25 Smart Questions You Can Ask in an Interview

It’s the day of the big interview for your dream job. You’ve been prepping for weeks. You know the company in and out. You know why you’re the best candidate for the job. You’re ready to talk about your skills, weaknesses, ideas, plans, hopes, dreams, and favorite TV show.

And then they ask: any questions for us? And you’ve got nothing.

Don’t be that person. Acing an interview doesn’t just mean knowing all the answers to the questions that get thrown at you: it also involves having a good set of questions to ask them. Having smart questions prepared in advance shows that you’re motivated, that you’ve done your homework, and that you’re invested in learning more and being informed.

Good questions can also show what kind of a thinker you are or demonstrate your personality, giving you an extra boost as that candidate who thinks critically and digs for information successfully.

And most importantly, the answers you get can help you make sure you’re making the right choice in this job you’re applying for. After all, it’s not all about impressing the hiring manager: the company should impress you, too. That’s the difference between a good job and a dream job: making sure that not only does it look good on paper, but that it’s the right fit for you.

These cover the basic categories you might want to know about. Consider this the footnotes version of the kinds of questions you might want to ask.

• What’s life on the job like?
• What kind of training do they offer?
• How is feedback provided?
• What’s the company culture like?
• Who’s on the team you’ll be working with, are they cool, and how does working together work?
• What are the next steps in the interview process? In other words, when are you going to tell me whether I’m hired?

But to get the answers you really want, you probably want to get even more specific in the questions you ask. Sure, you probably won’t have time to ask a full list of twenty-five questions, but the more specific you get, the better informed you’ll be. Especially if there are a few uncertainties about the job niggling at the back of your mind, this is the time to make sure you have the answers you need before making a big decision.

And so, here are twenty-five great questions to ask to impress your potential bosses, find out what you need to know, and set yourself up for success. Pick and choose based on the conversation you’re having with the interviewer and the questions you actually have.

1. Can you describe an average day at the office?

2. What characteristics and abilities does a successful employee here generally have?

3. What are the key responsibilities of this position, and do you expect them to change within the next year or so?

4. What are the upcoming projects I’d be working on during my first few weeks?

5. Are there gaps in the current team’s skillset or experience that my position is meant to fill?

6. Can you describe the company’s objectives and current projects? How does our team contribute to those?

7. What does the training process look like?

8. How long does it usually take for a member of the team to feel fully trained and up to speed?

9. What recommendations do you have for pursuing professional development and advancement at this company?

10. How will my performance be evaluated? Are there both formal and informal feedback processes?

11. Are there plans for the company’s growth or new developments in the pipeline in the next few years?

12. The company’s mission statement emphasizes [fill in the blank]. Can you tell me how that comes across in daily life working here?

13. Can you tell me about the other people I’ll be working with closely?

14. Whom will I be reporting to? And [if you’re applying to a more senior position] who will be reporting to me?

15. In your experience, what are some of the highlights of working here?

16. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had working here?

17. How did you end up here, and how has your role changed since you started?

18. Has the company changed in any notable ways since you started here?

19. Does the work process involve more team collaboration or individual projects, or are there any other formats you use?

20. What other departments does our team most frequently interact with, either on a formal or a casual level?

21. Are there any office traditions or activities you do as a group?

22. Is there a sense of community in the workplace? And does the company contribute to the broader community in any way?

23. If you were starting this job now, what advice would you give yourself?

24. Do you have any final questions for me, or is there anything else that would be helpful for you at this stage?

25. What are the next steps in this process, and when can I expect to hear from you?

These questions can of course be customized based on the job you’re applying for, the company’s focus, and what you want or need to know. But now you’re armed with a solid list to help you make sure you know what you’re signing up for in your potential new job—and that your potential new employers know what they’re signing up for with you, too.

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8 More Wondrous Winter Idioms

Feeling under the weather? Walking on thin ice with your vocabulary variety? These idioms will have a snowball effect on your language use this winter. And they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

Take a chill pill

If you’re going to tell someone to calm down, why not do it in rhyme? “Chill” means a feeling of coldness, as in, “there was a chill in the air.” Sometime in recent decades, probably the 1970s, the word also came to mean “relax”—just imagine a hippie flower child flashing a peace sign and saying “Chill out, dude.”

Eventually, “Take a chill pill” emerged. It might have shown up in the early days of ADD and ADHD medications like Ritalin, which were designed to calm hyperactive folks and therefore very logically dubbed “chill pills.” Other sources attribute the origin of the phrase to 1990s slang, specifically, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you’re stressed about the actual origin, we’ve got one thing to say: take a chill pill.

Cold shoulder

If Cher turns her back on Dion, Dion will see Cher’s shoulder. And the act shows dismissal or indifference to Dion, so it’s pretty unfriendly, or “cold.” Boom: an idiom is born.

Some unsavory sources claim that a custom back in Shakespearean times was to serve unwelcome guests a “cold shoulder of mutton”—i.e., not the tastiest meal, and a hard-to-miss sign of “would you be so kind as to get out. Now.” But etymologists are chilly on that origin, tending to favor reports that Scottish author Sir Walter Scott coined the phrase “cauld shouther” in 1816. With that literary proof, you can turn a cold shoulder on the meat story.

Cold turkey

Let’s say you love turkey. You eat it all the time. Then, the doctor tells you it’s bad for you. You better stop eating it—right away. Really? You can’t just slowly ease off it, eating a little less turkey each day until you’re down to none? NO. No more turkey for you.

That’s called “going cold turkey”: abruptly stopping a habit that’s bad for you. People often use this term when they talk about ways to stop smoking or taking a drug, but you can also use it when you’re talking about diet or other habits. The phrase may come from addiction doctors in the 1970s, noting the “cold, clammy feel of the skin during withdrawal,” while its earlier uses (back to the 1800s) have to do with straightforward talk or a sudden occurrence.

(Note: Grammarly is not licensed to give medical opinions about turkey.)

Under the weather

Weather can be nice and sunny or cloudy and miserable. In the case of this idiom, the idea is the latter. If you’re under a raincloud, chances are you’re not going to feel 100% healthy, happy, and ready to party. So if you’re feeling sick, “under the weather” is a way to say so.

If you ever forget, just visualize getting followed around by a raincloud. That should remind you to feel sick. Etymologists believe that the first folks to say it were probably sailors in the 1800s. If you’re feeling sniffly, consider yourself lucky you’re not also on a ship at sea.

In cold blood

“In cold blood” means without mercy or emotion, suggesting that a cruel act was committed in a calculated, unfeeling way. It’s usually used pretty violently: “The victim was murdered in cold blood,” or “Darth Vader killed Obi-Wan in cold blood.”

Etymologists trace the idea to the 1700s or even 1500s. Medicine back then wasn’t exactly what it is now, so people thought that blood got hot in the heat of passion. Therefore, to do something dispassionately was to act “in cold blood.”

If you go on a diet cold turkey, you might feel like you did this to yourself in cold blood. It’s just that painful.

Snowball effect

If something has a snowball effect, that means it might start out small, but keeps growing in importance. Just picture it: a snowball is rolling down a snowy hill, and as it rolls, it gathers more and more snow, getting bigger and bigger. Next thing you know, you’re running from an avalanche.

While an avalanche is usually bad, a snowball effect can be a bad thing or a good thing. You buy an Xbox, and then a trip to Cancun, and then a car, and then go into debt: that string of purchases has a snowball effect on your finances. Bad. One black woman becomes an engineer, and she paves the way for other minorities to get similar jobs, and that creates a snowball effect that leads to equality in the workplace. Good. (Also the plot of Hidden Figures). One person protests a government, the government arrests him, then more people protest, and back and forth until the government makes reforms or gets overthrown. Could be bad or good, depending on the government. But either way, that first person started a snowball effect.

When hell freezes over

Most notions of hell are that it’s a pretty hot place to be. So the chances that it would freeze there? Pretty much zero. “When hell freezes over” is basically a way to say “never.” There are variations on the “freezing in hell” phrase, too. Here are examples of each: “I suppose you think you can go on living on [the Union] till hell freezes over.” —Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Lieutenant-Governor (the first-recorded use of the phrase was in this book in 1903) “My first writing teacher told me it would be a cold day in hell if I ever won a National Board of Review award.” –Terence Winter (writer of The Wolf of Wall Street) “I don’t think the president’s plan has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding.” —General James Conway

Walking on thin ice

Again, this one gives a pretty clear mental picture: you go for a walk on a lake that’s iced over, but if the ice isn’t very thick, you might crack it and fall to a shivery doom. It’s a metaphor for being in a situation that might be dangerous or lead to negative consequences. If a kid is whining a lot and refusing to go to bed, her parents might tell her, “you’re on thin ice.” If an employee has been late to work every day for two weeks and is caught asleep at his desk, he’s probably walking on thin ice with his boss. Variations include “treading on thin ice,” “skating on thin ice,” or just “on thin ice.” The idiom’s first recorded use was in 1841: “In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prudence

The tip of the iceberg

Less than 10 percent of an iceberg’s mass shows up above the water’s surface. That’s why they spell disaster for a fair number of ships, including the famous, Oscar-winning Titanic, which had an accident with the mass that was lurking below. As an idiom, “tip of the iceberg” means a small or visible part of a much bigger issue, and it usually has a negative connotation. For example: Sherlock finds the first clue to a murder, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg in unraveling a grand conspiracy. A classroom is using outdated textbooks because the school can’t afford new editions. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg where funding for education is concerned. On a brighter note, in the musical words of the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma: “I’ve always thought the sound that you make is just the tip of the iceberg, like the person that you see physically is just the tip of the iceberg as well.” That may just be the tip of the iceberg where winter idioms are concerned, but now if you’re put on the spot for a frigid phrase, you’ll have more than a snowball’s chance in hell.

Grammarly Is Now Available for Microsoft Edge 15+

As previously hinted during the recent Microsoft Edge Summit, Grammarly has, in fact, made its way to Microsoft Edge 15+.

Grammarly’s browser extension for Edge will make sure your messages, documents, and social media posts are clear, mistake-free, and impactful. Adding Grammarly to Microsoft Edge means that your spelling and grammar will be vetted on Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, and nearly everywhere else you write on the web.

Once you register your new account, you will start to receive weekly emails with personalized insights and performance stats (one of our most popular new features). Working on a large project, an essay, or a blog post? No sweat. You can create and store all of your documents in your new online editor.

“Our goal is to help you write everywhere you want to work,” said Grammarly product manager Nicholas Stanford. “Support for Microsoft Edge was a top requested feature from our users. Our users on Microsoft Edge can now bring Grammarly with them.”

Why you should download Grammarly for Microsoft Edge:

Contextual spelling checker

Grammarly detects correctly spelled words used in the wrong context. You can stop worrying about misusing homophones like lose/loose, affect/effect, lie/lay, there/their/they’re, and many other commonly confused words.

Grammar checker

Grammarly can fix hundreds of complex grammatical errors, including problems with subject-verb agreement, article use, and modifier placement, to name just a few.

Trusted by millions of users

Grammarly is trusted by students, writers, business professionals, bloggers, and plenty of people who just want to write better. Grammarly adapts to your needs and writing style, giving you the confidence of mistake-free communication every time you write.

Grammarly Premium

If you want to supercharge your writing performance and leave no error unchecked, Grammarly Premium is your answer. Here’s what you can do with Premium:

• Check for over a hundred additional types of errors
• Get vocabulary enhancement suggestions
• Detect plagiarism and get citation suggestions
• Get suggestions for different writing styles, including academic, technical, and creative

5 Basic Proofreading Habits for a More Productive 2018

Well, here we are, a new year and a clean slate. That’s great news, particularly if you’re still holding onto some embarrassment about an ill-timed typo or grammar gaffe you may have committed in 2017. Fear not! Things can be different in 2018, especially if you commit yourself to developing these five proofreading habits.

1 Make a list of your personal bugaboos.

What trips you up? Maybe you always second-guess yourself about the spelling of acknowledgment. Or maybe you accidentally type the wrong homophone when you’re in a hurry. Perhaps you can never quite remember whether or not to use a comma before and.

Start a list of things you have trouble with and include the correct spellings, rules, definitions, etc. Make sure to keep your list somewhere visible. When you have easy access to the answers, you’re more likely to double-check what you’re writing. And, after a while, you may just find that these snags don’t really trip you up the way they used to.

2 Read it. Wait a minute. Then read it again.

You probably know about this one already, but you may not always do it: before you hit send, go back and read what you just wrote. Check for obvious typos. Make sure no words are missing. Run spell-check.

If you can, walk away and do something else for a little while. Then come back and read it again. The more time that passes between writing and proofreading, the better you’ll be at spotting mistakes your brain skipped over the first time through.

By the way, there’s no shame in tracking the words with your finger when you go back to edit. There’s a reason kids are taught to point at each word when they’re learning to read. Finger tracking forces you to slow down and actually look at each word instead of just scanning for big words and filling in the rest by guesswork and assumption.

3 Read backward.

It may sound kooky, but reading backward is an effective way to spot errors. When you’re not distracted by the meaning of the sentences, it’s easier to spot mistakes in your writing. Start with the last word and work your way forward, word by word, until you reach the beginning. This technique is particularly good for helping you spot repeated words, misspellings, and weird formatting.

4 Change the view.

Do something to make your writing look different. Zoom way in so you can see only one sentence at a time. Change the font. Print it out.

The idea is to make the text feel unfamiliar so that your brain is less likely to fill in gaps and blind you to mistakes. If you don’t have time to let your writing sit for a while before going back to edit, this technique can help you see it with fresh eyes.

5 Read it out loud.

Shut your office door (or hide in a broom closet if you have to) and read your writing aloud. It feels a little silly at first, but it’s one of the best ways to make sure your writing is correct and clear. Take your time and pronounce every word carefully—it’ll help you spot misspellings. Also, try reading each sentence in a flat monotone. Pause only at the commas and periods. Remember, your reader won’t be able to take cues from your facial expression, vocal emphasis, or conversational pauses. Reading your message like a robot can help you spot missing punctuation and wording that might confuse your reader.

Now, get out there and make 2018 the year you vanquish writing mistakes for good!

Do you have a favorite proofreading technique? Tell us about it in the comments!

Ellipsis

What do you call three periods in a row? Take your time, we’ll wait . . .

The Ellipsis

Those three little dots are called an ellipsis (plural: ellipses). The term ellipsis comes from the Greek word meaning “omission,” and that’s just what an ellipsis does—it shows that something has been left out. When you’re quoting someone, you can use an ellipsis to show that you’ve omitted some of their words. For example:

Hamlet asked whether it was “nobler . . . to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles.”

In the sentence above, the words “in the mind” have been omitted from the quote. Occasionally, you might need to leave out part of a quote because it’s irrelevant or makes the quote hard to understand in the context of the sentence. The ellipsis shows that you have left something out.

You can also use an ellipsis to show a pause in speech or that a sentence trails off. This technique doesn’t belong in formal or academic writing, though. You should only use the ellipsis this way in fiction and informal writing. For example:

Andrew, can you, um . . . never mind, I forgot what I was saying. So, do you think we should . . . ?

How Many Dots?

How many dots are in an ellipsis? The answer is three. But, if the ellipsis comes immediately after a grammatically complete sentence, that sentence still needs its own period. So you would end up with a period, plus an ellipsis, which looks like four periods in a row. For instance:

“Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.”

might be shortened to:

“Call me Jonah. . . . They called me John.”

Spacing

Whether you put spaces between the dots or not is a matter of style. The Chicago Manual of Style calls for spaces between each ellipsis point. The AP Stylebook says to treat the ellipsis as a three-letter word, with spaces on either side of the ellipsis but no spaces between the dots. You can use either style; just be consistent throughout your document.

7 Useful Tips on How to Write a Perfect Professional Email in English

It’s an exciting day—your first at a new job. And it’s the kind of gig you could get used to: Sitting in a comfortable chair and handling emails isn’t exactly backbreaking labor, right? But parts of it may not come naturally to you, at least not right away.

Maybe you want the emails you draft to project confidence and control, but are nervous about arranging each part in the right order. Maybe you’re uncertain as to the best way to say hello. Maybe you didn’t grow up speaking English at home; maybe it’s still not the language you dream in.

Whatever the case, you needn’t worry, because with some practice, writing the perfect professional email will start to feel easy, even automatic. Here are some tips to help you get started.

1Greet the person you’re writing to.

It may seem odd to address a stranger on the Internet as Dear, but it’s standard in formal correspondence. Other respectable but less commonplace options include Greetings and Salutations.

When possible, it’s best to put the recipient’s name. Follow it with a comma or colon, as in these examples:

• Dear Chad,
• Dear Mr. Oswald:
• Dear Ms. Picard-Mimms:

If you’re not sure whether a woman you’re writing to is Ms. or Mrs., then Ms. is usually the safer option. Another solid, gender-neutral approach is to simply put the recipient’s full name:

• Dear Alex Lee:

By contrast, the generic Dear Sir or Madam seems impersonal and should be avoided.

2Are you thanking the recipient, or are you responding to a recent message from them? If so, start there.

(If you’re reaching out to a stranger you’ve never corresponded with before, begin the body of your email with Step 3.)

What you choose to write about first tells the reader what you think is important.

If you have something to express gratitude for, you want to do so at the beginning, so it doesn’t feel like an afterthought. Similarly, if you’re already in the midst of a back-and-forth conversation, you want to stay on track and not change the subject. Some examples:

• Thank you for your kind contribution to Red Panda Conservation International.
• Thanks for your interest; my client would be more than happy to chat at the time you suggested.
• The replacement parts you requested for your DeLorean are scheduled for delivery this week.

The key here is to get to the point quickly; you don’t want to keep a busy reader wondering.

3Explain what you’re writing about.

There are two questions you need to answer plainly. What are you hoping to make happen, and how can the person you’re writing help? For instance:

• I’m writing to inquire about your research on how cats groom their coats.
• I’m a local radio producer looking to schedule a live interview ahead of your performance in Oakland next week.
• My architectural firm is in need of expertise on treehouses, and several colleagues tell me your insight is unrivaled.

In stating your purpose, you want to be direct, but not to the point of seeming brusque or rude. If this feels like an awkward balancing act, err on the side of formality. Just as it’s better to be slightly overdressed at work than too casual, it’s usually better for your first email to a new contact to be exceptionally polite.

4Remember to keep it short.

Professional emails shouldn’t be epic in length. Be respectful of your readers’ time, because if they feel your message is unduly long, they’ll likely start to skim.

If a weighty subject requires lengthy discussion, look for better ways to communicate about it than email. Use your message as a way to set up a meeting or discussion, rather than a venue for a dense treatise on the subject.

5Wrap up with a closing line.

Your email should conclude with one sentence that makes your meaning clear and sets up whatever’s next. It might nudge the reader to take action, or be a way of gently winding down the conversation.

• I’ll look forward to discussing this with you further at 11 a.m. Thursday.
• Please look over the draft manuscript I’m attaching, and let me know what revisions or questions come to mind.
• Your guidance has been extremely helpful, and I look forward to being in touch.

Just as your message might’ve begun where a previous email left off, you want this one to end by setting up future correspondence.

6Sign off with an appropriate closing

There are lots of ways to end an email before putting your name, but in the interest of professional decorum, it’s probably best not to get too creative. Many people gripe about distracting email sign-offs like “cheers” and “VR” (very respectfully), so choose one that won’t feel out of place. Some of the most reliable options are:

• Sincerely,
• Yours truly,
• Thanks again,
• Appreciatively,
• Best regards,
• Respectfully,

At this point, you’re nearly done—there’s just one last important step.

7Take a moment to proofread.

Looking back over what you wrote before hitting send shouldn’t be a time-consuming chore: Remember, the ideal email is concise.

Make sure your greeting looks right (nothing feels worse than realizing the name of the person you just emailed was misspelled) and that you say thanks when it’s appropriate. Double-check that any request you’re making is straightforward and easy to understand, but not abrupt or presumptuous.

Also, this is your last chance to catch any subtle typos; we’ve watched more than one email thread jump completely off the rails when someone meant to type “now” but accidentally put “not” instead—as in, “We’re not trying to have the presentation ready by Thursday.” Be vigilant.

Grammarly is here to help.