Avoid Leading or Loaded Question

Avoid Leading or Loaded Question

Leading questions signal the interviewer that you are looking for a specific

answer. They also signal that you are, at best, an awkward communicator

and, at worst, manipulative. In any case, skewing questions

is not in your interest. Be on guard that your questions are phrased to

be impartial. For example, this is a leading question:

Isn’t it true that your company is regarded as paying slightly better than

average?

This attempt to box in the interviewer is so transparent it will backfire.

Keep the question straight:

How do your company’s compensation schedules compare with the industry

average?

The wording of this next question is arrogant and makes you look

foolish.

I’m sure you agree with the policy that the customer is always right.

How are employees rewarded for going out of their way to put the customer

first?

What gives you the right to assume what the interviewer agrees with?

Ask it straight. There’s no harm in reporting a part of a company’s positive

reputation, if it’s true.

The company has a reputation for excellent customer service. How do

you motivate and empower employees to make exceptional customer

service a priority?

Loaded questions also make you look bad. Loaded questions reveal your

prejudices and biases. Besides being out of place in a job interview, such

questions convey a sense of arrogance or even contempt. They make you

look like a bully. They always backfire on you, no matter how much you

think your interviewer shares your biases. Typical loaded questions

might be:

How can the company justify locating manufacturing plants in the

People’s Republic of China with its miserable record of human rights

violations?

With all the set-aside programs for minorities and people who weren’t

even born in this country,what progress can a white American man hope

to have in your company?

Questions like these reveal your biases, often unintentionally, and cannot

advance your candidacy.

Avoid Veiled Threats

Interviewers hate to be bullied, and they will send you packing at the

first hint of a threat. That means if you have another job offer from

company A, keep it to yourself until after company B has expressed an

interest in making you an offer as well. Unfortunately, candidates have

abused the tactic of pitting employers against each other by brandishing

genuine or, as is more likely the case, fictitious job offers. A few

years ago, this tactic created an unreasonable and unsustainable climate

for hiring. Don’t test it with today’s crop of interviewers;

will wish you luck with the other company and never look back. For

example:

I’m considering a number of other offers, including a very attractive one

from your main competitor, and need to make a decision by Friday. Can

I have your best offer by then?

This question smacks of bullying and desperation. It’s hard to come up

with alternative wording, but this is more effective:

Everything I know about your company and the opportunity you described

leads me to believe that I can immediately start adding value.

I would very much welcome receiving an offer.Another company has

made me an attractive offer to join them, and I said I would give them

my decision by Friday. If my application is receiving serious consideration

here, I would very much like to consider it before then. Is that

possible?

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