The 6 Questions I Ask a Future Hiring Manager During a Phone Screen
Make the most of those last few minutes and end the interview on a good note. Just like a nice bowl of ice cream 🍨
For most tech companies, the second phase in the interview is the hiring manager screen, right after a recruiter screen and before a virtual onsite.
But what questions are good questions to ask? How do you make the most of those last few minutes and end the interview on a high note? That’s the point of this article here today. Some things to get out of the way first.
Why Ice Cream?
Behavioral interview questions are like the “meat and vegetables” of a meal. These are the standard questions like “tell me about the project you’re proud of,” “tell me about a time you struggled, etc.”
But the last few minutes are where the tables turn and you ask the questions. After 30 to 40 minutes of you being grilled, it’s a nice change of pace. They’re not strictly necessary, but like ice cream they are a pleasant way to end the conversation.
Plus, working at an ice cream shop was my very first part time job, so it has a special place in my heart🍦
Two Hiring Manager Calls
There are typically 2 hiring manager calls:
- After the recruiter screen and before the virtual onsite
- After the offer is given and before you accept
These two totally different, polar opposite, kind of calls. The first is the hiring manager deciding if they like you. The second is a “closer” — one last pitch to convince you to work here and not somewhere else. I’ll discuss the first kind here in this article and leave the closer for a future article.
Only 2 or 3 Questions
Compared to the recruiter screen, you usually don’t have much time to ask questions to the hiring manger — because you or they talked a lot earlier.
So you have to be very picky with what you ask. Keep it to 2 or 3 questions (5 minutes) at most. There’s always time for more of your questions in the virtual onsite or closer phases.
Recruiter Screen?
I wrote a similar article for the recruiter screen. Check it out!
Goals of Your Questions
Just two key goals to keep in mind:
- Get the manager excited to hire you
- Get specifics on the role
(1) Is it okay to go over a few minutes?
A basic one, but still important. It’s easy to lose track of time during the interview and forget the time for your questions.
You also want to be respectful of the manager’s time and not make them late for the next meeting.
Set a max of 5 minutes over the scheduled time and then cut yourself off.
(2) What’s the exciting new initiative that you’re focused on? Or a new type of customer you’re trying to attract?
Every company has a core product-customer that forms their base. But they usually have an initiative to grow beyond that to a new product or a new type of customer.
This initiative usually gets all the attention and dominates during meetings. Kind of like “the youngest child gets the most attention” or the “shiny new object” phenomena. Also, product development and sales-marketing can be quite different in the core vs the new initiative groups. So it helps to know what the shiny new thing is and how it might affect you.
(3) What was the turning point that made you open up this new role?
Jobs don’t appear out of nowhere. Something happened to make the hiring manager think: “we need more people,” and then to convince others of the need for this headcount.
It can be a backfill, as in the old person quit (or was fired). It can be a slow accumulation of workload, a sudden increase in funding, or a strong desire to attack a product-customer segment. It can be anything.
See if you can find both the slow, accumulating pain and the suddenly painful moment. Of course, you want to be savior who comes in and helps out with this pain. You also want to remind them how you can help immediately, which encourages them to act fast and not wait for the perfect candidate.
(4) Which 1 or 2 skills are the MOST important for this role?
The modern tech worker is expected to have many different skills and responsibilities.
For my role as a product manager (PM), I am a generalist: project manager, UI design, business analytics, user research, product marketing, support agent, etc. In addition, PMs have many different backgrounds and every coworker has different experiences and expectations of PMs.
So while you could do everything, it’s helpful to focus on what particular skill is most important for this team at this time. Sometimes I phrase this question this way:
For this particular role, what’s the difference between good performance and GREAT performance?
This adds a tinge of evaluation, so you know how to impress the manager later on for a promotion.
(5) What’s the first or second project that I would work on?
Similar to the previous question, but a lot more specific. Now is the time to learn what you’ll actually be doing day-in and day-out. Ask yourself: Is it too hard? Is it too boring? Can I see myself doing this?
It also helps to think about … are you being set up for success with the right starter projects? Your projects should slowly grow in responsibility and confidence. Or will you be thrown straight off into the deep end? These good questions to revisit during the closer.
(6) What should I study to get up to speed?
Repeat your enthusiasm for the role and give yourself a clear call-to-action. Here’s an eloquent, though flattering, way to say it:
I’m really excited about this role, and I think I would do very well in it. But obviously I don’t have all the industry knowledge as you. What should I study in the meantime to get up to speed?
You’ve repeated your enthusiasm and showed a willingness to learn. Both reflect very well on you. It also neutralizes any concern about “this person doesn’t have relevant industry experience compared to other applicants.”
It also minimizes the time that it takes to ramp up and be productive. Every new employee is lacking in skills and confidence. It’s unavoidable. It can take up to 6 weeks to learn the hard knowledge. A year to learn the soft knowledge (max confidence and strong relationships). Then an employee really reaps benefits for the company.
So anything you, as a new employee, can do to increase your skills and confidence as soon as possible definitely helps.
Don’t Ask These Questions
I used to ask these questions, but I learned the hard way not to. They are all basically a waste of time or at worst reflect poorly on you.
- What is your management style? It’s normally something like “Oh I help you at the start and then expect you to be self-sufficient later.” No one will admit to being a micro-manager, even if that’s what they are. You usually get a non-answer that doesn’t say anything meaningful.
- What makes your company unique? It’s just a repetition of the company’s value prop I could find online.
- Do you have any concerns about what I said earlier? Don’t ask for a real-time evaluation, even indirectly. No one will give it to you. If you screwed up, you screwed up. Just do better next time. If you really want the job you can think of a better answer later, write up a few paragraphs, and then attach it to your thank you email later that night.
- Logistical questions about pay or place. Questions about pay/place are better for the recruiter. Save your valuable time to ask the hiring manager about the people and the product (see my other article). Save your concerns about work-life balance for the closer.
Recap
- Is it okay to go over a few minutes?
- What’s the exciting new initiative that you’re focused on? Or a new type of customer you’re trying to attract?
- What was the turning point that made you open up this new role?
- Which 1 or 2 skills are the MOST important for this role?
- What’s the first or second project that I would work on?
- What should I study to get up to speed?
Good luck on your interviews and keep your head up!
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