If You’re Applying For A New Job, Here’s One Question You MUST Ask Early In The Process

There are several important questions to ask potential employers during the interview and hiring process.

Some examples of important job interview questions could be “What does a typical day look like?”, “Can you show me examples of projects I’d be working on?” and “What are the biggest challenges that someone in this position would face?”

Due to the enduring pandemic and Covid-19 cases surging in parts of the country, a crucial question to ask now involves a company’s policy about a return to the workplace or the current policy about going into the office.

This Twitter thread from marketer Emily Coleman explains how a job interview can go from positive to suddenly no interested if a company’s return to office policy doesn’t match your own personal expectations.

If you’re applying for a new job, you must ask this question because if company plans don’t correspond with your personal feelings or needs, it’s probably best to end the interview process and save everyone some time.

I just had a 30-ish minute call with an executive recruiter about a role they were filling. We had a really good conversation about the job and the requirements and then when it was my time for questions, I asked what their return to office strategy was.

— Emily Coleman (@editoremilye) July 28, 2021

Emily writes…

“I just had a 30-ish minute call with an executive recruiter about a role they were filling. We had a really good conversation about the job and the requirements, and then when it was my time for questions, I asked what their return to office strategy was.

They told me that they were only out of office for a very short period of time and have been back in the office for months. They have no working from home or remote work options.

I asked if the office was an open floor plan or individual offices. It’s cubes in a fishbowl.

And at that point, I knew it was dead in the water. We didn’t even need to discuss salary.

I’m fascinated that people hiring for my type of role (marketing) are still expecting employees to be in the office full time.

Up until that point, I was actually really intrigued! The job specs were interesting, I liked the product/company, and I would have seriously considered learning more.”

This situation could happen in reverse as well. If you’re interested in returning to an office in some hybrid model of work, but the company doesn’t plan on allowing employees into the building any time soon, this could be a reason for moving on with your search.

As LifeHacker points out, another question to ask potential employers is their policy on vaccines. No matter where you stand on the issue, you don’t want to butt heads with people at a new job if their policy on vaccination doesn’t mesh with your personal beliefs.

To read more informative articles about finding a job, check out the best states to find employment in 2021, low-stress jobs that pay over $70K a year, and how to disconnect from your job when working from home.