what question do you wish you had asked before taking your current job?

What’s the one question you wish you had asked before accepting your current job?

Bonus points if you can phrase it in a way that would actually be reasonable to ask in an interview. (For example, you probably can’t ask, “Is the CEO an abusive tyrant who can’t keep an assistant longer than three months?” but you canask, “How long did the last few people in this position stay, and why did they move on?”)

While we’re at it, here are some good questions to ask to help you figure out if a job is going to be the right fit for you:

• What type of person works really well with you? What type of person doesn’t mesh as well with your management style?
• Same question as above, but about culture: How would you describe the culture here? What type of people tend to really thrive, and what types don’t do as well?
• What do you expect to be the toughest part of this position?
• What does a successful first year / first six months in the role look like? (Or, how will you measure the success of the person in this position in the first year?)
• Why have the last few people in the job moved on from it?
• Thinking back to people who have been in this position previously, what differentiated the ones who were good from the ones who were really great?

 

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