‘Risky’ job interview question could make or break chances

This one question could guarantee your success at a job interview – but it comes with risks.

Anyone who has ever been actively looking for a job knows that the market can be ruthless. You can apply for countless positions and spend time crafting the perfect CV, and you’ll be lucky if you’re invited to more than a handful of interviews.

Even when you do get to the interview stage, you have to perfectly sell yourself as the ideal candidate for the job, and one mistake could cost you the position just because you haven’t made quite the right impression on the interviewer.

One of the most important parts of the interview to get right is the final section, where the interviewer asks if you have any questions for them. Saying no is always a mistake, as employers want to see that you’re interested in the position.

It’s also not usually a good idea to Google the ideal questions to ask and pick the most popular one – because everyone else will have done this, too. Instead, you should try and come up with something unique, and one careers expert has just the thing.

In a video shared on TikTok by Working Options, a “risky” final question was shared that could have the power to guarantee you the job – or completely ruin your chances.

The man in the video said the question should only be asked if you’re confident most of the interview went well because if there’s one part that you struggled to answer, then asking the question could make things worse for you.

He said: “What you should ask is whether there are any parts of the job description they don’t think you’ve proved that you’re capable of. This is perfect if you don’t think you’ve sold yourself quite enough or you forgot to mention something. It makes you look thorough and invested in the interview.”

However, explaining what the problem could be with the question, the man added: “If the interview’s gone badly rather than just mid and there was a question in there that you couldn’t answer, they’re going to throw that back in your face.

“They’ll think they’re being nice by giving you a second chance at answering the question, but you’ll just look even worse if you falter twice, so just be ready to say that it sounds like that’s something you would have to adapt to on the job, as you feel your other skills more than make up for it.”

The expert added that you should use that time to “dig deep” into how appropriate you are for the role, as you want the interviewer to leave the interview thinking that you’re “good enough for it already”.

Commenters on the video were quick to praise the expert for his advice. Several people said they had already tried this in interviews and been successful, while others shared equally good questions to ask.

One person said: “I was told to do this by a friend only about a month ago. It made me nervous but I was able to counter their concerns quickly and showed I was keen. I got the job.”

Another added: “Asked this question at my last interview and got the job. Glad I did.”