Questions you should ask in an interview, and why

While choosing your questions and elaborating on them, customize it to your need and the company
you are looking to join, and ask yourself:

 Why do you want to know the answer to these questions?

 How would you benefit from them? and
 How do these questions sound to the person across the table? In other words, how does it
demonstrate to them that you are giving this opportunity serious thought!

To come across as prepared, intelligent, and thoughtful, always be on your feet, take mental notes
throughout the interview and be prepared to switch gears when required to cater to the situation, as
the question you may have for them might have already been answered during the interview.
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Work related questions – It’s mandated that you have at least a few of these questions. This will give
you greater insight into what you can expect at this job and more, both in the short term and the
long term:

 What does a typical day in my role look like?

 What are the short term and long term projects I will be working on?
 What attributes do your team see as most valuable to succeed in this position?
 What are some known challenges that someone in this position would face?
 Is this a new headcount or a backfill? If it is a backfill, why did the previous person leave this
job?
 What are my role’s key goals?
 Do you foresee my core job changing in the next one year?
 I’d like to understand from your perspective, why you see the need for this role in your
organization. Is there a current issue/gap you are trying to solve?

Seeking information about your immediate team – These questions would help you get a better idea
of the team members you may work with daily and gauge whether the team is the right fit for you.
These are especially vital to know if you are expected to lead a team down the line.

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  I would love to know more about the team I will be directly working with. Could you tell me a
bit more about the team?
 Who will I be collaborating with closely?
 What teams do I/does my team collaborate with closely and why? Is this a cross-department
role?
 Could you tell me more about the hiring manager?
 What are some of the biggest strengths of hiring team I would be working with?
 What are some of the biggest challenges this team faces today?
 Would you be expanding this team anytime soon?
 What career paths have ex-team mates chosen over the years?

Training and on-the-job learning facilities – These questions should help you foresee how this
job/company will help you ramp up, be successful in the current role and get to the next levels in
your career.

 Is there a formal training to ramp up for this role? If yes, what would they be and for how long?
 Would I be assigned a personal mentor (same as or apart from my hiring manager)?
 (If this is a backfill) Would the last person who held this position be involved in transferring their
knowledge and skills to their successor?
 Are job trainings continuous and evolving throughout one’s tenure in the job? If yes, what do
they involve (funding for external courses/internal courses/ access to learning resources etc.)
 Do you provide opportunities for advancement through education sponsorships?
 Do your employees get opportunities to represent the company in external platforms to gain
experience?
 What does the career path look like in this role/company?

Performance expectations – Ask these questions to get an idea of what deliverables are expected
from you. This can help you strategize to either reset expectations or align with them.

 What would you like the candidate to achieve in the first 30, 60 and 90 days.
 What does the employee performance review process look like? To elaborate: What are the
key metrics and goals used to evaluate one’s performance in the company?
 How often do employees get formally reviewed?
 What are the expectations to perform at the next level in my role (This question shows you are
thinking of long-term success already)?
 What does career growth look like in this role/company? (can fit here or in the previous
section)

The Work Environment – The following questions help you understand the nature of the work
environment, the cultural fit, value placed on you by the company and more.

 Could you please tell me about the company culture in general

(hierarchical/transparent/flat/friendly/work-life balance/open/young/nimble)?
 Does the company focus strongly on collaboration or independence at work?
 Does your company host team events/off-sites? If yes, how often and what kinds of events?
 Do you have office traditions/formalities?
 What do you/teams usually do during lunch hours? (a bit too specific, but valid)
 Does the company jointly collaborate with other companies/institutions for external events?
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  Have you seen the culture change over the years? If yes, how?
 What do you foresee as the biggest culture challenge for the company?

 Are there any unwritten rules?

 What would be your ideal company culture?
 How would you describe your team’s personality?

About the Interviewer! Help yourself build a great connection with the person across the table and
get an understanding of why they work at the company and how they got there. It shows you are
interested in the person and are seeking for inspiration as well.

 How long have you been with the organization? Why did you join it? Would love to know a bit
about your background.
 How has your role changed since you joined?
 How has the organization changed you?
 What’s the one thing that motivates you most to come into work every day?
 What is the one thing you would change in this organization?
 What do you personally look for in a candidate?

About the company, itself – This will give you a good idea about the overall objectives of the larger
organization and will help you align your goals and OKRs in the future.

 What is the biggest current focus of the company and how is our team aligned to/supporting
the same?
 What is the next big focus of the company and why?
 Where do you see this company in the next few years?
 What excites you most about this company’s future?
 How has the company evolved in the recent years?

Closing questions - Before stepping out, make sure the interviewer has everything about you and you
are certain of the next steps/expectations/timelines.

Will you be conducting more interviews? What are the next steps in the interview process?
Is there any other information I can provide you with that would be helpful in deciding?
Do you have any final questions for me?

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Having given this list, do keep the following caveats in mind:

I. As mentioned, customize the queries based on your scenario.

II. Ask only if they have not been clear on the answer
III. Limit your questions to the top 3-5, depending on the amount of time left. You want to respect
their time, and avoid bombarding them with too many queries. While there is no set number,
as long as your questions are relevant and fall within the timeframe of the interview, you can
ask away.
IV. A best practice, range your questions across the different topics listed above, so it’s not too
heavy on one component.

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 V. Ask questions that cannot be found elsewhere, by Googling it etc. Things that only the
interviewer would know. Not only will it be a great opportunity to imbibe their thoughts and
knowledge, but it shows you have done your homework too.
VI. Again, a reminder to ask questions that you genuinely are curious about/ need an answer to,
in relation to taking this role up.

VII. One more thing, if you did not get a chance to ask that a burning question, that’s okay.
There’s nothing wrong with politely e-mailing her/him after the interview, or ask the HR point of
contact :)

Questions that are better left unasked and why!

Many a times, when we share an experience or a thought process in response to a question, there’s
a tendency to get carried away by our thoughts and stray from the original response to the question.
I’m surely not the only one to be guilty of it! Straying from the topic is natural and is OK in
conversations unless it threatens to jeopardize a crucial situation like an interview. Planning and
preparing are the best ways to steer clear of trouble, and just how you ask questions towards the end
of an interview makes all the difference, we urge you to consciously avoid asking the queries
mentioned below.

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To start - Avoid asking questions related to the company/role/history that can be found online.
Interviewers love candidates who are well prepared. But asking questions like what the company
does at a high level (it happens!), what the product is, who the founders are or basic queries around
public/popular actions the firm’s taken, can make you come across as someone who has not done
their homework. This will most definitely alter their perception about you and even cost you the job.

To steer clear of such a situation, go one step further. For instance, ask for the interviewer's
perspective on the above queries, rather than the facts themselves. For example, while you are
expected to know basics about the company like who the founders are, you can venture to ask
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about the interviewer's front-row experience working with the company, how he/she relates to the
co-founder's vision and more. Requesting for the person's viewpoint is new territory that most likely
cannot be googled to find out.

Benefit and perks related - There is a subtle difference between being interested in a company's
overall culture and drilling down to your individual benefits such as the salary, vacations or general
time off, bonuses, stocks, free swags, insurance or any other perks/benefits. It’s a too early for the
discussion at the interview stage, and as well a discussion better suited for the HR who finalizes the
hiring. The interview’s focus is on what you can bring to the table to benefit the company, not what
you want to get out of it. Companies look for candidates who genuinely are interested in the job and
learning from it. While it’s natural to be curious about your compensation, it may be a question best
left discussed with the HR towards the end of the process or gather information about the "company's
benefits" in their job descriptions, blogs, website, external career websites such as Glassdoor.com and
even common alumni connections.

Negotiations! Negotiating related to perks and benefits is a common instinct in candidates. But it has
the potential to derail your interview. Since you have not been extended an offer yet, there is
nothing to negotiate here. Again, it is too early and not the right place or time for these discussions. if
you are wondering, how to decide if this is a worthwhile endeavor without knowing what you are
getting out of it, know this
a) You are already seated for that interview, you must have some interest
b) Your research around the company and its benefits should help you decide.
c) Like it or not, this interview is about evaluating the role and responsibilities at hand, and if
that fits the two of you at the table. Not the compensation or benefits involved.

Companies usually disclose the basics of what you will get upfront. If you are not clear or have further
questions, you should reach out and talk to the HR contact, and clarify the compensation or benefits,
and negotiate the same towards the end of the hiring process.

Questions related to work hours - While questions around break/lunch hours, work from home or
flexible hours could raise flags about your motivation and commitment, the same on working
overtime/ weekends can also imply that you either want to be perceived as a hard worker who
equates hours to productivity or that you just might not be able to optimize your time, work smart and
prioritize tasks to get things done.

Either way, it does not bode well for you to raise these questions. It's best to avoid discussion about
specific work hours. However, you are completely in the green to enquire about what a day’s work
looks like in the new role or how a regular work week looks like. This will also give the interviewer a
chance to convey her/his expectations from their new hire. But do remember, you may as well be
asked to answer this very question. Ideally, we’d like to hope that the company you work for cares
more that the work is done, than how and where it’s done.

Questions around background/social profile checks - Companies want to hire not just the right
people, but ones who are above board. To this end, many companies conduct professional
background checks or do a review of your online presence to ensure there are no past skeletons that
jump outta your closet, or that you are who you say you are. Online profiles reveal a surprising
amount of information not just about a person’s background, but their choices, likes, character, and
personality. Even if you are curious if they do execute these checks and how extensive they get, it
may be best not to bring it up to not look guilty of having anything worthy to hide anything. The last
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thing you’d want is to have the hiring team second guess themselves and even reconsider their
previous decisions. The best you can hope for is to maintain an online presence that would be least
likely to raise concerns.

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Hope the above list helps in building a set of questions that is better avoided as well as guidelines for
questions that would further your cause with the interviewers.

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