20 Best Interview Questions to Ask the Interviewer | Job Interview Tips

Here are 20 questions you should be asking in a job interview. When an interviewer asks, do you have any questions for me? And these questions will help you stand out because you're not going to be like all the other candidates who ask their interviewer, what's your favorite part about working here? No, you're more thoughtful. You're more strategic than that. And I have gotten so many success stories that these questions help people stand out and make the interviewers pause and say, that is a darn good question. And stay to the end because I'll discuss the two questions you're often advised to ask that may actually be hurting you, and I'll give you some alternate versions that are better and hello, I'm Madeline Mann. I'm a human resources leader and job search strategist who turns job seekers into job shoppers. You may recognize me from being a top job search instructor on Spotify and LinkedIn Learning, or you may have seen me on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and more. Subscribe because what's the best that could happen? You ace your interviews for the rest of your career. Okay, so let's dive into what questions you should ask about the role. And to be clear, because I've been in thousands of interview debriefs, I know what these interviewers think about you. And so if you're asked, do you have any questions? And you either say no or you only ask about logistics, like when will I hear back about next steps? Or what is the salary for this role? You are likely going to leave a poor impression on the interviewer. They are looking for you to have fun, thoughtful, probing questions. The best questions are ones that are researched and based on your conversation. You should be asking those questions throughout the interview, but that is advanced beyond the scope of this video. So if you want deeper strategies that help you to become a job shopper, where companies start convincing you to join their company, I will link a free job shopping workshop below. So when asking questions about the role, you can kick it off with some something like I had a chance to review the job description, but it would be really helpful to hear about the role from your perspective. So out of all the duties on the description, how would you define the most critical ones for this role? The thing is, a company's perspective about the role and type of person they want to hire may evolve over the course of the interview process. Additionally, not all requirements on the job description are equal, so pay attention to which requirements they emphasize over others. The question what makes this role available? Will help you to understand the situation you're coming into, such as the reason why the last person left. Sure, they may ask you why did you leave your last job? But they've got some splaining to do too. Why did someone else leave this role? Ah, how the turns have tabled. If you find out that the role is an additional headcount for a role that already exists, you can speak with peers to understand what the job is like. If it's a completely new role, you'll be able to assess if the response is responsibilities of the role are well defined. Here's another one straight out of the kitchen. Watch out, plate is hot. Ask the question what do you want this role to accomplish in the first 90 days? The employer's response will provide you with the exact information you need to ace their interview question, why should we hire you? And so much key information to lock this offer down. This is yet another question that employers frequently ask candidates, so make sure you watch my video on how to answer why should we hire you? I give you a formula to answer this question that doesn't actually require you to brag or sell yourself, so I will link it in the comments in the description for you to watch. Next, ask how do you measure success for this role? Nothing makes a senior leader's tail wag faster than a candidate who presents themselves as data driven and results oriented. Another question you can ask about the role is what have been the biggest challenges for this role? You want to know what are the employer's top of mind pain points? So going forward you can focus your interview and answers on how you will address that pain. Next, ask about the team in the job interview. Have you ever heard the phrase people don't leave companies, they leave managers? Well, during your question asking, understanding what the manager is like and the team dynamics will be a huge insight into whether this is the right job for you. You should ask questions like who will I be working with most closely? What is the boss's leadership style? What are the team dynamics like? What are the team members, work styles and yeah, what are their star signs, their views on the geopolitical landscape? Now I'm just joshing about those last two, but the other ones you should consider. But please make sure when you ask these questions that you have thought about why you are asking, what you hope to learn from the answer. Don't just ask them because you heard them in a video on your favorite channel. Speaking of landing the offer, I'm all about making sure you're not just having a jolly time interviewing but that you're actually landing job offers. And so I created a quiz that people have been stunned is so accurate and gives you personalized feedback on how to land more job offers. And so I will link that quiz below. Then you can ask questions about the company. Back in my day, every job was in person. You would go to a location. But now there are so many different options in person, different versions of hybrid remote. So you can ask which version of work environment they do have and a bit more about what that looks like, such as how is the company approaching hybrid work? And how has that impacted company culture? Another question you can ask is what characteristics do you see from people who tend to thrive in this company? I like that question. It's a bit more specific and I think could lead to more insightful answers than describe the company culture, which usually leads to a surface level answer or even just verging on idealistic responses. Okay, depending on your level of rapport with the person you're interviewing with, you could turn up the heat of it and ask what are the three things things you would change about the company and why? This is an honest question that if you have been showing up as a job shopper this whole conversation, they will actually be trying to impress you with their answer. Next, ask questions about the interviewer. It's the oldest trick in the book to get someone talking about themselves to get them to like you more. So in order to build a better relationship with this interviewer, start asking them about their personal experience. Experience. The first question you can ask your interviewer should go something along the lines of I did a bit of research and saw that you've been at the company for X years. How has your role evolved and how has the company evolved in your time here? This research only takes a few minutes, but will impress your interviewer because it's a nuanced question that they don't normally get. Another question you can ask is why did you join the company? And is the experience what you expected? This is a twist on the most common question people ask of why do you like working here? Or what's your favorite thing about working here? This version still allows them to say something nice about where they work, but also allows for a more interesting and layered response. While it shouldn't be the main focus of your question asking, you should also ask about the interview process because that's important information for you to know. So you can ask what does the interview process look like? What are next steps? When should I expect to hear back about the next steps? I'LL give these questions credit where credit's due. They do let you know when to follow up and Are you following up on all of your job opportunities? If you're not, you're seriously missing out on some major opportunities. So I wrote the follow up emails for you already. I will link a free download of email templates that you can use to follow up with these companies There are two very common questions that people ask and I'm going to warn you about them. The first one one is asking about compensation. I know you want to ask how much are you going to pay me? It is so hard to keep interviewing with a company when you're not sure if the role pays diddly squat or quite a lot. But if you want to maximize both your chance of landing the job and your compensation, do not ask about money in the first interview. Ironically, it's normal for companies to ask about compensation in the first call, but a bit odd for a candidate to come right out the gate and ask about compensation. I know it's a cuckoo upside down world we live in, but the good news is holding off discussing compensation will typically help you get a bigger offer at later stages. The company has seen more of your value and are more invested in you potentially joining the team, so you have more negotiation power. A great question to ask, especially if they're asking for your salary requirements, is what is the pay range for this role? This puts the ball in the employer's court and prevents you from under asking or over asking for a certain salary. Now, have you ever been told to ask at the end of an interview, do you have any concerns about my ability to perform this job? Or do you have any hesitation about my qualifications or any questions of that nature? What I like about these questions is that they open the door for frank conversations and it can surface some looming thoughts or doubts that you can then address on the spot, especially if it's something that they misunderstood or they don't have the full picture of. However, this is a bit of a risky question. If asked incorrectly or to the wrong person or without the proper rapport, it can come off as a bit negative or pushy, like you're looking for them to disclose their decision about your candidacy on the spot, or could be interpreted as having a lack of confidence or see doubt in their mind. So you'll need to use a bit of emotional intelligence to to decide if that is the question you want to ask. Have you ever asked this question before? Say yes, I've asked it or no, I haven't in the comments. I'm really interested to see how popular or unpopular this question is, as well as your thoughts on it. But an alternate version of this question, which I would say is a bit safer, but can get us to a similar conversation, is is there anything about my skills or experience you'd like me to clarify for you? While this is a bit bit of a different question because someone may have hesitations, but they're not necessarily looking for you to clarify. So it doesn't necessarily cut to the heart of the issue quite as directly as the other version, but you can still potentially reveal something that may be in the way of you getting the offer. I will link a free document below with a bunch of these questions for you to reference for the rest of your career. I will link that below. Go out there and get them. You've got this wifi high five.