At the end of an interview, you will likely be asked, “Do you have any questions?” Be prepared with several appropriate questions. (You can bring a notepad with your questions on it to the interview.) Typically, you may have time for 3-7 questions at the end of the interview. Also, there are some questions below that you can ask before the interview.
Clarifying What is Important to the Interviewer
If possible, ask at least one of these questions early in the interview (or better yet, even before the interview) so you can discuss how your qualifications fit what they are looking for:
- What qualifications are most important to you in the person you hire for this position?
- What problems would you like to see the person in this position address/solve within the next year?
- In what ways would you gauge my success, and how could I exceed your expectations?
- Has the company faced any significant challenges recently, and how did the team overcome them?
- What is the vision for the organization, and how does this role help fulfill this vision?
When You Don’t Have a Job Description
- What would a typical day be like?
- What are the primary responsibilities of this position?
- What are the commonly experienced satisfactions and frustrations of this job?
Investment in Employees/Advancement
- How does the company invest in the career advancement of its employees?
- How does the company promote a culture of innovation and creativity?
- Does this company promote from within, or does it hire people from the outside for upper-level positions?
- What is the percentage of women (and minority) managers?
- What is the company’s policy regarding paying for further education or training?
- What is the typical career path of someone entering this position?
End of the Interview
- Does anything make you doubt my ability to take on this role?
- When can I expect to hear about a decision regarding this position?
Other Possible Questions
- To whom will I report? Will I have an opportunity to meet them?
- How often are performance reviews given?
- How much travel is involved in this position?
- What type of training would I receive for this position? How long will it last?
- What has been the company’s growth pattern during the last five years?
- How did you come to work for the company?
ChatGPT Tip
Here is a prompt for identifying possible questions for the job you are applying for: “I will give you a job description. Extract questions that I could use for screening the employer.” Here is a sampling of results for a sales manager job description that was included with this prompt:
- Sales Strategies and Processes:
- Can you describe the current sales processes and strategies in place? How flexible are they for innovation?
- What innovative sales strategies have you found most effective in this role?
- Sales Team Management:
- How many business development representatives are currently in the sales department?
- What are your expectations for the training and development of the sales team?
- Can you provide more details on the performance metrics used to evaluate the sales team?