Things Job Candidates Must Never Ask
Understanding Recruiter’s Psychological Games
A perfect job interviewer asks you a series of questions to test your patience and give you as many opportunities to fail as possible. Their job is to prevent the company from hiring bad employees. They are effectively the guardians of the workforce. During the interview you only speak when you’re addressed but the trickiest question comes last.
At the end of the interview they ask you whether you have any questions. No is not an option. You have to ask a couple of questions to prove your dedication. Asking about the following topics is a straight way to getting rejected.
About the Duration of the Interview
Forget about making an appointment and negotiating an exact time frame. The interviewer needs to feel they are the boss and they decide about your future.
They can come 15 minutes in advance and cancel your application because you haven’t arrived yet. They can come 50 minutes late and assume you haven’t shown up at all. They decide that your interview will take six hours or that you will wait till the evening without being interviewed at all.
Do not dare look at the clock or your phone. That is the ultimate sign of disobedience and disgrace. Your kids can wait and so can your current job responsibilities. Quietly wait until the interviewer finishes their calls and distractions.
About the Company
The interviewer has no intention of introducing the company to you. They need you to understand you have been invited by the best — if not only — company in the universe before they talk to you. If you even think of asking about the company they’ll think you haven’t done your homework and you’re already lost.
Remember you are there to please and entertain the interviewer, not to ask a bunch of silly questions.
About Vacation and Sick Days
The interviewer hasn’t yet offered you the honor of being allowed to work for the company and you are already trying to discuss how to evade it? You can’t be serious! Your freedom is subject to your master’s decision, not up for discussion. You came here to beg for a job, not negotiate the conditions.
Vacation and sick days are abused all the time by all the employees.
About Home Office
Every interviewer knows very well that home office is yet another way to get free days. They can’t be fooled so easily — they’ve been using home office for that very purpose for years themselves. Don’t ask about the quality of coffee or coziness of kitchens or anything else the interviewer might already be using to escape from work.
Home office is not there to help you concentrate, maintain some privacy, save commuting hours, and improve mutual flexibility. That would be too easy.
About the Salary Range
Have you heard about the Roman Empire? Do you think slaves in Rome asked the Romans about salary range right at the first interview? Of course not! Then there’s no reason you should discuss the salary range until the interviewer asks you.
About the Impression of You
Never ask whether you were good and whether you have a chance of getting the job. If they want to refuse you, they will promise to let you know and then stop answering phone calls. This is done to make sure the interviewer has at least some psychological satisfaction for wasting their precious time with you.
Disclaimer: I wanted to put a disclaimer here, but in my experience people either don’t need it, misinterpret it, or ignore it altogether.
