Six Questions to Ask During Every Interview
The questions you should be asking an employer as an applicant in each job interview.
Everyone knows that the purpose of an interview is for the employer to decide if you would be a good fit for the position, but applicants often forget that they are not the only ones being interviewed. The applicant is also interviewing the employer!
During the interview, the hiring manager is trying to figure out various things about you within a relatively short amount of time. Are you as qualified as your resume suggests? Do you know what you’re talking about? If yes, then that’s awesome! But, are you likable? Will your personality mesh with the other people on the team?
But as the applicant, you’re also trying to figure out several things about the company and the position, and it’s just as important for you to get the information that you need!
Is this the job you’re really looking for? Will it be a good fit for you? Is the job something you would enjoy doing each day? Does this workplace seem to have a good culture? Is the manager going to meet your expectations as a leader?
More specifically…does the schedule and location line up with your ability to pick your kids up from school, get home in time to make dinner, etc.? Does this job allow a flexible schedule where you’re able to make up for time missed or work from home to care for your children?
Work and family balance.
You need to know this information in order to make the best decision for you. And yet, one of the biggest mistakes I saw applicants make time and time again when I worked in Human Resources was not asking questions. The typical answer I would get whenever I asked the interviewees if they had any questions about the role was “Um, no I think I’m good”. This is a no-no!
I cannot stress this enough – you need to ask questions! The interviewers are expecting it. It’s actually a red flag to HR and hiring managers if you don’t. The reason? If you don’t have questions, it suggests that you haven’t given the position serious thought and are not that interested in it.
And maybe that’s true for some people, but I think the more likely scenario is that interviews make many people nervous and they either forget to ask questions entirely or their nerves cause them to draw a blank when it comes to formulating quality questions.
Preparation is key here. Just like you should prepare your answers for common interview questions that will be asked of you, you should prepare your own questions before you walk into the interview.
Oh yeah – and write them down! It’s absolutely okay to bring in a sheet of paper with your questions listed. Or, jot them down in the notebook app of your smartphone. If you go the smartphone route though, I just advise that you let the interviewer know that you’re looking at your phone to look at your questions, so that they don’t think you’re texting or looking at something unrelated when you’re supposed to be present.
Interview notes stationery is part of the Job Application Organization Kit available in my online boutique.
So, what questions should you be asking anyway?
You may have specific questions for a particular position that you may not have for every job interview you go on, but regardless of what job you’re applying for, the questions you ask should be well thought out and focus on information that is important to you.
Really think about this for a minute. What is important to you when you’re at work? What kind of leadership style do you like? What kind of atmosphere do you thrive in?
Do you like a busy and fast-paced environment so that the day goes by quickly? Or, do you get overstimulated easily and need a quieter setting? Do you enjoy engaging with clients or customers, or do you prefer to not be customer-facing? Do you want to go into an office so you can focus more easily and get a break from your responsibilities at home, or is working from home more conducive for your family?
These are just some things to think about to get the juices flowing.
Below are six questions I’ve come up with, and that I have actually used myself as an applicant, and that I loved being asked as an interviewer, that you should bring up during an interview to provide you with the information you need to decide if the job and/or employer is right for you.
1. What would you say are the three most important characteristics to be successful in this role?
What’s the point of this question? You want to gauge the challenges you can expect to face in this position and what it is going to take to be successful in management’s eyes.
Do you have these characteristics? If so, are they characteristics you can lean into each day for several hours without burning out?
For instance, I know that I have the ability to be charismatic and to sell someone something. I’ve done it before. But, I’m an extroverted introvert (heavy on the introvert), so those characteristics are highly circumstantial for me. First of all, I have to be feeling extroverted, and more often than not, I feel introverted. So, leaning into my extroverted side when I’m very much in my introversion is daunting. I can do it, but not for 8 hours a day, every day. It also very much depends on who I’m talking to and if I have a connection with them. So, I would never apply for a sales job (or “account manager” as most sales jobs are advertised). It wouldn’t be a good fit for me or for the company.
I do know, however, that I enjoy talking to and helping people, and that as long as it’s one-on-one or in smaller groups, I don’t have to be in my extrovert state to do it. I also know that I’m detail-oriented, organized, and ambitious. All of these characteristics are what allowed me to have a successful career in Human Resources for so many years! And, they’re also characteristics I lean into to be a good mom!
2. What were some of the challenges past employees who were in this role faced?
What’s the point of this question? Every job comes with challenges and most jobs have already been done by someone else. Why go into it not knowing what to expect when someone else has already experienced it?
Asking this question will give you a heads up if there were past issues or if there are current issues with the actual role (i.e., unclear expectations or misunderstanding of the role’s purpose), or if issues lie in others’ willingness to collaborate and cooperate with that role (i.e., tensions between different departments).
I asked this question when applying for an HR role after I had my first child, and the hiring manager let me know that a common challenge for the position, and for the department as a whole, was getting other department managers to take HR seriously. For whatever reason, the relationship between HR and certain department heads at this organization was not good. The previous person who held the position burnt out because it felt like it was a fight every day to just get basic information or to have a simple conversation with other leadership members. This let me know what I had to prepare for and informed me of how I would need to approach these managers if I accepted the position, which I did. And the hiring manager was absolutely right about that challenge.
When I was making my decision about accepting this job offer, this was the point that I spent the most time mulling over. I was a new mom with an 8-month-old at home. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about having to return to work full-time as it was, and I had intentionally applied for a position that was a step down from my previous job so that I wouldn’t have to live at the office.
But I had dealt with this same challenge before. I had successfully navigated it, and the opportunity to do that again actually interested me. I love a good challenge, and I wanted to see if I could do it again in a different organization!
There were two weeks from the time I accepted the offer and my start date, and I used those two weeks to think back on my previous experience and strategize how I was going to broach this new situation. If I hadn’t been prepared, I don’t think I would have lasted very long in this role. I’m talking maybe a matter of weeks. But I knew what was coming, and I was ready!
3. Are there any changes expected in the foreseeable future that would have an impact on this position?
What’s the point of this question? If there is one thing I have learned from my time in HR, it’s that change in business, just as in life, is constant. Even when there is nothing actively changing at the moment, there’s talk of change. You can’t escape it. And a big change to a job can trickle into your home life, especially for parents!
Is there going to be a change in leadership? Is the hiring manager who is interviewing you going to be there when you actually start? Are they going to sell the division in which this position works to a different company? This exact scenario has happened to my husband twice. Is anyone who is currently part of the department leaving soon? What about a merger? A change in location? That’s a big one. You don’t want to accept a job because it’s close to home, just to find out three months in that they’re moving you across town and increasing your daily commute by an hour. And these things do happen.
Now, I can’t guarantee that you will get a straightforward answer, or even that the interviewer will know that change is coming. There was one time I asked this question and the hiring manager laughed and said “I really hope not”. When I walked in for my first day, I found out that the director had quit the previous week and the department was in panic mode!
This question is still worth asking, though, in case the interviewer knows of upcoming changes and is willing to share whatever information they may have with you. The more information you can get, the better you’ll be able to make the right decision for you!
4. What is your management style?
Another way to phrase this is “what is your leadership style”.
What’s the point of this question? It will help both you and the hiring manager get to know one another a little better and set expectations. It also opens the door for you to mention how you prefer to be led.
Listening to how the hiring manager answers this question and comparing it to your own expectations will help you determine if it will be a good fit for you. Again, listen carefully to how the hiring manager words their response. If they are a micro-manager, which no one wants to work for, they are not going to come right out and say “I micro-manage my employees”. But they will say something like “I’m very involved every step of the way; attention to detail is important and if I notice that you’ve overlooked something, we’ll talk about it. Some people don’t like that, but that’s just the way I am.”
You really have to read between the lines on this one. Anytime you ask someone to describe themselves, they’re probably going to paint themselves in a better light than how others would describe them. So, take what they say with a grain of salt and pay attention to their word choice.
I’m always careful of a manager who uses too many buzzwords when describing their management style. This answer should be authentic and sound like it’s coming from them as they self-reflect. Using a bunch of trending words or popular phrases is an indication that they might be telling you what you want to hear without giving much thought as to if it actually aligns with their leadership style.
5. What are your expectations within the first 90 days for this role?
What’s the point of this question? Employees are constantly being evaluated, but never as much as they are during the first 90 days of employment.
The first 90 days are commonly used as the initial assessment period to see if an employee can acclimate to the organization and if they have what it takes to be successful in the job. It is often the easiest time for management to terminate a person’s employment if they think the new employee will not be a good fit.
Asking this question will ensure that you know what is expected of you right out of the gate. You can then decide for yourself if you’re going to be able to meet those expectations.
It will also give you a glimpse into the hiring manager’s leadership style, how familiar the manager is with the role, and the workplace culture. If the manager doesn’t seem to know what the job entails, how to do it, or what their expectations of the position are, that’s a red flag! You would likely be walking into a situation where there is little guidance and support, as well as unrealistic expectations.
If the expectations for the first 90 days seem reasonable and achievable, then it’s safe to assume that the leadership style will be like that as well and that the culture will be a positive one. I can’t guarantee that, but it’s a safe bet to make. If the expectations are unreasonable or the manager can’t tell you what they want to see from this position, then it’s also a good indication of their lack of leadership skills and a chaotic work environment.
Once you know what the manager’s expectations are, do a personal inventory of your skills, qualities, and characteristics. If the position calls for someone who is highly organized to establish an efficient organization and record-keeping system for that role, and you are not that organized and maybe a little scatterbrained, then you will know right there and then that this job is not for you! Thank the interviewer for their time, and move on. If you are highly organized, or those are skills that you know you can improve upon and you just need the opportunity to build on them, then this might just be the job for you!
6. How would you describe the culture of the organization and the specific team that this position is on?
What’s the point of this question? To feel out if you will fit in and the type of atmosphere you would be walking into each day.
Now, this area can be a bit tricky because management might try to oversell the culture by either exaggerating the positive aspects or carefully wording their responses so as not to tip you off to anything negative. Why would they do this? In order to maintain your interest and fill the position. This is another one where you need to pay close attention to word choice and read between the lines.
That’s not to say that you will never get an honest answer, but you should listen carefully to the words that are being used, how much detail is being provided, and how forthcoming they are with information.
If the response given is filled with buzzwords such as work/life balance, family-oriented, etc. without specific examples, you should press for more details. For instance, if they say that the culture supports a work/life balance, ask what programs the company has in place to achieve this.
Something else to keep in mind is that it is entirely possible for the culture of the company as a whole to look different from the culture of the department.
If you are applying for a job because the company touts a supportive work environment for families that allows parents to work from home, make sure that the hiring manager also supports this for the role you’re interviewing for. That benefit isn’t going to be much use to you if your manager tells you “No” every time you ask to work from home because your childcare for that day fell through.
I recently saw a job ad that said the company offers “unlimited PTO”. It seemed, based on the ad, that they were highlighting this to show that they have a positive and supportive culture of parents and caregivers. I admittedly can be a skeptical person, particularly when it comes to the business world. I rarely take anything I’m told at face value and I’m always looking for the angle. I don’t know much about this company and I didn’t talk to anyone in HR to learn more about this unlimited PTO policy, but if I were applying for that job because of their PTO policy, I would be asking questions in the interview to determine what that policy actually looks like, how it’s implemented, and if it’s a true reflection of a family-friendly culture.
Again, a benefit or perk isn’t beneficial if it’s implemented with multiple restrictions or if it’s up to each manager as to how they implement it.
I would just word my question in a way that was clear I was trying to get a better understanding of the culture so that it wouldn’t seem like I was already planning my time off before I was even hired!
And there you have it, folks! These are not the only questions you could ask during an interview, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, if there are other specific questions you have about the job, by all means, ask those questions! But, these six questions should definitely be asked at every interview, regardless of the position or the industry. Good luck!