🙋 UX Career Tip #6: Prepare good interview questions

This is your chance to impress them with your deep thoughts and stand out from the rest

Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash

Another easy one to do, but most people don't bother.

If you want to stand out from others during an interview, ask good customized questions. This will show the interviewer that their company is special to you and that you are really interested.

I am sure you have access to the Internet. There is no excuse to skip the research part and read as much as you can about the company itself, the particular product team you are applying to, the interviewer (if you know who it will be), and the industry.

For example, I would always watch every video I could find, CEO interviews, pitches and presentations, tutorials on how to use their product, etc. Try to find podcast talks, articles, blog posts, tweets, LinkedIn posts, etc. It's all available online.

Then, take notes of interesting points of what you read/hear/watch and ask clarifying questions during the interview.

Examples

⛔️ Bad question: What does the company do?

- This is a really bad one, shows you haven't read even basic information from the company's website or job description. Why did you even apply?

🆗 OK question: What distinguishes this company from its competitors?

- A decent question asking for a valid insight about what the interviewer/company thinks their unique value proposition is.

✅ Good question: In your interview with Kara Swisher 2 years ago, you mentioned that your technology would disrupt the whole industry and, I quote "leave the competition in the dust". So, my question is - has this already happened? And if not, what's stopping you from achieving this goal?

- Holy cow! If I was asked something like this in an interview, I would definitely take note of how the person got prepared for the conversation and put in extra effort to come up with such a great question.

Through in 2-3 of those and they will remember you, for sure. Even better, if you can dig deeper and ask a probing question for their answer. And, perhaps, you could also comment and share your thoughts on the topic (in a subtle manner, of course). This would be 🔥

👉 Do your due diligence and don't neglect this opportunity to stand out from the rest.