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As a young professional in today’s market, you need to be aware that the approach to finding a job and a career has drastically changed even in the last few years. The idea of career employment with one or two firms is a thing of the past. The average job in the United States lasts between two and a half and three years. The average 40 year-old in the United States has held 10.2 jobs. There seems to be a little more stability the older one gets, but not much.

The fluctuation of the economy in recent years has caused an uncertain attitude in the U.S. worker. In spite of the fact that in 2006, the United States added an average of 175,000 new jobs every month and 110,000 jobs every month in 2007, there is a constant fear of recession. A Hart Research Associates/AFL-CIO poll found that 54 percent of Americans are “worried and concerned about reaching their economic goals.”

Since the idea of working for one firm beyond a few years is rarely the reality, you need to be prepared to change jobs more often. You must become comfortable with the concept that you may lose a job more often than in past generations. You must also become comfortable with recognizing that you’re going to build your career on a number of different jobs with a number of different companies.

There are many facets of this new “world” of work and careers. One of them has to do with the kinds of questions that you should be asking during the interviewing process. It used to be, for instance, that you could ask an honest question like, “Where could this position lead me with the company, in the next four or five years?” In generations past, you might have gotten a reasonable answer, usually from an interviewer who had been with the company for a number of years. But in today’s working environment, you are likely to get a blank, deer in the headlights stare. On top of that, it is not likely that the person interviewing you has been in their job for more than a year or two.

Since you were going to use a new job as a stepping stone along your career path, it is important that you ask a different set of questions than you might have asked even a few years ago. The trick is to find out everything you can about the job and company and, at the same time, sell yourself as the best candidate they could interview.

The biggest mistake most candidates make in the interviewing process is that they act as though they are “qualifying” the company to their standards. The key is to sell yourself into the job. You have absolutely nothing until you have an offer. Get an offer and then ask your qualifying questions to help you evaluate the offer.

The important questions you want answered should be asked of the actual hiring authority. The actual hiring authority is the person who has the “pain” of needing to hire an employee. As you are selling yourself, you want to get a sense of the job. The best way to do that is to ask questions. But they need be questions that are not focused around, “What’s in it for me,” but questions around “What can I do for the company?”

Let’s assume you have gotten pretty deep into the interviewing process. Questions that you might ask to get you that far are pretty standard. If you think you are close to an offer, you are going to have to figure out if you want to work at this place. Now it is your turn to gently assess the opportunity. These types of questions can be tricky, because you have to ask them in a “we are all in this together” manner. You want to begin by asking non-threatening questions that get the hiring authority to talk about themselves, the job and why they are there. People like talking about themselves, so you begin with questions like:

“Why did you come to work here?” is a great question to discover the “personal” qualities of a company.

“What are the biggest challenges for the company? . . . this department?” Find out the biggest problems that you can help tackle.

“What are your personal plans with the company? “ Again, it is a personal question but could be very revealing.

“What is your management style?” This appears to be more of a personal question, but it will tell you a lot about the immediate working environment.

“What are the toughest parts of your job?” This sounds more personal than it really is and you will find out a lot about what’s on the minds of most of the managers.

After you have established personal rapport with these kinds of questions, your goal, before you take a job, is to find out as much as you can about the working environment, the culture of the company and exactly what is expected of you. Here are some questions that may reveal what you might be getting into:

“How would you describe the culture and values of this company?” If you hear, “Well, we work hard and party hard” and you are the kind of person who doesn’t, you may not fit in. If you hear, “We’re here for the money, and that is all we care about,” and you have a great passion for growing as a person and not worrying that much about the money, you might want to delve deeper to see if you can live with this approach.

“Please describe the working environment.” Even though you may have been interviewing there a number of times, you need to hear what the boss thinks it is like.

“How would you describe my potential peers?” However your potential boss talks about his or her subordinates, they will speak of you in the same manner. Pay attention!

“What would you say are the worst parts of the job?” Don’t be surprised if you hear a totally new group of issues that you didn’t hear in the other interviews.

“Is the company planning any layoffs?” Bold question . . . notice how the person answers it.

“How many people have been in this position in the last five years? Where are they now?” The answer will tell you where you are likely to be in the future.

“Why have people in the past failed at this job?” This is an important question. The answer will tell you what your prospects of success will be.

Remember that the answers to these questions and many like them, may not keep you from taking the job. But knowing the answers will let you know what you are getting into. There are always going to be surprises in a new job. You want to minimize them.

Tony Beshara is the author of Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You the Job (AMACOM 2008) and The Job Search Solution: The Ultimate System for Finding a Great Job Now! (AMACOM 2006). He is a 30-year veteran of the placement and recruitment field, and owner of Babich and Associates, a job placement firm. He is recognized as the #1 recruiter in America according to the Fordyce Letter, a recruitment industry journal, and has appeared numerous times on the nationally syndicated Dr. Phil Show.

Acing the Interview hyperlink: www.amanet.org
The Job Search Solution hyperlink: www.amanet.org
Babich & Associates hyperlink: www.babich.com