Do's

1. If I could do anything to prepare, right now, for a role with [Company name], what would it be?

This question is golden. It is one I personally used with every interview I had the opportunity to attend and each and every time it wowed the interviewer.

The value behind this question is that it shows that you are not only passionate about giving the role your all, but that you are willing to do so without confirmation of securing it. In other words, you are willing to improve without reward or any sort of gauruntee.

Trust me, asking this question will leave you with a lot of "oh wow, uhmmmm"s and "oh jeesh, thats a good question"s. Just try it.

2. Does [Company] offer any training and development courses?

This shows that you're truly passionate about improving and that your development is one of your primary objectives through completing your placement year. An attribute that a lot of these companies are looking for.

3. What is the working environment like?

This is a valuable question to ask from the perspective of the recruiter but it is also great for your purposes. You need to gather as much information as possible as to whether the role is well suited to you and your aims with your placement year.

Too many students forget that this is a two-way process. You are assessing the role and the company just as much as they are assessing you.

4. What are people within the company excited about?

This will give you an insight into where the company is going and whether the work that they do is exciting to their employees.

If the caller can't think of a response to this question, that is a red flag.

The response may give you an insight into your job security while working at the company as well.

5. What do you enjoy about your job?

Asking some more personal and directed questions at the caller will make them feel as though their opinion is appreciated and will give them a chance to express their thoughts and opinions on their own role.

This will give you a great insight into what day to day life is like within the company. Hopefully, the recruiter will go off on tangents and speak for a little while about what makes the role great. If not, dig a little further with this question.

6. What do your placement students tend to struggle with most upon joining?

Further insight into the difficulty of the role and skills that you could work on prior to joining.

7. What could I do to impress you within the first month of working at [Company]?

This leads on from the previous question but is another great one. Note the answer down and you will have gained insight into what is expected of placement students and what you can do to really thrive at the role.

You can also tie the answer into your comments throughout the rest of the process, with little mentions of it or a slight adjustment to how you would answer questions in future stages.

Don'ts

1. Ask about pay

Asking about a confirmation on the pay that is offered at this stage in the process can give a poor impression. It may lead the recruiter to question your motivations behind your placement year.

Yes, pay is important but, you should be given a rough guide in the job description and you will be able to find further information online.

Don't ask this at this stage.

Besides, pay should be lower down your list of motivations for your placement year. Experience and development should be right at the top.

2. Ask about holiday entitlement or start dates

This is also a no-go. It is unnecessary at this stage, asking this question will give off the impression that all you care about is what you "get", not what you can "give".

3. Personal questions about their salary etc

This should be obvious but is worth mentioning. Don't ask them how they feel about their pay or their benefits within the business. Steer clear.

4. Ask questions that directly compare their opportunities to other companies

Bringing other opportunities or competing companies into the mix won't go down particularly well. Just steer clear from this.

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