Questions to ask at the end of an interview, and what the answers tell you

The interviewer asks whether you have any questions for them. You are tired and relieved, and the easy reply is that everything has been covered. It is also the one moment in the interview where you choose the topic, and it shapes the impression you leave more than most people expect.

Questions make people like you

Researchers at Harvard ran a series of studies on what happens when people ask more questions in a conversation. In one, pairs of strangers chatted by instant message for fifteen minutes. Without the other person knowing, one of them had been told to ask either many questions or very few, and partners liked the people who asked more. In a set of real speed dates, people who asked more questions got more second dates. The authors estimate that asking five more questions per date over an evening of twenty dates would win about one more yes. People in the studies did not see this coming. They did not expect the number of questions they asked to change how they came across (Huang and colleagues).

An analysis of the chats found that follow-up questions, the ones that build on what the other person just said, did the most for liking, because they show that the asker was listening (Association for Psychological Science). These were conversations between people getting to know each other, and an interview is a more formal setting. Its last few minutes are the most conversational part, though, and questions about the interviewer’s own view and work show the same attention.

Good questions, and what to listen for

York University’s career centre suggests starting from what matters to you, asking only what you genuinely want to know, and skipping anything the company’s website or the job description already answers (York University Career Centre). The questions below are adapted from its list, and the notes on what to listen for are ours.

About the work

What are the most pressing challenges for this role in the first three months?

Listen for something specific. A clear answer means the team knows why it is hiring, and a vague one may mean the role is still being defined.

What did the people who did well in this role do differently?

The answer tells you how success is judged here, which the job description rarely does.

Could you describe a typical day in this job?

Compare the answer with the posting. A large gap deserves a follow-up.

How did this position come to be open?

Growth, a promotion and a departure are all normal answers. Several departures in a short time tell a different story.

About the team

Could you tell me about the team I’d work with?

Listen for its size, who you would report to and how the interviewer talks about the people.

What kind of person does well on this team?

The answer often describes the culture more honestly than any values page.

About the company and the interviewer

What do you like most about working here?

A specific answer, a project or a person, is a good sign. A long pause is information too.

I read that you are expanding the payments team this year. How would this role contribute to that?

A question like this shows you did your research and asks something the website cannot answer.

About what happens next

What are the next steps, and when do you expect to decide?

The answer lets you plan your follow-up and the rest of your search.

The follow-up is the best question you ask

Your prepared questions open the door, and the research above suggests the follow-up is where liking is won. When the interviewer says the first three months are about stabilising a system, ask what makes it unstable now. When they say they like the team, ask what the team did recently that made them proud. A follow-up cannot be prepared in advance, and that is exactly why it shows you were listening.

Questions to leave out

Skip anything the job description or the website already answers. Asking whether you got the job, or how you did, puts the interviewer on the spot, and a question about next steps gets you most of that information more gracefully. Leave out questions that judge the company or second-guess the interviewer, which York’s list describes as keeping things positive. Salary and benefits usually wait until there is an offer. A question to the recruiter about the budgeted range is a separate conversation, covered in our guide to salary expectations.

Prepare them like answers

Pick three questions. For each one, write down why it matters to you and what a good or worrying answer would sound like, and decide which one you would drop if time runs short. Prepped’s question bank gives the questions for the interviewer their own structure, with why you ask, what to listen for and your follow-up. You can add them to an upcoming interview, so they are in front of you when the moment comes.