Is Asking About Growth Opportunity On An Interview A Deal Breaker?
To make a long-ish story short, we are hiring a new PR Coordinator. While interviewing CandidateX (who has been out of college a year), I asked the typical “do you have any questions?” question. She replied, “Yes. Is there room for growth?”.
Umm ok there are two schools of thought here. My initial reaction was: ok you have barely held a job so let’s focus on the position you are currently TRYING to land. Get the job and prove yourself above and beyond the “job description” and then we can discuss “growth”. To me, CandidateX sounded like she was eyeing the next step before she took the first step. I also weighed this question against the time spent at her last job which was a year and a bit.
CM in my office had another thought. Hers was that she wants to stay somewhere for the long haul and wants to know there’s an opportunity to do so here.
I asked one of our Human Resources executives and she had an immediate response: “That’s a very generational response. The younger generations expect to get what they want when they want it and if they don’t, they move on to the next.” She also explained to me that this is the first time ever there are four generations in the workforce. Wow love a good fact!
I know if you google “what to ask on a job interview”, asking about growth is a typical question, but is it time to rewrite the rules? Which camp do you sit in and please do tell me if you are the interviewer or the interviewee?
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