7 Life-saving Questions to Ask Professional Jobs when Interviewing

Unfortunately, you don’t always know how professional a job is until you start working there. However, there are a few questions you can ask to help uncover the truth. And this post will give you those specific 7 questions. The 7 life-saving questions to ask professional jobs when interviewing.

Nothing beats working in a company that has a good employee culture, a strong infrastructure, and room for growth. The only problem is no company will advertise all of its weaknesses when recruiting. Sure you can do some research but there’s nothing like hearing the truth from the horse’s mouth.

I’ve worked in a ton of different environments and within different industries. If there’s one thing I know how to do now – it’s calling “BS”. Please remember when you’re interviewing for a job it’s a two-way street. You’re interviewing your future employers as much as they’re interviewing you.

Asking the right questions can save you from walking into a job that has a bad employee culture, no foundation, and no room to grow.

This post is all about professional jobs and 7 questions to keep in your back pocket when interviewing.

Professional Jobs

1) How long has your team been together? Who’s been here the longest and who’s the newest?

Finding out the turnover rate for a future employer is extremely important. Sure you could find this one out by watching job ads and seeing which companies have a revolving door. However, it’s not always that obvious. Sometimes there’s a high turnover rate because the company hires more than they need. Then they perform a bunch of layoffs. It could also be that you’re applying to work for a manager that’s not very good.

Either way, ask how long the team has been together. It can give you a clue about what your future employer’s situation will be like. Also, you can tell a lot by how long people are with a team. If everyone on the team has been there less than five years it’s concerning. Usually, 5 – 10 years is how long it takes to move on to a more prominent role, and sometimes that’s outside of your immediate team. If someone has been there more than 10 years ask what their position is and if you’ll be working with them. If the person has been there for over 10 years and is not one of the principal leaders on the team, that can be an indication that there’s a good employee culture but no room for growth.

2) Where do you see this company and your team in the next 5 years?

Here’s another question that will lead to a bit more digging. If you’re applying for a startup see if you can define if expansion or having a solid infrastructure is more important to them. If their focus is on growth and you’re applying for a startup then run. It sounds like you’ll find yourself doing a few jobs to keep up with the demand. Unless that’s what you want to do, that could also be a tactic, but then you’ll probably want to gain as much experience as you can for the next two to three years and then leave.

If you’re applying for a job that oversees brand partnerships then get an idea of the kinds of brands they work with and who they’d like to work with in the future. See if their taste matches yours and if what they have to say excites you.

Ultimately if you’re not excited by what they say, then you probably don’t want to spend your time trying to grow there.

3) Do team trainings or off-sites occur regularly?

Do you want to work in a stale environment where everyone is following historic processes? Most likely not. There are a lot of advancements in every industry thanks to technology. If the team you’re trying to join doesn’t offer these kinds of opportunities and doesn’t continually work to better themselves, then you’re applying for a job that will eventually go out of business.

Think of the companies that made the leap to e-commerce way too late in the game, where are they now? It would be best if you always looked into getting some training. It could act as a form of security. And if the company doesn’t offer it, then that’s alarming.

Also, see if off-sites occur regularly. Offsites are when a team gets together to talk about the advancements in their space, brainstorm about potential opportunities and develop strategies or plans of action. If you’re applying for a large company then it could also perform as a networking opportunity. If a company doesn’t run these kinds of events, they either do not care about their employee culture or they can’t afford it. Two minor red flags.

4) How has your team’s work been valued in the past?

Do not find yourself in a position where your team is not respected. Where you’re not given the resources you need. And one where your opportunities to collaborate with members of other teams are limited to nonexistent.

I’ve been in positions where my boss was always creating and pushing for our projects to be accepted by the larger departments and in turn, they would recreate what we had accomplished and call it their own. This left you with no room to develop, wasted your time because your work was barely acknowledged, and led to tensions between the different working relationships you were a part of.

I’ve also been in positions where your work has been shared with the larger team, and you have the opportunity to become a subject matter expert and take the lead on projects.

Those are two completely different work dynamics that you want to be aware of when entering a new space. Also if you’re not working based on commission it’s important to understand how you could financially benefit from your work in the long run. Does your work influence your bonus or your promotion salary?

5) What benefits does the role offer?

The beautiful thing about having a job is being able to provide for yourself and your loved ones. As someone who grew up with no health insurance or any understanding of retirement accounts, I value them tremendously.

Ask about your potential employer’s 401k plan. Is there one available to new employees? Does the company offer a match? What’s the vesting period? Vesting refers to the amount of time you have to stay with a company before you can pull out the company match from your 401k and roll it over to a future job. Lastly, ask how long you need to work there before you receive these benefits. If they don’t offer a 401k, then you want to make sure you make enough to at least max out the Roth IRA for yourself. The current contribution limit is $6,500 if you’re single and under 59.5.

You’ll also need health insurance. I suggest not accepting a job if health insurance is not available to you. Health insurance is very expensive and very necessary to have.

6) Can you show me examples of what the team has created in the past?

This is sort of an undercover question. If you ask for examples of what’s been created and they reference materials that were not created in the past year, then the company you’re interviewing for is more concerned with maintaining what they’ve done in the past than creating something new.

It means there are some obstacles you are not seeing. These barriers can include that their competitors are beating them, your team doesn’t have the time or resources needed and spend the majority of their time performing admin work, or they currently don’t have the talent to create fresh products or services. All of which are red flags.

You want to work for a company that is always striving to become better and has examples of how their succeeding in their space. Only in the movies does a total newbie come in and completely change the company. You need a team of people to make things happen.

7) What do I need to accomplish within my first year here in order to be considered for a promotion?

It is completely justified to think about step 2, before starting step 1. Sometimes we become shy and don’t want to advocate for ourselves. If you don’t advocate for yourself, you will only be able to react to what’s being given to you instead of making things happen for yourself.

I’ve worked in companies where people complained about their lack of opportunities but never ask what they need to do to be considered for something new. They spend their lives complaining. Don’t do that to yourself. You should ask from the beginning what your career trajectory could look like and what they expect from you. Then you can measure your value and see if you’re really being taken advantage of.

Also, you want to be reasonable with the expectations you set for yourself. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you work. Your employer may only offer promotions after someone’s been in a position for more than a certain period of time. Make sure your expectations align with theirs.

This post was all about professional jobs, examples, and questions to ask when interviewing for a job.