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If you’ve worked with IT recruiting agencies to find new roles, you probably understand that interviewing for IT jobs is a two-way street.  You probably ask a lot of interview questions to help you make sure the IT jobs you’re interviewing for are good fits for your needs and work habits. If you want to know about a company’s culture or pace of work, one thing IT recruiting firms suggest you ask about is lunch.  Here are two questions IT staffing firms suggest you can ask about lunch that will actually reveal a lot about an employer’s workday.

1.  Does your team often eat lunch together?  IT recruiters would suggest you ask this question to get a general idea of how friendly and collegiate coworkers are in this company.  It may be unlikely the whole team eats together every day, but if they grab lunch together a few times a week in pairs or small groups, this might say something positive about the culture.  If the environment really is very friendly, this question will probably spur the interviewer to tell you about it.

2.  Does your team usually eat lunch at their desks, or do they take time for a break?  Technical recruiters would suggest this question if you’re concerned about the pace or workload.  IT staffing companies can tell you a bit about the pace of a job as well, but this question will help round out your information. If employees are often too stressed and overworked to even take a quick walk or  go grab food, you’ll know the workload and pressure at the company is high.  That might be fine with you– and on some level that’s normal sometimes.  Sometimes a team of programmers needs to get code ready in a tight deadline.  Sometimes tech support will work through their lunch breaks to solve an important ticket.  The key is to decide if the job’s usual pace is too hectic for you.