your company has received that you felt wasn't really accurate? What about the o…

What was the response rate? In my experience companies don't like "critical" questions like these. Not a culture fit.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#119

Post by user_named »

BeetleB wrote: post #98
rad_gruchalski wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signing means accepting an offer. To sign, one needs to get a copy of a contract. So one always sees a contract before signing, no? Let’s look at it from a different angle. One does not file a resignation before receiving a countersigned copy from the company.

There are multiple things to sign. At my company, you sign most of them on your first day on the job. I probably could have asked to see them during the offer stage, but there's no guarantee that's the same document you'll be asked to sign (and likely the part of HR involved in giving you the offer is not the same part of HR that makes you sign the first day).

I asked to see these at the offer stage. They said nobody had ever asked for this before and didn't give it to me. Company with 100k employees globally.

Re: Interview questions to ask your interviewer

#120

Post by Vendan »

lnxg33k1 wrote: post #94
epolanski wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have exactly the opposite idea. I hate Mac and WSL2 is perfect for development. I've never seen an ad in windows 10 as well.

While one point of view is subjective, truth isn't, but I'll play the game and ask you if i and others news source are just having a collective visions https://duckduckgo.com/?q=windows+10+ads+start&t=fpas&ia=web

I also run windows 10 and have never seen a single ad, anywhere in it. Definitely worth noting that this is on a homebuilt computer, and I paid for a windows 10 pro license. Definitely seen ads on my wife's store-bought windows 10 home laptop.
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