An HR exec says she gets excited every time a job candidate asks her a simple question about learning on the job

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• Asking interview questions about opportunities for professional growth won’t come off as presumptuous — it will show you’re committed to the company.
• That’s according to Lillian Landrum, director of talent acquisition at The Muse.
• Landrum says these questions also show you want to improve your own skills, which is always a plus.

Asking about company perks in a job interview might seem presumptuous — you don’t want to give the impression that you’re there for the free snacks.

But it’s hardly out-of-line to ask the hiring manager to explain how the company invests in employees. In fact, if you ask Lillian Landrum, director of talent acquisition at The Muse, you should ask the hiring manager about opportunities for professional development.

The Muse is a job-search and career-advice platform, meaning Landrum is a sort of meta-expert. “When people start asking those questions around how do we invest in growing our employees here, that gets me excited,” she said.

For example, you might ask about attending industry conferences or getting reimbursed for further-education programs. “We’re able to go to conferences on our HR side,” Landrum said. “I’m supported by my lead.” Why shouldn’t other employees be treated the same way?

Read more: An HR exec who’s worked at Starbucks and Coach was recently asked a surprising question by a job candidate that rocketed them to the top of the list

Erica Keswin, a workplace strategist and former executive coach, previously told Business Insider that she recommends asking about professional development once you’ve progressed in the interview process — i.e. not in the first interview. Keswin said employers are becoming accustomed to hearing these types of questions, and that if a company doesn’t offer opportunities for growth, that might be a red flag.

As for Landrum, this question is a double whammy. “One, it shows that they’re dedicated and they want to be committed to the company. But two, they’re thinking about bettering themselves.”

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See Also:

• A former Google exec who asks job candidates about the chapters of their life story is listening closely for a common red flag
• An organizational psychologist has a sneaky job-interview question to figure out what it’s really like to work somewhere
• Everyone told these startup founders it was a bad idea to have 2 CEOs. Here’s why they did it anyway.

SEE ALSO: An organizational psychologist has a sneaky job-interview question to figure out what it’s really like to work somewhere

Source: Business Insider – slebowitz@businessinsider.com (Shana Lebowitz)