Interviews · 3 min read
Questions worth asking your interviewer
Near the end of almost every interview comes the same line: do you have any questions for us? It is easy to treat this as a formality and wave it away, but that is a mistake on both counts. Good questions help you work out whether the role is actually right for you, and they leave the interviewer with a strong final impression of how you think. The questions you ask say as much as the answers you give.
Ask about the work itself
A job description tells you the theory of a role. The interviewer can tell you the reality, if you ask the right things.
- What does success look like in the first six months
- What does a normal week actually involve
- What are the biggest challenges facing this role right now
The answers often reveal whether the job matches the tidy version in the ad.
Ask about the team and how it works
You will spend your days with these people, inside their way of working, so it is worth understanding both before you accept anything.
- Who would I work with most closely
- How are decisions usually made here
- How does the team handle pressure, or things going wrong
Ask about growth
Questions about where the role could lead show ambition and help you see whether there is a future here, not just a job for now. Ask how people in this role have progressed, and what the company actually supports when it comes to learning and development.
Avoid the questions that work against you
Two kinds of question do you damage. Save pay, leave and hours for the right moment, usually once an offer is in view, unless the interviewer raises them first.
And never ask something a thirty-second look at their website would have answered. It only tells them you did not prepare.
Listen, and follow the thread
The best questions usually are not on your list at all. They come from really listening during the interview and picking up on something said in passing. If a point interests you, ask about it. A genuine, in-the-moment question shows engagement in a way a memorised one never can.
The short version
Your questions are not a formality. Use them to find out whether you want the job, and to show the kind of colleague you would be.