"Do You Have Any Questions for Me?"

It’s one of the “wrap-up” moments of an interview, but it really shouldn’t be. When we ask a candidate if they have any questions, we should actually want questions. And that candidate should have some if they’re viable and a good hire.

Here are just a few of the questions I’d want answers to if I were interviewing for a position with a multifamily company today:

• What did your company do to protect on-site staff during the 2020 pandemic?

• Are your sites fully staffed back to 2007 levels or is this a company that’s still running on skeleton crew staffing? Why or Why Not?

• How do you as a company keep your employees safe on-site with the volatility of the rent increases that have been going out this last year and the understandable emotional reactions to them in your residents?

• How do you care for your employees’ mental health issues? Is there training that you’ve taken specific to these issues?

• How many women and POC are there in upper management at this company? What is the highest position a woman or POC has ever held at this company?

• How long do your managers usually stay employed by this company? Why do most of them say they're leaving? Same with Leasing Consultants.

• Do you really have a company culture beyond a bumper sticker? If so, how do you maintain it, and how do you plan to expand it? How does it impact the way you do business every single day?

• What were the three most stressful things that have happened to this job in the last 3 months?

• Do you allow flex/hybrid work for trusted employees? Example - If an AM is coding bills, could they do that from home for a half day before they come in? Leasing follow up calls to residents over workorders - could they have a half day at home to make those? Why or why not?

• What is on the horizon as far as new projects, renos, etc.?

• When you add to someone’s responsibilities - like taking on multiple sites, etc - do you add to their paycheck when those responsibilities start or do you only look at pay once a year at review time?

• Do you pay your employees who have been here a long time as well as you pay the new hires? How often is payscale rebalancing done?

• Do you have set standards of behavior for intracompany customer service?

• How do you handle interpersonal accountability?

• Tell me how long you've worked here, and what has made you stay here when there are so many options in the industry?

If these questions are hard for you and you’re the one conducting interviews, you need to find some adequate answers. One of the biggest complaints I’m seeing from hiring managers is that people aren’t really engaged in the process, and to that I say… you set the tone. Are you asking good questions? Are you making them excited to work here? Are you selling the job? How are you selling the job where one of the current main activities is being actively loathed by your customers? Are you selling the company?

Interviews are a two-way street. As a candidate, you need the information to know if this is the right position for you, AND if it’s the right company, so if you’re not asking some probing questions that might feel uncomfortable to the interviewer (which is a red flag when choosing a company to work for BTW- not having answers to these questions is like not wanting to admit the problems with the job, meaning that as a company, they’re not willing to deal with them either), you’re probably not getting all the information that you’d want. “Oh if I’d only known…” is something I hear from new hires/company-changers frequently, and my first response is always, ”Add it to your interview question list for next time,” because in the interview moment it’s easy to forget what you wish you’d known the last time.

Be a standout candidate by asking the kind of questions that require thought in their answers, and when you get the job offer, you’ll know more of what you’re walking into with a new company, and set yourself up for better success.

And if you’re the interviewer, remember: You’re the first real representative of this possible new workspace this candidate will interact with and you’re setting the tone for their feelings about this company. Don’t get mad at probing questions - get solid answers for them.

*Special thanks to the Ladies in Leasing group on Facebook for the inspiration for this post and great conversation on this topic!