I've been on both sides of the table on this one. Also, this is the first time I've ever posted to slashdot. Here's my limited experience:
1. The applicant is probably going to learn more about the organization from your questions than you'll learn from his/her answers. Smartass questions, gotcha questions, or "cute" questions paint a different picture of you and the organization than thoughtful ones would. You can signal a lot about your working environment by these questions.
2. You are being asked to provide input for something that will have a huge impact on your career at that company. That is almost always a good thing.
So my $.02: You may want to ask open ended questions like:
How would you describe your management style?
How do you measure success?
How do you feel about work/life balance?
Slightly narrower questions:
A project is behind schedule. What do you do? #push harder, remove features, move the deadline, investigate the cause of the delay, etc. communicates how/if the candidate protects his team.
Do you program? What languages?
How do you feel about documentation? #answers to this questions speak volumes, especially if the answer relates to the importance or unimportance of requirements docs, procedural docs, etc.
Of course YMMV.
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I've been on both sides of the table on this one. Also, this is the first time I've ever posted to slashdot. Here's my limited experience: 1. The applicant is probably going to learn more about the organization from your questions than you'll learn from his/her answers. Smartass questions, gotcha questions, or "cute" questions paint a different picture of you and the organization than thoughtful ones would. You can signal a lot about your working environment by these questions. 2. You are being asked to provide input for something that will have a huge impact on your career at that company. That is almost always a good thing. So my $.02: You may want to ask open ended questions like: How would you describe your management style? How do you measure success? How do you feel about work/life balance? Slightly narrower questions: A project is behind schedule. What do you do? #push harder, remove features, move the deadline, investigate the cause of the delay, etc. communicates how/if the candidate protects his team. Do you program? What languages? How do you feel about documentation? #answers to this questions speak volumes, especially if the answer relates to the importance or unimportance of requirements docs, procedural docs, etc. Of course YMMV.