Job interviews go both ways (2011)

1. "During your most recent budget period, what influence did politics rather than the merits of budget requests have in distributing resources, and in what ways?"

2. "How heavily influenced by politics (or upper management) is the performance review process?"

3. "Has anybody recently been let go as the result of being ranked lowest on a performance review?"

4. "Are managers subject to performance improvement plans?"

5. "When was the last time your HR department found in favor of an employee over management or upper management when a dispute arose?"

There's a bias to these (if it isn't obvious). But experience informs me that answers to these questions offer a good insight into how the company really operates. If they are honest answers (they won't be, most of the time, if they're answered at all).

> Who's the weakest person on your team?

The newest hire to our company. It's not a total ordering though, every person on the team has weaknesses.

> What do you mean to do about that?

Make sure to put people on things that they're good at is the first thing! Don't put someone on something where they're not set up to have the ability to achieve success. My main job is to figure out what's getting in your way and attack that directly so you can just focus on being successful. If there's doubt about whether someone would be successful here then we'd rather pass on a candidate.

> When's the last time you lied to someone here? How did you rationalize it?

Never. It destroys any credibly you have to lie. That's one of the biggest red flags I could think of. I'd encourage anyone encountering a boss that lies to quit.

>Are you on any medications? Do you cheat on your spouse?

No. No.

> What are you most insecure about?

I used to be insecure about my ability to obtain sales from customers, but after having to do it over past 3 months and focusing on the basics I've become much better and we're now on a great track on the sales side of the company. Be aggressive about going after your weaknesses!

All of my answers are honest and I'd encourage you to hear about the experiences of other people on the team. I'd also encourage you to reach out to anyone who has worked with me in the past through any backchannels you have- that will give you the most unfiltered picture.

You can't just ask hard, probing questions baldly and expect to get accurate answers. More so, you can't expect to do that and expect it to not affect your interviewer's appraisal of you as well. You need to build up a rapport first and then you need to ask some leading questions that give your interviewer the opportunity to reveal some perhaps unsavory truths about their workplace. Granted, it might be hard to generate a rapport, or they might be too wary to tell you anything of substance or anything negative about the company, but that alone provides a lot of information regardless. If you have a hard time connecting with interviewers then maybe culture fit would be a problem. And if they won't open up about problems then that might be a sign of a dysfunctional corporate environment that discourages honesty and openness.