Interview questions

[Caitlin]

I have an assessment centre coming up at a firm I am really interested in and am thinking of some interesting questions to ask at the end.

One question I am interested in is the gender balance; the firm is pretty equal lower down (e.g. trainees/associates) but when you get to partner level, the numbers are much much lower for women than men. I would perhaps word the question along the lines of 'What is the firm doing to improve this?', but I am unsure if this is a suitable question to ask, or if it seems a bit attacking?!

Would I be better sticking with some more generic questions?

 

[Abstruser]

I think this is a great and valid question to talk about at interview - I’ve done it in my past interviews and I would say it went down quite well with the interviewers! Just be prepared for them to flip the question around on you - you might be asked what you think the firm should do to improve the gender balance, and then obviously you would need to know what the firm has already done (or is currently doing) in that regard. All the best

 

[Caitlin]

I think this is a great and valid question to talk about at interview - I’ve done it in my past interviews and I would say it went down quite well with the interviewers! Just be prepared for them to flip the question around on you - you might be asked what you think the firm should do to improve the gender balance, and then obviously you would need to know what the firm has already done (or is currently doing) in that regard. All the best

That's great to hear it's gone well for you! I'll definitely look and see what kind of thing they are doing in case they do turn to round! Thanks so much!

 

[Jessica Booker]

I have an assessment centre coming up at a firm I am really interested in and am thinking of some interesting questions to ask at the end.

One question I am interested in is the gender balance; the firm is pretty equal lower down (e.g. trainees/associates) but when you get to partner level, the numbers are much much lower for women than men. I would perhaps word the question along the lines of 'What is the firm doing to improve this?', but I am unsure if this is a suitable question to ask, or if it seems a bit attacking?!

Would I be better sticking with some more generic questions?

Perfectly acceptable question unless there is a lot of information in the public domain about what they are doing to improve this.

You could soften the tone slightly - the way you have worded it above is pretty direct. Just think about how you can soften it slightly and also link it back to you eg explaining why you are asking the question.

Generic questions at the end of an interview is where a lot of people go wrong. You need to ask pertinent questions that are of specific interest to you and aligned to the firm.