1. What do you enjoy most about working here?
While the question might sound generic, extending your interview discussion session with this question already puts you at an advantage. Asking about your interviewers’ interests and motivations for their current working position is indirectly prompting them to talk about the same things you might enjoy about the work or the company if you’re brought onto the team.
Hiring managers, in general, are more than happy to answer this question because it gives them the opportunity to incite some excitement around working on the team.
2. How does product design contribute to the success of this company?
Even though the value placed on design might be obvious from the interviewers’ questions, you should try to get a better understanding of the importance of product design to the business’s greater mission. For example — how will design improve their sales matrix, what makes design an important differentiator from their competitors, or why is design key to connecting with their target audience, etc.
3. What is the single biggest challenge facing the company/department today?
Yes — Before a company goes hunting for a great product designer, there must be a challenge or problem they need to solve. Otherwise, why would they want to hire another expert? Maybe they need more hands to get the job done faster, maybe they need someone with new ideas to help make better design decisions, or maybe they just need to do some task shifting to enhance their performance. Whatever it is, the team is trying to solve a problem, and you should know what that problem is before you start working there.
The team is trying to solve a problem, and you should know what that problem is before you start working there.
While some interviewers may be generous enough to explain the challenge they’re facing without you asking, others may just be waiting to hear you bring it up into the discussion first. If you’re fortunate enough to ask them this question before they initiate it, trust me — you could just be their next employee. Look out for the best chances to shoot this question at them, and be ready to talk about how your expertise and experience can help them solve some of these problems.
4. What are the current strengths and weaknesses of your design team?
In an effort to impress their candidates, most interviewers may only disclose the strengths of their team during the interview sessions, even though they understand that exposing their weaknesses would help them find the right candidate for the job. Asking them this question will give them a better opportunity to open up to you, and you’ll know exactly why you’re coming in and what they’ll require from you along the line.
5. What does success look like here?
Success has different meanings to different companies — especially when it comes to product design. Success to one company could mean an innovative breakthrough in their product design, but to another, their greatest accomplishment could be achieving a seamless user experience across their website.
Whatever their definition of success is, showing interest in this before getting hired is already putting you on their list of potential problem solvers who are coming in to help them achieve these desired goals.
