Strategic Questions for your Advantage
Strategic Questions for your Advantage
Strategic Questions for your Advantage
The critical point at most student affairs job interviews is when the interviewer turns to you and asks “do you have any questions for me?” I’ve been in that spot before and I’ve frozen before. It’s been one of those cringe worthy moments in my career.
But it also started a fire in me to get better at asking question during interviews. Eventually that fire grew into a desire to ask not only good questions, or even great questions. But rather: strategic questions. Questions that helped set the pace of the interview in my favor as well as presented my candidacy in the best light.
How do you ask strategic questions in the student affairs job interview?
This article will review how you can use strategic questions to your advantage. It will cover how to create strategic questions as well as their two intended purposes. This article will also go into depth into other types of questions that you can ask during your interview including FYI questions; TMMA questions; and clarifying questions. The article ends with some of the most common questions you’ll be asked during your student affairs interview.
Strategic questions for your advantage
Everyone will tell you that you should not go into an interview without having some questions prepared. Interviewers usually leave the end of the interview for any questions you may have. Many people will tell you that asking questions demonstrates that you’ve done your research. The kinds of questions you ask are often directed and pointed. Don’t ignore the fact that this is an opportunity to gain some valuable information as well as demonstrate how much you know.
There are two kinds of strategic questions you can offer at the end of the interview. The first kind of question helps you GAIN information about something, someone, or a process that you don’t fully understand. The second kind of question is to demonstrate how much you already know about the role and the institution.
Strategic questions’ two purposes
-To GAIN information
-To SHARE that you KNOW information
For example, a type of question you’d ask to GAIN information would be, “What has it been like to work for the same office over several years in multiple different positions?” You could certainly guess what this experience is like. But, you don’t know for sure because you’ve never been in your interviewer’s shoes before. This means that you’re really trying to get information about which you know little about.
The second type of question demonstrates how much you know about the role and the institution. For example, you could ask, “I saw that experiential education is mentioned repeatedly in the mission statement; can you tell me how that’s used that in practice?” This demonstrates that you’ve done your research and know the mission statement. It also demonstrates your interest in seeing that mission in action.
It’s important to integrate information about what you know into your question. However, you’ll need to work to connect the piece of information that you know (i.e. experiential learning) with something you don’t know (i.e. how it’s used in practice). It’s important that your question sound natural without shoe-horning in something impressive just to “show off” that you know something.
No matter which kind of questions you ask, ensure they are direct, pointed, and serve a purpose.
Other question types
You can divide all other types of questions into these two forms. Whether you want to GAIN information or DEMONSTARTE that you KNOW information. In addition, here are some other questions types that can help you gain more insight into the position.
-FYI: Stands for “For Your Information.” These are questions about logistics such as start date, accommodations, and relocation.
-TMMA Stands for “Tell Me More About.” These types of questions are designed to gain additional insightful information from your interviewers.
-Clarifications: These include any questions that come from the job description or the institution where the answer is not clear.
-Timeline: This question is intended to gain information on where the institution is in the search process. Examples of this question include: “What is your timeline for the search?,” “What are your next steps,?” and “Where do we go from here?”
For your information (FYI) questions
These are questions that you should ask about logistics (start date, accommodations, and relocation). I often consider these “book keeping questions” since they are just there to confirm objective details. But these are good to ask if there are any critical factors that pertain to your job search (i.e you can only start after a certain date).
Example: “Can you please confirm the date that you’re interested in having someone start this position”
TMMA (tell me more about) questions
These are questions that you ask after gaining some insight on the institution and the role. For example, the role might include, “Develop Emerging Leadership Program,” but in your research, you found no additional information about that program. So a TMMA question would address that specific duty and how the hiring manager would like it carried out.
Example: “Can you share some more information about the student ambassadors program? I see that the job description requires the professional in this position to develop and lead the program. But, I don’t know much about it. Can you please share some additional details?”
Clarification questions
These are smaller details that you can ask to gain additional insight on a particular point. These are focused on the wording of duties (e.g., live-on versus live-in) that can be clarified easily with members of the search committee.
Example: “I see from the job description that this position is title “Live-In Area Coordinator,” but others on the search committee have called it the “Live-On Area Coordinator.” Can you please clarify?”
Common interview questions
Here are some of the most common interview questions that you’ll be asked during your student affairs interview:
-How did you become interested in student affairs?
-Why do you want to work for this institution?
-Tell me about a time when you worked under pressure.
-Tell me about a challenge you experienced in the past and how you dealt with it.
-Why should we hire you?
-What are your most relevant experiences that you can bring to this position?
-How do you maintain a work/life balance?
-Tell me about a time when you had to make an ethical decision.
-Tell me about your weaknesses.
-What do you like about our institution?
-Tell me about your last position.
-What is your philosophy on diversity in higher education?
-What is your student affairs philosophy? (i.e. cite a development theory.)
-What did you like/dislike about your last position?
-Describe your past experiences working with students.
-What is the most pressing issue facing higher education?
-How would you communicate a disagreement with a coworker?
-How would you describe your advisory/supervisory style?
-What factors are most important to you in a position?
-What is something you’ve learned working in student affairs?
-What characteristics make a successful student affairs professional?
-How would you get information from a coworker that’s non-responsive?
-How would you develop community among the students you work with?
-How would you handle ______ problem at our institution?
Takeaways
This article reviewed how to use strategic questions to your advantage. It covered strategic questions and their two purposes: to gain information or to share that you know information. This article also covered in greater depth other types of questions such as FYI questions; TMMA questions; and clarifying questions. The article ended with some of the most common questions that candidates experience during the student affairs job interview.
I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here.
Happy searching,
Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2020, January 28). Strategic Questions for your Advantage. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2020/1/28/strategic-questions-for-your-advantage
Internal Ref: JHKRNWCHSV981