It’s The End of Your Interview, and they ask YOU if you have any questions— What now?
Let’s discuss how to ace the last part of the interview, where they ask you if you have any questions you’d like to ask.
This is really important to get right because
- It gives you an opportunity to get valuable information about the culture of the firm
- You can use it to continue to help your chances of getting the job.
Unfortunately, most people don’t put a lot of thought into these questions and sometimes seem to be making them up on the spot. This makes them look unprepared.
I think the biggest reasons for this are:
1) No one ever advised them to think about these questions ahead of time
2) Not everyone wants to put in the work to excel
3) They don’t think it matters much.
Hopefully the ideas I’m going to share with you will set you up to succeed in this part of the interview and score the job.
Why it matters?
You really don’t have much time in an interview to make your case and impress the interviewer. It only makes sense to use that last section to help move the ball forward.
The questions you ask will give your interviewer insights into you, how you think and what matters to you. You can be sure that this is still part of the evaluation.
It’s critical to have good questions for them. There is only one correct answer to the question, “Do you have any questions for me?” The answer is yes.
What are you trying to accomplish?
Obviously, you’re trying to get the job, but what specifically should your goals be as you craft questions?
First, you want to take this opportunity to understand the company and the role further. You’re potentially going to be spending a lot of time there, and it makes sense to understand the place as much as possible to make sure it’s somewhere you want to be.
Good questions will help you elicit valuable info.
Second is that you want to convey through your questions that you are thoughtful and insightful.
Third, if you can find a way to embed some of your three key messages (which I’ve talked about elsewhere), that’s even better.
What not to ask?
One thing I should highlight before we go further. Approach this like a physician might – primum non nocere – first do no harm. There are definitely questions you can ask that would reduce your chances of getting the job.
❌ In my view, asking about salary is not a good idea early in the process.
You should probably have some sense of the range based on discussions you’ve had with friends or what you might surmise the job pays. When all is said and done, it doesn’t matter what the compensation package is if you don’t get the job.
That is where I think your focus should be – doing everything you can to get the job.
❌ I’d also avoid asking if you have a good chance of getting the job. They almost certainly won’t know the answer at that point, but more importantly, it’s just kind of awkward, even if you genuinely want to know.
I’d encourage you to think about this in the context of signaling. If you have 2-3 questions to ask them and spend 1 of them on compensation, that sends a message that you might be too focused on money and might leave them quickly for a better offer.
If you ask something socially awkward, they might wonder if you have sufficient judgment for the position.
These might not be the right inferences, but by asking these sorts of questions, you run the risk of conveying that impression.
It’s much simpler to avoid them in my view.
What are some possible questions, and why would you ask them?
Make sure to select four questions to be ready to ask in an interview. They may reserve a lot of time for questions, and you’ll definitely be covered if you have four ready.
But it may only be 2 questions, so you need to rank your top 2.
1) What are some things you like most about working here?
This is an effective one to get a sense of what the interviewer likes about the company and their team.
It leaves them the opportunity to go in plenty of directions, and if you manage to ask this question to a number of people, then it ought to give you a pretty good picture of what it’s like to work there.
If they are only giving high-level answers, then follow up with a question about the culture.
Pay attention to whether the person lists multiple things they like. If there’s not much they like about working there or what they highlight isn’t meaningful, you may want to dig deeper to make sure this is a place where you want to spend your time.
2) If I am hired for this position and do an amazing job, what are the things we'll point to a year from now that would make you have that opinion?
I love this question. It gives you insight into what is most important to succeed in the job and shows you to be someone interested in outperforming expectations.
Beyond that, did you notice the subtlety of them imagining you in the job? I’m not convinced about the impact of this framing, but it likely won’t hurt you at least and may help on the margin.
3) If you could change one thing about the company or your work environment, what would it be?
This is a useful question because it gives you an idea if there are major problems, but it lets you ask it in a less negative way.
Most people will be at least somewhat candid when answering this, and if you meet a few people, you should be able to sense common themes.
4) What surprises people when they start here?
The previous three questions, especially the like/dislike about working here questions, are not unusual.
I’m a fan of asking questions that are not typical, and this is one that I like. When people aren’t used to answering questions, you can sometimes get more candid answers from them.
Here are some examples of what you’re looking for – green is good IMO and pink is…well, less good.
- We have a series of onboarding coffee meetings with members of the team so the new person can get to know them quickly
- We have recorded podcast interviews with each of the direct team members for you to listen to so you can get to know them quicker
- We created a 10-day email sequence to help smooth the onboarding process. It includes everything from the most important internal/external links to how-tos for your job.
- We value independence, and many people expect hand-holding when they start
5) Are there examples of people in this role being promoted into more senior positions?
This one is pretty straightforward. You’re trying to figure out if there is upward mobility in this role. Most places will view this as a positive because you have ambitions for greater things.
There are a couple of situations, though, where you may want to think twice about asking this one.
a) if you have jumped around a lot from job to job, they may already be worried about your ability to stick to a job
b) if it’s already a very senior role, it may not make sense to ask this one
6) Who would not be a fit at this company?
I’ve personally never asked this one but I came across it recently from Austin Belcak (who you should definitely follow on Twitter or LinkedIn when it comes to job search).
I’m a little torn. I love that it is likely a question they haven’t heard before. It’ll probably cause them to give it some thought and potentially share something interesting and valuable to you.
If the first thing they mention is that the culture is really important and people who are jerks have no place there, that’s probably a good sign. If it’s not really true, they are unlikely to say it even if they wish it were true.
They might say that people who are one-dimensional and work obsessively wouldn’t fit in. This one could be cut both ways. It could mean that they don’t pay for performance, and as such, no one tries to go the extra mile, or it could mean that they like people who have interests beyond work and view this as a marathon and not a sprint. Still, I’d probably try to dig in to find out what this means.
The downside of asking this, and I don’t know if it would be viewed this way, is that you may be viewed as a negative person.
What to do after the interview
You’ve likely seen me highlight the enormous importance of staying organized in your job search. I’ve even built an amazing job search organizer, which you can find here to help you.
One of the most important applications of this is your After Action notes. Immediately after your interview, take 15 minutes and make notes on
1) What you did well
2) What you need to do better
3) What questions you were asked – and keep track of them
4) What questions you asked them – and keep track of what they answered
This will help you prep for future interviews with that company and with others. It’s especially valuable because as you build this repository, you start to notice responses that stand out, good and bad.
A tactic that I've never heard anyone talk about directly before
During your informational interview, make sure to ask some of the questions highlighted above.
It only makes sense, right? You’re trying to learn about the company and the role.
Stay organized and track these answers. They can help direct your answers during the actual interviews (we’ll talk about that elsewhere) and also help direct your questions.
Let’s say during your informational interview you discover that a collaborative culture where people help each other and have each other’s back is really important.
When you get to the actual interviews later on, you can highlight (only if it’s true) that some of the best group projects you worked on were the ones where everyone really operated as a team and had each other’s backs.
Obviously, only mention this if you care about collaboration but if not, you can find other tidbits from your informational interviews that you can reflect back to them in your actual interviews.
The goal here is to identify things that are internally important and mirror those things back to them so you seem like a natural fit there.
Don’t do too much of this, or else it’ll seem fake. Only do it if you genuinely feel that way.
At the same time, don’t underestimate the importance of fit. Plenty of people appear capable of doing the job after an interview. Often, it is subtle nuances that make the difference, and fit can be one of those.
That’s all for this week. As always, reach out if there you have questions or topics you’d like me to explore.
