Upon reviewing my personal customized list of interview questions that I have developed over the years, I realized that I should share a few others that may be helpful also.

Additional questions to consider asking in an interview:

1. How many of the executives in this company commute on a weekly basis from another state? (I once worked for a company where several key members of the leadership team commuted from another state. When they don’t have to leave the office to go home to waiting family members in the evenings, it makes it more difficult for those that support them to leave at reasonable hours also. It also makes for a work environment that is not as family friendly.)
2. When was the last time you went on vacation? For how long? How many calls did you receive from your office while you were out? Were you expected to keep up on your e-mails while you were gone? Did you? (This is another way to find out just how respectful of your personal life and time the company you are interviewing truly is.)
3. How would you best describe your method of thinking – in shades of gray or more black and white – and give me some examples. (Of course, people always want to say – both, but I usually press for a specific answer. I favor one over the other even though I have instances where I may stray the other way. ASK for specific examples of both if they won’t commit and give you a straight answer. If you know your own tendancies and you can learn theirs, it’s just another way to determine if this future manager is a good fit for you.)
   
4. I’m sure you’ve heard people refer to co-workers as “high maintenance” or “low maintenance” in their summation of how it is to work for someone. How would you define “high maintenance” and “low maintenance” in terms of working with your assistant? What makes an assistant high or low maintenance for you? Would you describe yourself as a high or low maintenance manager/executive to support and why? (We’ve all figured out after we arrived on the scene what we’ve landed in — high maintenance or low maintenance territory. But if you know you don’t do well supporting someone who requires you to get their breakfast and lunch daily, schedule their haircuts and doctor appointments, then you need to be asking probing quesitons in the interview to find out where they land on the low to high maintenance spectrum. On the flip side, if you need to be very involved or “desperately needed” by your executive and you really enjoy doing a lot of the more personal things that sometimes come up, then working for someone who only needs you to screen their phone calls and sort their mail isn’t going to be a fulfilling experience for you either. Establish your own personal scale of 1 to 10 and identify on that scale what consists of high or low maintenance. Then have them identify where they think they would rate themselves.)
   
5. Explain for me the types of things your assistant does to make you more efficient and productive throughout the day/week. How many types of more “personal” things does your assistant handle for you (i.e. scheduling doctor appts, haircuts, family vacation planning, etc.)? (Everyone has their “line” that they have personally established on what’s appropriate to do in support of your executive. You have to know where yours is and know how to ask questions to find out where your potential employer’s line is as well. Plus asking these things in the interview can set things up for a nice follow up conversation after you potentially get hired to discuss these things in more depth in a more comfortable setting because you already broke the ice.)
   
6. When you are coming and going from meetings throughout the day, are you typically on time and moving from meeting to meeting unassisted or do you find that you need your assistant to regularly come and get you or remind you of the next meeting you are headed to? (This can help you determine one element of the high/low maintenance equation also. If you cannot get a clear answer out of them, then tell them what you prefer. I typically follow that up with a comment like…”so if that comes pretty close to describing your style, then we’ll be a great potential fit.” I let them deduce from that comment that we may NOT be a great fit if that doesn’t explain their style.)
   
7. What makes a great first impression? How do you make a great first impression? (I like to learn how they view things and what’s important to them. This can also help you learn about their future expectations of you as well.)
   

Write down the experiences that you have encountered in your professional career that you wish you could have learned about your future manager or company before you started working for them. There may be good things and not so good things that you identify. Then think about how you can wrap words around a scenario or develop an appropriate question to ask to learn how the company/manager you are interviewing would respond or handle it.

You must be willing to expand your comfort zone and ask clarifying questions in the interview phase to ensure you have all of the information you need to make the right decision when the job offer is ultimately extended.

To your interviewing success!

Julie Perrine CPS/CAP
Qualifified Myers-Briggs Administrator

As my career has progressed and I’ve added some interesting on-the-job experiences to my work history, I started to develop a list of interview questions that I asked the interviewers when I was in a job interview.

An interview is an information exchange between you and a potential employer. They are not obligated to offer the position to you, and you are not obligated to accept it even if they do. It is your responsibility to find out as much information about this company as you can BEFORE the interview. Then, you need to fill in as many gaps as possible DURING the interview by asking good questions.

Listen to their responses and watch their body language and facial expressions as you ask the questions and you may learn a lot of valuable information before you take a position that isn’t right for you.

Here are some questions to consider asking in your next interview.Questions for Administrative Professionals to Ask the Interviewer

1. Can you describe the duties and the responsibilities of the job for me? (If a future manager cannot describe what the position does, I would be concerned about how out of touch with their staff and departmental functions they may be. I like the next two questions for this purpose also.)
2. Describe a typical daily schedule in this position for me.
3. Describe a typical weekly schedule in this position for me.
4. What is a typical workweek? Is overtime expected? How often?
5. What kind of characteristics are you looking for in the candidate?
6. Have there been any personnel or production problems in this department? (If there is more than one person in the interview, I like to watch their exchange of glances or facial expressions when I ask this. It may help you to know if you should ask a follow up question or not.)
7. What are the department’s strengths and weaknesses?
8. What kind of career path is typical for your employees?
9. WHO will be my biggest challenge in this position? Why? What will I need to do to work successfully with this person? (If you had told me a “personality” would be my biggest challenge when I walked into one of my executive assistant roles, I would have laughed at you. I had never encountered anyone that I couldn’t figure out how to consistently work successfully with…until this one. So this question has become a REQUIRED question for all interviews now.)
10. What are some of the more difficult problems one would have to face in this position? How do you think these could best be handled?
11. How many assistants have you had support you over the course of your career? Who has been the best and why? Who has been the worst and why?
12. How do you view the administrative support role in the overall functioning of this office? (If they view this role as the person who keeps the coffee made and the mail sorted, then it may not be the career ladder position you had in mind. If they view this role as the hub of the wheel that keeps all of the spokes connected and smoothly rolling down the road, then you’re probably entering into a potentially great relationship.)
13. What do you do to support your assistant in his/her professional development?
14. Do you support membership in professional associations such as the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) or other local networking groups?
15. If I were to talk to any of your past assistants, what would they tell me was the best part about supporting you? The worst part about supporting you?
16. Why is this position open?
17. How often has it been filled in the past five years? What were the main reasons?
18. What would you like done differently by the next person who fills this position?
19. Do you encourage/support daily lunch breaks for your assistant?
20. Who provides backup for this position when they are out of the office?
21. Who will review my performance? How often?
22. How do you determine or evaluate success within the company?
23. How do you determine or evaluate success for the person in this position? How will I know I am successful in this position?
24. How do you reward and recognize achievements of your team members? How often do you do it?
25. What don’t you like about working here and what would you change?
26. What do you think is the greatest opportunity facing the organization in the near future? The biggest threat?

I’m sure there are other great interview questions to ask. If you have some others, please share them with me at julie@julieperrine.com. Interviewers want to see someone engaged in their profession and engaged in what is going on around them. Asking questions during an interview is a great way to find out the information you need to make an educated and informed decision should the job offer be extended.

To your interviewing success!

Julie Perrine CPS/CAP
Qualified Myers-Briggs Administrator