North West Department of Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development Vacancies (Circular 27 - Published on 7 July 2017)

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At the end of an interview:

You should be getting the opportunity to ask questions from your side at the end of the interview. Use this as an opportunity to show your interest in the company and the position. Develop your questions while you do your research on the company. Do not ask a question of which you should know the answer (e.g. what does your company do?) or anything that will be provided in future documentation (e.g. conditions of employment). Your questions need to make the interviewer sit up and realise what a brilliant candidate you are. You therefore need to focus on the role and not your own needs. Below is a selection of questions you could consider asking:

- What are some of the issues that will face the successful candidate in terms of improving the inter-personal relations in the department?
- What are the current vulnerabilities in terms of processes / people / technology / etc. within the organisation that need to be attended to?
- What are the most important key result areas that the successful candidate will have to meet in the first 6 months? How would these be measured?
- I read that market ABC or product ABC is very important to your company; how will this position be able to support the company in attaining this market or product?

Hopefully this got you thinking. Now, develop some of your own that you will also be able to link to the research that you have done.

However, if the position is very junior or entry level, then the following type of questions will be sufficient:

- Why did the previous incumbent leave?
- What does a typical day look like in this position?
- Could you give me more detail around the company structure?
- Is there any support for further education?

Under no circumstances should you even attempt to ask the following questions:

- How many days annual leave will I get?
- What is the earliest date for a possible promotion?
- When will I qualify for an increase?
- What is the earliest that employees are allowed to leave in the afternoon?

These and similar questions will raise serious concerns as to the value that you will be adding to the company. Most of these will be answered in the letter of offer once the interview process is finalised.