Interviewee Questions To Ask

Other than a note on “when do I get paid?” there is nothing HR-ish in the following document about pay, salary, pay ranges, or even expected compensation, bonus plan, etc. etc. etc.

I’m not worried about that when hiring for a DBA, SQL Developer, SSIS Developer, etc. role.

Instead, if I’m hiring in to a place filled with poisonous man eating sociopaths, I want to know it up front so I can avoid it all together. I’ve already worked at one of those, and my therapist says I’m making remarkable progress, ha ha ho ho.

Instead, this list is designed to provide the job seeking candidate a fighting chance to not forget the really important things BEFORE they make the jump to a new customer, client, or employer.

I originally designed this as a tool for my own passive job hunt years ago, and have kept it up to date over time. This list is specific to the questions I ask about an environment going in.

Specifically, I want to ask about a few main areas:

• Hours & Working Conditions
• Hours
• Documentation & CCB/CR
• Client(s) & Customer Service
• Position & Corporate
• Positional
• Corporate
• Equipment
• SQL
• SQL Server Itself
• DB’s
• Hardware
• Location, Location, Location
• Physical & Virtual
• Storage
• Outage & Troubleshooting
• Getting Work Done

I also watch the interviewers response when I still have twenty questions left – I’ll tell them I do, and watch their reaction. If they aren’t prepared to answer my questions during my one chance to meet and talk with them before we do business, that can also be rather instructive.

Oh, and kids? Turn off your cell phone.

Download the Interview Questions