The One Question You Need to Ask at a Job Interview

Through the years, I’ve had many conversations with people about job interviews. It seems that the one thing people forget the most is that they are interviewing the prospective employer just as much as the prospective employer is interviewing them. Interviewees need to determine if the organization is a good fit for their skills, career goals, personality, and work style and vice versa.

The one question that I think is essential to ask during the interview is WHY the position is open. This usually leads to more questions, but the dialogue needs to be opened. The answer can be very telling as to whether the job is going to work out for you or not.

Of course, the answer can vary greatly and requires follow-up questions to better understand that answer. Here’s a few scenarios:

“The position is open because the individual retired.” This sounds good, but make sure to ask how long the person worked for the company if that information wasn’t given freely. The retirement could be due to age alone and not how long the person worked there. If the retiree worked there only for a short time, ask how long the previous person in that position worked there. See if there’s a pattern.

“The position is open because the person left for another opportunity.” Again, ask how long the person was in that position. If you’re feeling bold, also ask the interviewer what he or she thinks was the main reason for the individual choosing the new opportunity.

“The position is open because we promoted the person in that position.” Why was THAT position open? Promoting from within sounds great on the surface, but there has to be a slot open in order to promote. This also gives you a great opportunity to discover what it takes to get a promotion and what the employer values. Ask what it was about that person that warranted the promotion. Work ethic? Technical skills? Interpersonal skills? Education? It could be something more mundane like, “That person was the best person we had,” which essentially tells you nothing.

“It just didn’t work out with the person we had.” Why didn’t it work out? There is such a thing as a bad employee, but there is such a thing as a bad employer too. How long was the person there? Did the employer attempt to rectify whatever the issue was before the separation? Determine if the employer handled the situation in a positive and constructive manner.

“It’s a newly created position.” This can be promising and dangerous. Sometimes organizations think they need to create a new position, only to discover a few months down the road that they really didn’t need to. Or it can lead to something great. How long did it take them to decide a new position was needed? Did they perform any analysis to justify the expense of paying an additional employee? Are they certain the new position has enough workload to keep someone occupied on a full-time basis? Have the other employees been informed of this new position? Employers make mistakes too. Make sure you’re not on the losing end of their mistake.

The answer also might be a combination of any of these answers or a completely different one altogether. Bottom line, the goal is to determine how long people stay in the position and what qualities the employer values. Then you can evaluate, at least in one aspect, if the employer’s style matches your own.

I know some of you might be concerned that it will appear that you’re “grilling” the interviewer, but think about some of the questions you’ve been asked in the past. I’ve heard everything from “If you could be any animal, what would it be?” to “Give me an example of when you had an interpersonal conflict at work and how you resolved it”. No, you have every right to ask these questions. You need to know if the position is a good fit so you’re not looking for a new job in six months because the company is not what you thought it was.

Besides, a good employer will appreciate your thoroughness and thoughtfulness. A good employer knows you’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you. If they get offended or don’t offer you the position, you probably don’t want to work there anyway.