What Questions Do You Have For Me?

Source: glassdoor.com

You go on an interview, and you answer all the questions posed by the interviewer.  You think that you have performed quite well.  Then the interviewer poses the usual query:  What questions do you have for me?  You don't want to appear befuddled.  You need to have some good questions to pose.  What should you ask? 

Drake Baer has some good questions over at Fast Company. 

He suggests the following inquiries:

1. If I started tomorrow, what's the first project you'd want me to tackle?
2. What are the must-have personality traits for this position? 
3. What would you like to see more from in this position? 
4. Do you like it here? 
5. Why would I not be a fit for this job?

I think that these questions may prove quite useful.  However, I have a slightly different piece of advice to offer as well.  I always advise my students to conduct some field research prior to their interviews.  For a student interviewing at Bose last year, I suggested spending some time in the Bose outlet store in Wrentham, MA.  For a student interviewing this winter at Boston Beer Company, I suggested spending time examining how the company was merchandising and marketing its products at bars, restaurants, and liquor stores.  He really loved that suggestion - what fun research!  In each case, I recommended developing some questions based upon those field visits.   The students both impressed their interviewers with this knowledge of what was happening in the field (as opposed to just what they read on the website or in the 10K).   The questions proved far from generic; they could engage in a really substantive way with the interviewer.  They both got the job that they wanted!