When preparing for interviews, people spend the vast majority of their time thinking about questions they could be asked. While this makes perfect sense, many people don’t put enough thought into questions to ask a prospective employer. After all, an interview is not only about selling your experiences to employers but also about identifying whether a company is the right one for you. With this in mind, here are the top eight questions to ask an interviewer.

What Does a Typical Day Look Like?

This is a valuable question to ask an interviewer for a number of reasons. First, it’s an excellent way to ask about the specific expectations for a position. The interviewer will respond by describing how they see the person in the role functioning. These answers will allow you to determine if you can picture yourself in the role. Additionally, some jobs have lots of variabilities, and there may not be a typical day. Asking this question can help inform you of that as well.

Are There Opportunities for Professional Development?

There are many benefits that employers can offer in addition to compensation. One is encouraging your professional development. Many employers will provide incentives for staff to further their education or training. Some will provide funding for improving skills that will make you more effective at your job. Asking this question to an interviewer helps determine a company’s level of investment in your growth.

What Are the Most Important Things to Do in the First 60 Days on the Job?

One of the most valuable things to learn as a prospective employee is what your boss expects of you. A good way of determining this is to ask about expectations for the most important accomplishments during the first 60 days (or three months or six months). This can help you get a sense of how quickly you need to get up to speed.

What Metrics Will I Be Evaluated Against?

It’s always good to know how you will be evaluated in a particular job. Will your performance be assessed on the accomplishment of specific goals? Will you be evaluated based on the skills that you demonstrate? Asking this question allows you to get a sense of a company’s assessment processes and what they value most.

How Would You Describe the Organizational Culture?

A company’s organizational culture can make or break your enjoyment of working there. Asking about organizational culture during a job interview can help you get a sense of the company’s values. While no one will tell you they have a negative culture, you may be able to pick up on warning signs. Additionally, you can learn other information, such as whether a company encourages collaboration, leadership, and other things from their employees.

How Does One Advance in the Company?

This is a great way to phrase the question if you’re curious about upward mobility. First, it puts the ownership of getting promoted on you, which can come across positively. Secondly, you’ll be able to learn not only if there are opportunities for promotion but also how to demonstrate that you are ready for the next level. This question is great to ask an interviewer from large organizations.

What Are the Biggest Challenges Someone in This Role Should Expect?

Asking this question is a good way of learning about the challenges you will have to navigate if you are selected for the position. It’s an excellent question to ask an interviewer if the organization is larger or going through changes in its organizational structure, as it can shed more information on how things like this may affect your role. It can also allow you to discuss your passion for taking on a particular challenge, if applicable.

What Do You Enjoy Most About Working Here?

This is a great question to ask an interviewer to get a sense of how well they enjoy working for the company. If they seem to have difficulty forming an answer, that could be a hint to look for other signs of negative work environments. However, if they seem genuinely thrilled about their work and team, that’s a great indicator that it’s a good place to work. Focus on their emotions and body language just as much as what they say in response.

While interviews are certainly an opportunity to showcase your skills and experience, you should also be ready to ask an employer a few questions as well. This list provides you with a starting point for what questions you should ask when it’s your turn at the end of the interview.

At Achēv, our Employment Ontario Services offers a wide range of resources to support your career and employment needs. Our employment centres are located across the Greater Toronto Area, including Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga and North York. Contact us today to register for our free employment services.

In the past two and a half years, the Advancing Equity for Women and Girls team has developed several resources and initiatives aimed at addressing barriers to employment for immigrant and racialized women. Following last week’s blog, we will explore two more strategies included in our DEIA toolkit for employers, “Paving the Way: A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Guide to Support Immigrant and Racialized Women in the Canadian Labour Force.”

Strategy 8: Integrate DEIA in Communications

To foster a positive and respectful work environment, you can integrate DEIA into your internal communications strategy. There are several benefits of integrating DEIA, from increasing understanding between teams to enhancing employee engagement and well-being.

But how can you achieve this? Creating an awareness campaign or initiatives to promote the use of inclusive language is a great way to start. During the campaign, training can be provided, and leaders can encourage employees to use inclusive language in both written and verbal communications, such as using gender-neutral terms and avoiding gendered words.

For inclusive language to be integrated, it’s important that leaders not only encourage but also lead by example and demonstrate this inclusive behavior to the organization.

Strategy 10: Apply DEIA Best Practices in the Hiring Process – DEIA in Job Postings

Regarding external communications, consider integrating DEIA into the hiring process, starting with job postings. Keep in mind that a job posting is most likely the first connection and impression an applicant will have of your organization. As such, having a clear commitment to DEIA is of benefit to attract the candidates you want. Consider the following when writing a job posting:

• Use gender-neutral language to avoid gendering job postings or characteristics
• List all skills and requirements needed, including transferrable skills
• Inform if it’s a remote, in-person or hybrid role
• Include salary, wage and benefits (if available)
• Include clear instructions on how to apply, required documents and the deadline

To further integrate DEIA, ensure that the posting meets accessibility standards, such as having alternative text and machine-readable documents.

Learn More with the “Paving the Way” Toolkit 

For a deeper dive into strategies supporting immigrant and racialized women in the Canadian labour force, access our toolkit for employers, “Paving the Way: A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Guide.” 

Access it here

About Advancing Equity for Women and Girls

Funded by Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), Advancing Equity for Women and Girls supports a feminist response and recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on the employment of immigrant and racialized women in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by contributing to systemic change to promote women’s economic prosperity and equality.

Contact Us

For any questions regarding the project, contact us:

• Hodan Mohamed, Project Coordinator: hmohamed@achev.ca
• Mayela Lozano, Community Liaison: mlozano@achev.ca

Read more about our program here: Advancing Equity for Women and Girls – Employment Services

In the past two and a half years, the Advancing Equity for Women and Girls team has developed several resources and initiatives aimed at addressing barriers to employment for immigrant and racialized women. After conducting a consultation phase with immigrant and racialized women, employers and key stakeholders, the AEWG team, in partnership with SEASONOVA, a BIPOC-led social enterprise, developed a DEIA toolkit for employers, “Paving the Way: A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Guide to Support Immigrant and Racialized Women in the Canadian Labour Force.”

The “Paving the Way” toolkit offers a guide on implantable strategies to recruit, hire and retain immigrant and racialized women in the Canadian labour force by applying DEIA principles and practices. In this blog, we will explore two of the ten strategies presented in the toolkit.

Strategy 1: Cultivate Senior Management Buy-In for DEIA

Suppose your organization is in the early stages of its DEIA journey. It is crucial to engage with its leadership to cultivate their buy-in and commitment toward DEIA efforts. This can include having a Lunch & Learn session to create awareness and understanding of what DEIA means, its benefits to the organization and its employees, and the risks of not cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce.

It’s highly encouraged that before engaging with senior leadership, one should develop a business case for DEIA in one’s organization. One approach is to present DEIA not just as an HR strategy but as an ongoing business tool that can improve the attraction and retention of diverse talent and maximize workforce potential (The Building Industry and Land Development Association, 2021).

Another approach to present the significance of DEIA for your organization or company is “competitive advantage” or “organizational benefits.” The following section outlines some of the key contributors to understanding and developing your business case. Remember that as each organization is unique, there is no one correct business case, and it’s okay if the business case evolves over time:

• War for talent: inclusive employers are more attractive employers.
• Employee engagement: inclusion has been linked to engagement. Disengaged employees cost money. Engaged employees provide better service, speak more favorably about your organization, go above and beyond more, and have less absenteeism and lower voluntary turnover.
• Succession planning: invest now in your pipeline of future leaders.
• Think global: better global picture/context for international or cross-cultural business.
• Market opportunity: better business development opportunities in a changing marketplace.
• Mirror the marketplace: reflect your customer and your customer’s customer.
• Foster innovation: diversity in teams leads to increased creativity and improved products and services.
• Your brand: set yourself apart, creating employee and customer loyalty.
• Resiliency: increased ability to respond to change over time.

After you engage with the leadership, with a clear perspective of the benefits of DE&I initiatives for the organization, the next step is to have your company’s leadership state their reasons for improving diversity and belonging to garner greater buy-in.

Having a senior leadership champion the initiative is a critical success factor. Without at least one executive sponsor, the initiative will likely end before it starts. To learn how to successfully acquire leadership buy-in, from having an executive sponsor to establishing a permanent and working DEIA committee, you can read our toolkit.

Strategy 9: Introduce the Use of a DEIA Lens

DEIA lens is a tool that supports leaders in their decision-making process when developing programs and policies. It can be used to identify positive and negative impacts for diverse groups of employees. DEIA lens can be applied in several different ways within the workplace, such as communications, training, service delivery, policy development and human resources, amongst others.

A prime example of a DEIA lens is the Government of Canada’s Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus). GBA Plus is an analytical tool that aims to ensure equitable benefits and opportunities for everyone. This tool supports leaders in assessing “how the needs and experiences of different groups of people are influenced by intersecting parts of their identity, the context they are in and their lived experiences.” GBA Plus can support you in identifying problems, challenging your assumptions, and identifying the potential impacts of your initiatives. To learn more about GBA Plus, explore our toolkit and access Women and Gender Equality Canada’s course “Introduction to GBA Plus.”

Learn More with the “Paving the Way” Toolkit 

For a deeper dive into strategies supporting immigrant and racialized women in the Canadian labour force, access our toolkit for employers, “Paving the Way: A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Guide.” 

Access it here

About Advancing Equity for Women and Girls

Funded by Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), Advancing Equity for Women and Girls supports a feminist response and recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on the employment of immigrant and racialized women in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by contributing to systemic change to promote women’s economic prosperity and equality.

Contact Us

For any questions regarding the project, contact us:

• Hodan Mohamed, Project Coordinator: hmohamed@achev.ca
• Mayela Lozano, Community Liaison: mlozano@achev.ca

Read more about our program here: Advancing Equity for Women and Girls – Employment Services