I have a 20 minute business casual informational interview tomorrow with a consulting firm (they solve hard problems for businesses), with resume in hand. What are your best questions to ask at interviews? Some of the ones I've enjoyed asking are:
1. How did you get interested in consulting?
2. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing your company right now?
3. How does my resume compare to other top applicants? How may I improve it?
4. What are some things that make you feel excited about going to work?
5. What do you enjoy doing or find meaningful outside of work?
Got any others you think would be useful? I find people fascinating so I just ask them about themselves and listen. Solves my problem because then I don't have to talk very much
Make sure you research the company and the person(s) you will be meeting with if you know who they are.
A lot of good questions begin, "I was looking online and I notice that [you or your company] are involved in [x activity, subject, problem]. Can you tell me more about that?"
Ask about the hiring process -- How do you guys go about hiring new grads/trainees/whatever they call them? Chances are most firms that do the same kind of work have the same kind of process.
Be careful about your #5. Some people may find it too personal. Only go there if the interviewer either brings it up or asks you first.
You might not get very good or useful answers on #3 either, unless that person is the first line in reviewing resumes. Better to ask what qualifications they are looking for, take notes and revise the resume yourself.
First, the person's opinion/understanding of the industry as a whole. At interviews you have the possibility of getting a more honest assessment than any public statement or CYA online statement you can otherwise get. Especially when money is involved, people aren't allowed to divulge much of anything for the record whereas they're more free to discuss personal opinions in private. For example, ask what the future trends of consulting will be? What's the typical career path? Is it up or out? What's the success rate of a random person? How many people are still in the industry after 5 years?
Second, how this particular company is managed? Will you be thrown into the deep end in a sink or swim style? Will you be part of a team? Will you be a cog in a machine (rephrase this one)? How much help can you expect to get if you have a particular problem? What's the personality of the principals/CEO/... (be careful about this one)? What's the average age in the company? What's the average tenure? What happens to people who are successful? What happens to people who leave the company? (You'll be able to ask much better questions with some work experience, but reading a bunch of management books will certainly help in lieu of experience.)
An informational interview is in my opinion first and foremost a [the only] way to learn things you can't read in a textbook or on a webpage. Not a place to inquire about random interviewers' hobbies and personal motivations, therefore ...
I'd stay real clear of your number 5 (totally irrelevant---you don't know this person) and be really careful about number 4 (they may not consider "excitement" to be at all relevant to why they work---it wouldn't be surprising that the only reason they work is because they're on the hook for a big mortgagecar payment) and rephrase 3 asking whether there are some obvious weaknesses in your background/relative to what's generally considered useful in this field. E.g. "looking at improving my background, what would make me a stronger candidate?"
