101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview

by Ron Fry

This book is for every job candidate who thinks "Do you have any questions for me?" marks the end of an interview. It doesn't. In fact, it marks the beginning of the last and perhaps most important interview phase - a phase so important that failing to prepare properly for it can undo all your hard work, including providing great answers to tough questions! Asking questions in your interview is your moment to shine - to show off the depth and breadth of your research, to remind the interviewer of how perfectly your credentials fit the job description, and to actually ask for the job! From what to ask, when to ask it, and the kind of answers to expect, this book gives every candidate, from first-timers to seasoned pros, the practical information and advice they need to ace the entire interview and get their dream job.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Business, How To, Adult

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ron Fry is a nationally known proponent for the improvement of public education and an advocate for parents and students, playing an active role in strengthening personal education programs. In addition to being the author of the best-selling How to Study series, which has sold more than 3,000,000 copies to date, Fry has written more than 30 other books in the areas of education and careers. He is the founder and president of Career Press, an internationally known independent publisher of trade nonfiction books.

Reviews

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful for me when I have done phone interviews, and informational interviews.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

As job interview prep books go, I'd say this is the most helpful that I have found, particularly for those that already have experience with interviews and feel comfortable in the hot seat. This book discusses strategy for you, the interviewee, to better demonstrate your value as a candidate by taking a more active role during the interview through asking thoughtful questions. The goal is to demonstrate your thoughtfulness, preparedness, intelligence and pro-activeness.

Many of you will already know that asking questions are important, but this book also provides value by helping you brainstorm some excellent questions for you to ask interviewers. Nothing worse than having all your prepped questions answered before you reach the "Any questions?" portion of the interview! Many of the answers I received from interviewers influenced my ultimate decision to accept the an offer or not.

This book also summarizes the main points of his more popular book 101 Great Answers to Toughest Interview Questions, so no need to read that one unless you want to.

[Kes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a useful primer to interview questions - also handles questions you can ask before the interview. The author also believes in brevity, which is a major plus.

[Nicholas Strait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author is a bit greedy by making this another title instead of a couple extra chapters in his book 101 Smart Answers to interview questions. If you have already read that, do yourself a favor and skip to halfway through chapter 5 before you begin to encounter new content. As a standalone, I would rate this a 4, but dinged it down to 3 for the rehash with no new information on the first 2/3 of the book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course, not all 101 questions will be useful to you (not every job is of the kind where you can ask "could I start Monday and show you what I can do, for free, while you decide?" (like, those that require safety training). But, with that many questions to choose from, there are bound to be ones useful to you. It's a quick and direct read.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3.5 stars. Some of the examples of what not to do are ridiculous, so plainly obvious that you shouldn't do it. The book covers the entire interview process, not just questions you can ask the interviewer. It is easier to jump to the end and view the list of questions that you are interested in.

[mariya · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf at 80%

only started this for project 50

the beginning was okay ish, but like it’s js so much waffle and sm questions are so odd and i feel like no matter how outdated this is, this js doesn’t work 😭
ppl who picked up the book probs js want help w the interview stage, they don’t have time to research every company they wanna apply for (ovbi check location, travel)

would not recommend LOL

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too basic to be of use to most people I should think.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, I can honestly say I picked up a few tips.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful for whatever stage of the job hunt you are at.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to go on an interview, my first in over 25 years. This was a good refresher.

[Cara Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mildly helpful. Mostly a confidence boost for the seeking-employment grind 🤓

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok

The book was ok but for folks who haven’t interviewed much. Anyone with interviewing experience already knows this stuff & more.

[Ola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Gwen · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I'm sure this book will work for some people, the author advocates incredibly pushy sales tactics--talk as if you've already gotten the job, close the interview with references to you starting working there, etc. I wonder if Fry's advice was more applicable in years past, since so much of his advice seems to fall flat in this new economy of depressed salaries, qualified labor supply far outstripping demand, and interviews going no place. (Witness the NYTimes article from March 2013 on employers bringing in people for upwards of 5 rounds of interviews, only to make no decision on hiring...ever.)

A HUGE turn-off for me: advocating working for free. As if the prevalence of unpaid internships isn't enough, now we're suppose to volunteer our time for an actual position as a trial run?! Fry says, "Speaking as someone who has hired hundreds, and who still sometimes worries that I've missed something and may be making the wrong choice, it would be mighty hard for me to pass up this 'free trial offer.' It completely devastates the competition!" (103) Oh no.

Go read "Ask A Manager" instead--her work is significantly better suited for today's employment marketplace with a far less pushy attitude.

The best part of this book was Appendix A: "20 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions." This was great, practical advice that will certainly prove useful. The rest of the book, maybe not so much...

[Staszek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful is the word which comes to my mind after finishing this read. Plenty of questions which you recognize from those interviews which you failed at, but here they are accompanied finally by some guidance. I don't say the book is giving the exact answers, but it definitely makes you think of your experience and gives it some depth, provides basis for any possible future occasions, which is very good. I did not even bother analyzing each and everyone of those questions, as there were so many similar. Also some of them were basic, some seemed irrelevant to me. On the other hand, such great variety allowed choosing those couple questions which seem very relevant to my need. I found some, which I know that will change my next prospective interview, if the need arises, into success. Definitely recommending to all those, who are left to preparing for an interview on their own.

[Linda A · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone in the job market this is an excellent read. Like Fry, I believe that when you interview it's as much about you interviewing the company representative as them interviewing you. You're going to spend lots of time with these people, you want to know how they'll fit into your business model as much as they want to know how you'll contribute to their company success. Following Fry's guidelines to research your market, know as much as possible about it and its employees, and develop smart questions that show you aren't a run-of-the-mill timecard puncher but a true professional interested in gaining as much as you can from each employer and what it has to offer you. If you're committed to finding work in a tough job market, I recommend this book to enhance your opportunities and settle for nothing short but what works for you.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very helpful guide and has helped me evaluate past performances in interviews as well allowing me to establish preconceived answers to questions that may be asked to me in an interview, and to structure possible questions I could ask a perspective new employer.

I know it is all common sense but I have enjoyed reading what I already know and do when I am in an interview but it has helped me examine my professional life more and I am working on writing out answers to possible questions so I can study them beforehand.

I do not actually have any interviews scheduled at present but it does not hurt to be prepared, especially with rising redundancies and cutbacks, not just at my work place but everywhere.

An advance reader copy was kindly provided through Netgalley.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much a rehash, sometimes word for word, of 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions. I would recommend reading Toughest Interview Questions before an interview and skipping this if you don't have the time, however the Appendix B in the back of 101 Smart Questions, which is basically just a long list of different categorized questions, can be a good reference for your pre-interview preparation.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had a lot of good information about questions to ask to see if a job/company is a good fit for you and about how to handle yourself and answer some interview questions.

[Robert Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best interview prep book I have ever read. Contains a great set of prep questions to get you ready.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

good ideas

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways redundant (yet also inferior to) the 101 Answers to the Toughest Questions book that seems to be his mainstay.