When interviewing as a candidate it’s best to avoid asking. . .

When people are doing their first or second or even third round interviews, they don’t want to make a mistake that’s going to have them stand out in a bad way.

Often they’re thinking, “okay, well, what are the taboos? What are the questions that I can’t ask? What are the topics that I should not talk about?”

Really this is more more focused on that first interview than later in the rounds, because whenever you’re getting closer to the offer stage, really everything should be crystal clear. You should be able to ask anything that you want. However, early on you don’t want to make a bad impression.

Questions You Shouldn’t Ask in an Interview:

“So How Many Vacation Days Do I Get?”

The biggest one is usually if you ask how many vacation days you get on the very first interview. That’s just thinking a little bit too far ahead when there are more pressing things to get addressed. This is like asking someone you just met what color flowers they will prefer when the two of you have your wedding.

Not to mention, interviewers don’t really want to think about you taking time off when they have decided to hire you yet. So a way around, this aside from waiting till later rounds, is to just ask for the benefits package. As for the information, a lot of larger companies have a standard PDF packet that they can send you and that will include the information that you’re asking for.

“So When Can I Start?”

Sometimes people will feel very confident in their interview and at the end of the interview, they’ll say, “so when can I start?” That is not the best way to approach your interview process, interviewers need to take the time to decompress from the interview.

They need to talk with other stakeholders. Even if you were mentioning this as a joke, you don’t want to mention it as a joke.

“So. . . You Got Any Kids?”

Lastly, you don’t want to ask anything too personal about the interviewer always let them kind of lead whenever it comes to personal information. You can certainly make a comment on something that they have on their wall or on their shelf or if you noticed that they went to a certain college, but you shouldn’t necessarily be asking them about religion or orientation or their children, or any extra curricular topics that don’t really apply to the job that you’re interviewing for.

NOT Taboo: Compensation

One question that many say you should not bring up that I believe you should bring up on the first interview is, you want to make sure that their compensation range is aligning with what your expectations are.

It doesn’t help anybody on either side of the equation to get late in an interview process and there ends up being an issue when it comes to compensation. Get that knocked out of the way early on in the process, so that as you’re investing this time and they’re investing their time, there is a high percentage chance this deal end up working out.

If the money’s off, if this is something where you would end up taking a big step down in compensation, you need to know that early on and be transparent with what your expectations on compensation would be.

Take it Easy, and Be Socially Aware

Asking the wrong questions as a candidate in interviews is more about being socially aware and not asking things that are going to make your interviewer feel uncomfortable whether it be personal or professional.

Don’t make assumptions on where you are in the process or where you might be, its a slow moving train. Hiring managers don’t want to make a mistake on hiring and when they feel uncomfortable, they can’t feel confident. You’re interviewing to make them feel confident that you’re the right person.

How to answer the question; “What is your biggest weakness?”

Everybody kind of worries about this question. It’s the most stereotypical question that they have on the list of HR and interview questions. What you really need to think about is. How do I turn a weakness into a strength? How do I recognize my weakness or how do I turn a strength into a weakness?

Why do interviewers ask this?

When someone is asking you this question, it’s not about why they shouldn’t hire you. It’s about getting you to recognize your weak points in order for them to better coach you or to help you with that weakness. A stereotypical weakness from salespeople is that they have a harder time logging all their information or being detail oriented. So what you can do is say;

“You know, I understand that sometimes I am not the most meticulous note taker. In order to alleviate that I had been focusing on taking all the notes in the CRM and making sure that everyone else in my projects understands the project fully.”

As another example, let’s say one of your weaknesses is patience when working with a team. Reason being, you want everything to work out well, you want everything to run smoothly. Then sometimes when someone makes a mistake, it kinda feels like a prick in your side. And so what you can say there is:

“Sometimes I’m impatient with working with a team, but it’s because I want to make sure that the project is seen all the way through seamlessly. I want to make sure that the customer is happy and that nothing gets dropped along the way. So when I see repetitive mistakes, it starts to get under my skin a little bit. However, I’ve learned that I need to take the time to really focus on why something happened and. Work to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

What you should achieve in your answer:

The main focus here is whenever you’re answering “what is your greatest weakness” you want to choose a weakness that’s not going to end up making you look like you can’t succeed in the role. You want to be honest and choose a real weakness. Something that is actually true about your background, because again, they’re asking you in order to really help you in your career and help you be successful in the role.

Make sure to provide an example for how you have worked to improve the area of weakness or learned a new skill to combat the issue. Demonstrate self-awareness and the ability to see your actions from a third party’s view. Don’t look arrogant, don’t say I have no weakness. However, you also don’t want to say that you’ve got a million weaknesses.

Don’t overthink this question. It’s really just about getting a better look at. A realistic work environment with you in it. and learning how to coach and mentor you as an associate of their team.