All too often we think of job interviews as an opportunity to sell our professional experience and relevant skillset. Certainly, this is true. But job interviews are also a chance to evaluate the job, the company, and the culture to determine if it is a strong fit for your career path and professional goals. 

So when preparing for a job interview, don’t simply think about how you can best present yourself. Also, consider what you want to know about the role and the business. You’ll want to do some research and then build upon that to formulate a few questions of your own to ask during the interview.

Growth Prospects

Even if you haven’t previously considered a long-term career with the company, you should still ask about this possibility during a job interview. First, it can help demonstrate that you will be a good investment for the company.

Additionally, if you assumed there was little or no possibility for promotion, you may be pleasantly surprised by the answer. But first, do your homework.

Before the interview, research any management training or mentorship programs that the hotel or brand may offer. Then ask for more details during the interview. If you can’t find any information on such programs, ask anyway during the interview.

You should also ask for examples of success stories. If a company has a long-time employee who began at the hotel’s front desk or as a restaurant server and has worked their way up through the ranks, they will most definitely want to share this information with you. If they don’t have any employees –past or present—who have been promoted or they tell you that there are no avenues for promotion, consider this a red flag.

Management Style

Job descriptions commonly include qualities that the organization is looking for in candidates. For example, someone who can work autonomously, but is simultaneously a multi-tasking team player. These types of descriptions can lead to candidates making assumptions about the company’s and the supervisor’s management style. Don’t assume.

Instead, ask. No one thrives under micromanagement, nor absentee managers who avoid providing feedback until reviews roll around. 

If you have the opportunity to interview with the supervisor for the role, check out their LinkedIn profile in advance. You’ll want to see how much experience they have in the industry. Supervisors who have previously been in the position for which you’re interviewing may have incorporated lessons from their own experience into their management style. Definitely ask about that. 

Another important topic to discuss is on-the-job learning. If you’re interviewing for a role that carries more responsibility than previous positions you’ve held or that involves working directly with other departments with which you don’t have prior experience, you will undoubtedly have to charter some new territory.

If you’re going from a front desk associate to a night manager responsible for some of the hotel’s daily accounting, will your supervisor directly provide you with instruction? Will another night manager be responsible for training you? In either case, will the trainer give you the opportunity to do the work under their supervision before leaving you to do your job autonomously? 

Past Successes & Failures

Most interviewers will readily tell you early on in an interview why they are hiring for the position.

That is, they will provide an explanation as to why the person who previously held the role is being replaced. They will be especially quick to share this information if the previous employee was promoted or left the company for reasons unrelated to work such as relocation due to their spouse receiving a job offer.

Whatever the reason, you should ask about the predecessor’s strengths and weaknesses. If the interviewer focuses on the past employee’s successes, consider this a sign of a positive working relationship.

However, just as job candidates are advised to never speak badly about past employers, employers should likewise not speak poorly of their past hires. It reflects just as badly on them and can be a red flag for your potential employment with the company. 

Even if a previous employee had a reputation for delivering poor guest service, the hotel still hired that person. So it could be reasoned that ultimately, the hiring manager is just as much at fault for making a bad hiring decision as the employee was for not treating guests with the respect due to them. 

The Day-to-Day

“What does the typical day look like?” is an interview question that job seekers are frequently advised to ask. On the surface, it seems like a softball question. However, the response can help determine if the job description and the actual work align.

If you’re applying for a job because it will give you the opportunity to learn about other aspects of the hospitality business such as operations or revenue management, but the daily work is highly focused on convention sales, you’ll want to be aware of that information before accepting or starting the position.

Better still, if you’ve worked in hotels or restaurants before, an employer’s description of the typical workday should sound at least somewhat familiar to you.