Anne Fisher为《财富》杂志《向Anne提问》的专栏作者，这个职场专栏始于1996年，帮助读者适应经济的兴衰起落、行业转换，以及工作中面临的各种困惑。
亲爱的安妮：我大学毕业已有几年时间，目前从事的工作是迄今为止我唯一的一份工作；并且这份工作是在一次校园招聘会上找到的。因此，我在面试方面并无多少经验可言。现在我正在寻找更富挑战性的工作机会。我拥有的技术能力恰好符合当前的市场需求，所以也赢得了一些面试机会，到目前为止，我在大多数面试中的表现还不错。 但我的困扰在于面试中的讨论环节。通常在面试快结束时，招聘经理会问“你还有什么问题吗？”我会事先在网上对这些公司做调研，因此我通常能够提出有关行业发展趋势或者公司近期特别举措之类的问题。但我总觉得这些问题毫无新意，甚至有些无趣。我到底应该问些什么？— JJ
亲爱的JJ：安德鲁•索贝尔说过，“如果跟企业招聘人员和经常参与招聘的高管交流，他们会告诉你三种提问类型，分别是提不出问题、问题糟糕、问题令人印象深刻。最后一种很难得。但如果求职者能提出令对方印象深刻的问题，他们通常也能最终获得录用机会。
索贝尔是一位资深的高级经理人咨询师和教练。他的客户来自花旗集团（Citigroup）、施乐（Xerox）、高知特信息技术公司（Cognizant）和安永会计师事务所（Ernst & Young）等公司。最近他与别人合著出版了《发问的力量：发展关系、赢得业务、影响他人》（Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, Influence Others）一书。索贝尔说，有一位招聘负责人来自一家发展迅猛的科技公司，他最近跟索贝尔分享了自己的想法。“你简直想不到，很多求职者要么根本就提不出问题，要么提的问题很蹩脚，比如‘那么请问你们是做什么的？’”
索贝尔认为，这种情况真的很糟糕，而提出合适的问题能够“创造一个激发思考的谈话环境，赋予你一定的优势，超越普通的应聘者。”
虽然你问面试官的那几个问题并没有什么错，但索贝尔建议可以增加如下几种选择：
1. 为什么？比如“你们为什么选择关停零配件业务，而不是尝试将它出售？”或者“你们为什么决定向以产品为导向的组织结构转变？”你应该已经提过这种问题。这不仅能展示你对公司情况作了功课并进行了思考，而且说明你是以相当开放的姿态来进行一次饶有趣味的探讨。索贝尔建议，要避免提出别人可能只回答“是”或“不是”的问题，这已是经验法之谈。
2. 询问面试官本人在该公司的工作感受。 你希望了解面试官的一些背景情况，从而与其建立良好关系，但请勿让对方感到被冒犯。
索贝尔建议，可以这样问，比如“我知道您五年前就已经进入现在这家公司。在此期间，公司取得了长足的发展。您认为，跟您刚开始时相比，现在的工作体验跟当初比起来怎么样？” 或者你也可以问：“在这里工作，您最喜欢的是什么地方？”
3、展示自身价值。 为了创造一种双向的谈话模式，可以考虑在面试中提及你在目前工作中学到的、可能对未来的雇主有益的技术或流程。显然，采用这种方法的时候必须谨慎，以免泄露专利信息或者其他机密。
4、关注未来。此类问题比如“贵公司的生产力在过去三年中获得了很可观的改善。您认为未来在业务运作层面还有哪些地方具有提升的空间？”，“未来几年，有哪些潜在的增长领域最让公司上下兴奋和期待？”显然，通过招聘者对这些问题的回答，你也能了解到如果应聘成功，你今后的职业生涯将如何发展。
5、了解企业文化。索贝尔表示，通过提问能了解到这家公司的工作氛围。你可以问“导致新员工表现不佳的最普遍原因是什么？”或者反之，“什么样的人能在贵公司取得成功？”以及一些类似的问题，比如“为什么人们来这里工作，而不是去竞争对手的公司？您认为他们留在这里的原因是什么？”这些问题都能够引出一些很有价值的见解。
6、面试官的选择标准是什么？索贝尔表示，你应该问“如果把选择范围缩小到最后的两名求职者，他们具有同等经验和技能，您最终会如何选择？”虽然招聘者给你的回答可能不那么直接（真相可能是薪资要求较低的求职者胜出），但仍然能获得一些有价值的信息。
索贝尔认为，合适的问题“能够让你展示自己的学识而又不显得妄自尊大，能够让你的胜算大大提高。这样，你很有可能会听到对你来说最动听的提问：‘你最快什么时候能上班？’”
反馈：你在上一次求职面试中问了什么问题？如果你是招聘经理，求职者的什么问题会让你印象最深刻（或者最平淡）？欢迎留言评论。
Dear Annie: I've only been out of college a few years, and I was hired into my first real job (which I still have) by an on-campus recruiter at a career fair, so I don't have much experience with interviews. Now, I'm looking around for something a bit more challenging. I have some tech skills that happen to be in demand right now, so I'm getting interviews, and they've mostly gone pretty well so far.
My problem is with the part of the discussion, usually at the end, when the hiring manager says, "Do you have any questions?" I research each company online beforehand, and can usually think of a few things to ask about industry trends or particular moves the company has made lately, but I keep feeling like my questions are too predictable (kind of boring, actually). What should I be asking? — Just Jerry
Dear J.J.: "If you talk to recruiters and executives who are actively hiring, they will tell you they get three types of questions: no questions, bad questions, and -- very rarely -- memorable questions," says Andrew Sobel. "The candidates asking the memorable questions are usually the ones who get job offers."
Sobel, co-author of a new book called Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, Influence Others, is a longtime consultant and coach to senior managers at companies like Citigroup (C), Xerox (XRX), Cognizant (CTSH), and Ernst & Young. He says a recruiter for a fast-growing tech company told him recently, "You'd be surprised at how many job candidates have no questions at all, or they ask dumb questions like, 'So what do you do?'"
That's too bad, because asking the right things is "how you create a thought-provoking conversation, which puts you a cut above the average candidate," Sobel observes.
While there is nothing at all wrong with what you've been asking interviewers so far, he suggests adding a few of these to the mix:
1. Why? Questions like "Why did you close down your parts business rather than try to find a buyer for it?" or "Why did you decide to move to a product-based organization structure?" -- which it sounds as if you're already asking -- not only show you've done your homework on the company and put some thought into it, but are open-ended enough to spark an interesting conversation. As a rule, Sobel advises avoiding any question someone could answer with a "yes" or "no."
2. What has been your experience here? Without asking anything intrusive, you want to form a connection based on some understanding of the interviewer's situation.
Sobel recommends something like, "I understand you joined the company five years ago. With all the growth you've had, how do you find the experience of working here now compared to when you started?" Or try: "What do you like most about working here?"
3. Show your value. In the interest of making the discussion a two-way street, think about mentioning a technique or process you've learned from your current job that a prospective employer might benefit from adopting. Obviously, with this approach, you have to be careful not to reveal proprietary information or give away any secrets.
4. Focus on the future. Ask something like, "You've achieved large productivity gains in the past three years. Where do you believe future operational improvements will come from?" or "Looking ahead to the next couple of years, what are the potential growth areas that people in the company are most excited about?" Not incidentally, the answers could give you a sense of where your own career path could lead if you get hired.
5. Find out about the culture. You can learn a lot about what it would be like to work at a company, Sobel says, by asking, "What are the most common reasons why new hires don't work out here?" or, conversely, "What kinds of people really thrive in your organization?" Along similar lines, "Why do people come to work for you rather than a competitor, and why do you think they stay?" could yield some valuable insights.
6. What are the interviewer's selection criteria? Sobel says you should ask, "If you were to narrow the field to two final candidates for this job, with equal experience and skills, how would you choose one over the other?" You may not get a totally candid answer (the truth might be, for example, that the candidate with the lower salary requirement would win out), but you still might learn something worth knowing.
The right questions, Sobel says, "allow you to demonstrate your knowledge without sounding arrogant, and they greatly improve your chances of hearing the best question of all -- 'How soon can you start?'"
Talkback: What questions did you ask in your last job interview? If you're a hiring manager, which questions from candidates impress you most (or least)? Leave a comment below.
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