Top 6 Key Questions to Ask at Your Next Job Interview

Top 6 Key Questions to Ask at Your Next Job Interview You got the interview!  Things are going well. You’ve smoothly discussed your performance points, you’ve glossed over That Incident We’d All Like to Leave Behind, and you’ve been making eye contact like a pro. Suddenly, the interviewer asks you if you have any questions. â€Å"Oh ho,† you think. â€Å"The interviewee has become the interviewer!† But in the moment, you start to feel a bit of inward panic. You’ve focused so fully on answering any question that could possibly be thrown your way, and now you’re drawing a bit of a blank. The best way to avoid that deer-in-headlights moment in an interview is to be prepared. Ahead of the interview, think of a set of questions to have on hand no matter how the discussion shakes out. If possible, work them in organically during the interview (without seeming too Barbara Walters about it). If they don’t really fit with the flow of the conversation, hold them until the end when y ou might well have an open floor.1. â€Å"How has this position evolved?†This one can give you a sense of how the company sees this role- and, potentially, you. If this is a role that has expanded or updated with each person that has held it, that’s a good indicator that it is a growth position. If it has stayed more or less the same over time, it could be that there is not much room for you to a) make it your own or b) advance beyond a certain point. Not necessarily a dealbreaker, depending on your perspective, but definitely something to be aware of as you go into it.RELATED:  Crush your Next Job Interview with These 12 Questions2. â€Å"In the first year, what is the highest priority for this position?†Five-year plans (a common interview and career subject) are all well and good, but the first year in a position could make or break it for you. Knowing the immediate plans for this role can tell you whether this is where you really want to be. After all, the company’s goals for the position will become your goals if you end up taking the job, so it would be helpful to know as early as possible whether the initial priorities are ones that seem manageable to you and likely to be a challenge.3. â€Å"In this position, how would I be working with my manager?†Speaking of things that can make or break your new job, your boss might be the most important one. We all have management styles to which we respond well- and ones that make us want to run screaming for the nearest exit. The answer to this question can let you know whether you’ll be working shoulder-to-shoulder with your manager, or if he or she expects you to take a ball and run with it, with minimal input or hand-holding.4. â€Å"What are the biggest challenges in this role?†Just like you present the best parts of yourself in your resume and the interview, the employer wants to present the best parts of this job to prospective employees. There is likely mor e to the job than the bare-bones job description, and now is your chance to get some of that extra context if the interviewer hasn’t already offered that information.5. â€Å"What is a typical day like in this role?†If you’ll be spending most of your day on particular tasks, this question can help you figure out whether that will work for you. For example, if you hate fielding phone calls, but it turns out that 75% of this job is working the phones, this is crucial information to have. This can also help you figure out what the priorities will be for the position and help you shape any subsequent answers around that information to show that you would be a good fit for that daily routine.6. â€Å"Is there anything else I can provide to help you make this decision?†This is a good grand finale question once the interview is winding down. It shows you’re proactive and keenly interested in the position, for starters and also gives you a chance to clarif y any vagueness or confusion on the interviewer’s part.Asking questions in your interview is key. It demonstrates that you’re paying attention and are engaged in the process. And by asking smart ones on the spot, tailored specifically to the job description and your pre-interview research on the company, you show the interviewer that you’re a better-prepared candidate than someone who either doesn’t speak up or who ignores the useful opportunity to ask counter-questions.

Make Ammonium Nitrate from Household Chemicals

Make Ammonium Nitrate from Household Chemicals Fireworks season is coming up, so before I get into the new fireworks projects, I wanted to cover the synthesis of a common chemical used for pyrotechnics: ammonium nitrate. Another fun project to try with ammonium nitrate is to make an endothermic reaction. You can buy ammonium nitrate as a pure chemical or you can collect it from instant cold packs or some fertilizers. You can make ammonium nitrate by reacting nitric acid with ammonia, but if you dont have access to nitric acid (or dont want to mess with it), you can make ammonium nitrate from readily available home chemicals. Gather Materials You will need: 138 g sodium bisulfate (found with pool chemicals, used to lower pH)1 mole equivalent of a nitrate salt... any of the following85 g sodium nitrate (common food preservative)101 g potassium nitrate (which you can buy or make yourself)118 g calcium nitrate (tetrahydrate)ammonia (common household cleaner)methanol (optional, which may be found as HEET fuel treatment) Ingredients Dissolve the sodium bisulfate in the mininum amount of water (about 300 ml).Dissolve your nitrate salt in the minimum amount of water (amount depends on the salt).Mix the two solutions.Next you want to neutralize the solution, which is quite acidic. Stir in ammonia until the pH of the mixture is 7 or higher. Use a pH meter (or pH paper). Reacting ammonia, sodium bisulfate, and nitrates will give you sodium sulfate and ammonium nitrate.Sodium sulfate and ammonium nitrate have different solubilities in water, so boil the solution to get the sodium sulfate to crystallize. Remove the liquid from heat when crystals of sodium sulfate form in the bottom of the pan.Chill the solution in the freezer to get as much of the sodium sulfate as possible to drop out of the solution.Run the solution through a filter (coffee filter or paper towels) to separate the solid sodium sulfate from the ammonium nitrate solution.Allow the ammonium nitrate solution to evaporate, which will give you ammonium nitr ate, with some sodium sulfate impurity. This is good enough for most chemistry projects. If you want to further purify the ammonium nitrate, dissolve it in about 500 ml of methanol. The ammonium nitrate is soluble in methanol, while the sodium sulfate is not.Run the solution through a filter, which will give you sodium sulfate on the filter and a solution of ammonium nitrate.Allow the methanol to evaporate from the solution to obtain crystalline ammonium nitrate. Safety Information The chemicals used in this project are smelly and corrosive, so this project should be performed under a fume hood or outdoors. As always, wear gloves, eye protection, and appropriate clothing. Some of the reagents and the final product are flammable or are oxidizers, so keep the chemicals away from open flames.