The one interview that is all important is with the person who has the final hiring authority. We’ll call that person the hiring manager.

All other job interviews, while important, have the agenda of screening you out. When you meet with recruiters or human resources, you are being evaluated for whether you are a good enough fit to have an interview with the only person with the authority to offer you a job. Thus your strategy for presenting yourself and the questions you ask depends on whom you are interviewed by. There are three general classes of interviewers:

• Recruiter or headhunter
• Human resources
• Hiring manager

Because the expectations and the power of each of these groups within the organization differ, the questions you ask will necessarily be different. You don’t want to ask a hiring manager detailed questions about health benefits. By the same token, recruiters probably don’t know intimate details about the specific tools or programs you will use in your job. So don’t waste precious time on questions they can’t answer.

Because every interview situation is different, it is critical that you personalize each question to the requirements of the particular interview. Consider the phrasings of the questions to personalize questions for your job interviews. The more you customize your questions for the demands of each interview, the more authentic you will appear.