15 Clever Questions To Ask Your Interviewer!

15 Unique Questions To Ask At The End Of Your Job Interview. Asking questions at the end of your interview shows that you're engaged in the job and helps you identify good employers vs toxic ones. And you can use these to your advantage throughout the interview (if asked opportunistically).

Here are 15 questions that I love asking. (keep in mind, I only select 2-3 for each interview) broken down in to category.

0:00 - asking the right questions
1:27 - Strategy questions (ask these early)
3:26 - Career growth questions
5:59 - Company culture questions
7:56 - Hiring Manager questions
10:12 - Ask this if they've laid off people!
10:58 - Interview help

1. Why is the job open?

2. Why is this role important to you?

3. What's one thing your department does particularly well? Not so well?

4. How does this role contribute to the success of the department?

5. What would I need to do in year 1 to earn "exceeds expectations?"

6. What did the last person do to make them so successful? (or not successful)

7. Where do you see potential long-term growth opportunities here?

8. Tell me about the last person to get promoted in your group!

9. What issue/concern currently keeps you up late at night?

10. How would your direct reports describe your leadership style?

11. What's the strategy to address your biggest competitor’s latest product?

12. What metrics will be used to measure my performance?

13. How long have you been working here? What’s kept you here so long?

14.. If you could change one thing about this company, what what it be?

15. What about my resume stood out to you?

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Are you struggling with your job search? Applying for job after job and not getting any interviews? Perhaps you’ve got a few interviews but always seem to get passed over for the job? Or maybe you’re not satisfied with your current career and want a change. Well, you’ve come to the right place.

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[doublekrpg]

I asked an interviewer *"What about my resume impressed you enough to schedule today's interview?"* and they flat out told me they hadn't read my resume until thirty minutes before the interview and made the decision solely on the personality assessment test I took a few days prior. I think they recognized their own red flag because I had a rejection letter before I got home from the interview.

[theplaintiff]

The best interviews I’ve had are interviews where I felt I was interviewing them more than they interviewed me

[KaijinD]

One that has worked well for me is "what duties are not listed in the job announcement?" Interviewers respond very well to it, often excitedly. After they list them I comment on my skills related to each additional duty.

[vinceod]

Recruiter here - holy crap Brian I thought I was great at prepping my candidates with questions but these questions make me realize that there’s even more room to grow. Great job!

[aberod]

"Why did you like like my resume?"

Hell, I'm happy/grateful that someone even LOOKED AT IT in the first place (especially in this job market)...

[tessm]

I find when I interview and the discussion feels like a healthy back and forth and natural, it ends up being a good fit. If it’s forced, awkward or something puts you off, that’s a red flag. It’s either not a culture fit, they’re not being completely authentic or you’re not being completely authentic. It should feel like a good conversational flow.

[althunder]

Most companies won't be able to answer these questions because they are not self aware enough as employers to know what they want.

[calebowens]

The question about why the position is open is the only thing which I ask in every interview. Depending on the role, other things may not be relevant, but that's always of interest. They aren't likely to come right out and say certain things, like if there are unrealistic quotas which are essential to meet. Some things, like if the previous employee was removed from the company for some type of misconduct, they also aren't just going to say much about that (which would be completely appropriate, such things would be confidential). The previous employee might have just left because of getting a better job elsewhere, but even that can go in different ways (it's one thing to have an employee find a higher level job somewhere else and leave for it, it's quite another for the employee to leave because compensation is way below market average and they're leaving for a company which pays more appropriately... the interviewer also wouldn't just tell you that either).

[kalstonii]

This might be the single greatest vid on this topic, and I wish I found it…10 or 15 years ago. But life is what it is

[tracylund]

Interviews must be a conversation. The last one I had the interviewers could not deviate from the question script—even to the point where they couldn’t answer MY questions. HUGE red flag and a super awkward hour. They wanted me but the answer was NO.

[langhamp]

I probably could have asked all those questions for my last last job (contract gov job) and have been much better off, but I didn't. I discovered about a month into the job that I was the 5th full-time programmer in that position over two years; predictably I lasted about 8 months before being fired for substandard work. I did turn in a fairy complex project (as the sole programmer), certified with unit tests at every level (which they did not and will never do), along with one-click database wipe-and-reseeding (absolutely critical for testing and table updates).

My next job interview afterwards I did ask most of these questions, and I think it really helped. Otherwise you think you're doing great only to discover you just got fired.

[SamriBliss]

I keep a sticky note with questions to the interviewer and the interviewers are always surprised that I have well-thought questions for them.
Which implies that it’s rare for interviewees to ask questions during interviews

[LaCokaNostra]

I passed the interview to get a drug test and background check, and I passed those as well; they called me three days later saying they didn't have an opening, and now they want me to do another interview

[iwrist]

A friend who's worked in HR taught me years ago what types of questions to ask. Glad I had this in my arsenal.

[sushruttalekar]

Perfect timing, I was preparing for the questions to be asked in my interview.
Qs- “If the [Role] fails to deliver as per expectations, how does the company look at it and what steps are taken to improve that?”

Would it be good to ask that?

[valerxwee]

Just want to poke in and say thank you!

I’ve been updating my resume for each job. I have been only applying to jobs I am truly interested in and in my ideal pay range. I just graduated with my bachelors this Saturday and had been applying to jobs since last month.

So far I just accepted an offer, and have 2 interviews this week and two more that I politely declined.

Your videos gave me so much insight! Again thank you!

[heartisaglow]

I asked 3 questions. What is your managing style, and what is the company’s culture like and how do you define success in the first 90 days. I got the deer in the headlights look. After a long, painful pause, someone else stepped in and said we are like family. They couldn’t get me out of the interview fast enough 😂

[TimHunold]

Excellent questions but some may flag you as problematic. Employers seek blind allegiance with hiring someone that with STFU and work. I do ask these questions, and those jobs rarely if ever hire me, they tend to be a 1-2 year engagement.

[Hallinwar]

- So what keeps you late at night?
- W-what?
- What is it you want to change?
- I'm sorry, we don't think that you will fullfill the role of cashier the way we expect, please leave

[johnkoehnen]

Great questions! Thank you. I have two observations - 1. It seems that even "good" employers do layoffs now, which muddies the waters. and 2. I've found employers who speak to technicalities. "Oh, yes, this is a brand new role. We are growing." I was told that multiple times by multiple people. Once I started working, another guy in another department, kept talking about my predecessor and what problems they had with him. In reality, they fired that guy, eliminated his position and created a new position. See guys - totally a new role!