Let me enlighten you about what to not ask at the end of an interview. You know that last bit of the interview when they say “So, do you have any questions for me? We have just spent most of the interview asking you questions, it’s your turn now.” That’s when all of your gears gets going. We have got to do some of the questions that you can ask at the end of the interview. But you know what? It’s just as important to make sure you don’t ask certain questions.

All my years of experience as a corporate recruiter, the big ones that stands out for me is people who approach salary right away. You haven’t been made a job offer yet! You haven’t been selected yet as the most qualified candidate. So it’s not appropriate at this time to say:

• “What’s the salary going to be?”
• “When will I get paid?”
• “What is the offer going to be for position like this if the person that fills this position?”

That does not get discuss in the first level interview. If you are called back and this is the second round or even the third round, then it’s a little more appropriate because you need to have that information to make some decision but definitely not in the first level interview.

A couple of other really big ones to think about starting to ask for time off before you’ve been made the job offer. I can tell you how many applicants in the first interview with me being the human resource person have said :

• “When will I be able to take my first vacation day?”
• “When do I get time off?”
• “When can I start working from home?”
• “What’s the telecommuting policy? I really want to work maybe 3 days in the office and a couple of days you know from home and maybe flex my hours.”

All those kind of questions that are geared around you and what might be good for you are not the questions to ask at the end of the interview when the interviewer says “Okay, it’s your turn now. What questions do you have for me?” Remember good rule of thumb, it’s all about the company. It’s all about them. So if there is any questions that are around you, hold those for the next level interview 🙂