Questions to ask at the end of an interview

"Do you have any questions for us?" is not a formality. It is your chance to find out whether you actually want the job, and it shows the interviewer how you think about the work. "No, I think you've covered everything" wastes both.

Prepare four or five questions, expect to ask two or three, and drop any the interview already answered.

About the work itself

These tell you what your days would really be like.

• "What would you want someone in this role to have done in their first three months?" It shows you are thinking about results, and the answer tells you how realistic their expectations are.
• "What does a typical week look like?" The ad describes the job they hope for; this describes the job that exists.
• "What is the hardest part of this role?" Most interviewers answer this honestly, and it is better to hear it now.

About the team

• "Who would I work with most closely, and how does the team work together day to day?"
• "How does the team decide what to work on?" You learn whether priorities are clear or change every week.
• "Why is this role open?" A new role, growth and a replacement are all fine answers; how they answer can tell you more than the answer itself.

About success and growth

• "How will you know, a year from now, that hiring for this role worked?"
• "What have people who did well in this team gone on to do?"
• "How does feedback work here?" Regular conversations, annual reviews, or nothing at all.

About the next steps

Always finish with this one:

• "What are the next steps, and when should I expect to hear from you?"

It saves you days of wondering, and gives you a date to follow up after.

Questions to avoid, or save for later

• Anything a quick look at their website would answer. It suggests you did not prepare.
• Salary, leave and benefits in a first interview, unless they raise it. These are fair questions, and the right time is usually once they have shown real interest, or with the recruiter.
• "Did I get the job?" They usually cannot say yet, and it puts them on the spot.

Make them specific to this job

The best questions come from the job ad and from what was said in the interview. If the ad mentions a migration to a new platform, ask how far along it is. If the interviewer mentioned a new team, ask what it will own. A specific question shows you were listening, and generic questions sound like a list you found online.

Write down what they answer. When you compare offers, or prepare for a second round, those notes are worth more than your memory.

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Hello Job Tracker prepares this for each interview. From the job ad and your own experience, it drafts the questions the interview will probably ask you, the stories from your work that answer them, the gaps to have an honest answer ready for, and questions to ask them, specific to that posting.