Retiree Interview Questions To Never Ask – Even though as a job seeking retiree you really want to

As a retiree looking for that perfect retirement gig or the start of a well anticipated encore career, getting the interview is both exciting and nerve-wracking. However, in your excitement there are Retiree Interview Questions To Never Ask. Even when your brain might think you have been given the green light and the go-ahead when the interviewer asks you, “do you have any questions for me”.

Retiree Interview Questions To Never Ask - Even though as a job seeking retiree you really want to

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3 Basic Retiree Interview Questions To Never Ask

Will I be required to work Weekends, Evenings, or Holidays?

After working for years and finally retiring this question is a super important one running around in your head. You are going in as the new person. Who knows what kind of “last one hired low seniority” shift and schedule you might get. Especially if it wasn’t discussed in the interview or job ad. The interview is not the time to ask about it. It sends a powerful message to the interviewers. A message you don’t want them to get. That message is  you might not really want to work and particularly work for them.

It won’t matter what your motives are. To them they just think that you are more concerned with yourself. Not for the company and department’s productivity or business needs.

It may be true. As a retiree you are not the usual financially desperate job seeker, you’re about yourself now. You are looking for that perfect retirement gig by being picky and choosing work more aligned with your passions and interests. But at least give them the illusion that you are another financially desperate employee. Let them think you are willing to do anything for this job.

The time to ask these questions is at job offer time. Or day-one on the job if HR doesn’t know when you get the offer. Not during the interview. If the schedule is more than you want to endure then decline the job offer. You can also try it out for a while to see if it will work for you. Consider the possibility that you can use the experience as a stepping stone to your next better suited adventure within or outside this opportunity.

What kind of vacation benefits and perks do you have?

During the interview they will tell you what they want to tell you. You do not want to ask any questions directly about vacation, benefits, or employee perks. They will say more if they are looking to hire you to make you want to choose them. Wait until you are offered a job by HR or the hiring manager after they have made their decision to bring you on-board.

Vacation in some companies is part of the negotiations along with salary. Wait until you are offered the job and ask if they don’t spell things out. If your hiring doesn’t use that process then wait until you have been hired and signing employment papers to ask. Much of this stuff can be researched online about the company in general or through Glassdoor.com if the company is big enough to be listed there.

You may find out a little something during your interview by just asking them “What is it that you like about working here?”

Will you be googling my name?

You would think this is a silly thing for someone who retired early and is now looking for that dream opportunity to ask. But having embarrassing or politically provocative freewheeling online postings associated to your name isn’t limited to the very young. Just by your asking, in their eyes you are acting like you are guilty of something along these lines.

Two things may now happen. It is an open invitation for them to now look whether they had intentions to do so before. Or  they may just decide you have issues and drop your candidacy. If you have stuff that you think conservative business folk may not appreciate as one of their new employees being associated to them. Then you better get your online cloud profile cleaned up. Try to block what you can  from public viewing as much as possible before you retire and before you start looking for your encore career. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, whatever you are into to.

The Bottom Line

I am sure there are more than just these three bad questions to stay clear of. Others along the same lines and could be added to the list of Retiree Interview Questions To Never Ask. What I hope these examples give you is an idea of how some simple curiosities revealed verbally in the form of a question during a job interview would be devastating to your hiring chances. When we retire and look forward to starting that perfect retirement gig it’s easy to get caught up in getting 100% of what we want. In the end if you are going for the right job a lot of what they offer is aligned with what you want or soon can be achieved.