"Do you have any questions for us?" is still part of the assessment. It is also your only chance to find out whether you want the job.
Having none is the worst answer available. Asking something you could have found on the website is nearly as bad.
Questions that tell you something real
"What does success look like in this role at six months?"
If the answer is specific, the role has been thought through. If it is vague, either the role is poorly defined or the person interviewing you does not know it well — both worth knowing.
"Why is this role open?"
New role, growth, or replacement. If a replacement, it is reasonable to ask what happened. Discomfort here is informative.
"What is the biggest challenge facing the team right now?"
Tests whether they will be honest about difficulty. An interviewer who claims everything is excellent is either not being straight or not paying attention.
"How long have you been here, and what has kept you?"
Personal rather than corporate, which is why it produces a real answer. A long tenure with a convincing reason is a good sign. Hesitation is also a sign.
"How are decisions made here?"
Particularly useful for senior roles. The answer reveals how much autonomy you would actually have, which is usually more important than the job title.
"What happens next, and when?"
Practical, and establishes a timeline you can hold them to.
Questions worth asking at the right moment
About working arrangements. Reasonable to ask, better once there is clear mutual interest. Asking in the first ten minutes of a first interview can read as prioritising the arrangement over the work.
About progression. Fine to ask, but phrase it around development rather than promotion timelines. "How have people in this role grown?" works better than "when would I be promoted?"
About salary. Normally established with the recruiter beforehand. If it has not been, it is entirely reasonable to ask — but if you have been told the range, revisiting it at interview is premature.
Questions that cost you
"What does the company do?" Research failure.
"How much holiday do I get?" Not wrong, but it belongs with the offer, not the interview.
"Will I have to work late?" The concern is legitimate. Phrase it as "what does a typical week look like?" and you get a more useful answer anyway.
Nothing at all. Reads as disinterest, even when it is nerves.
If everything has been covered
It sometimes genuinely has. "Most of what I was going to ask has come up already, but I would be interested in..." followed by one good question works fine.
Have five prepared. You will probably only ask two or three, and some will be answered during the conversation.
What the answers are telling you
An interview is bidirectional, and most candidates forget this under pressure. You are deciding too.
Pay attention to whether they are honest about the difficult parts, whether the interviewer seems to enjoy working there, whether the answers are consistent with what you were told earlier in the process, and whether they listened to you.
An organisation that is evasive during the interview will not become more open once you have joined.
Where to start
Prepare five questions and write them down. Taking out a notebook with questions in it is not awkward — it reads as someone who prepared.
Sizanid recruits across fourteen sectors and 20+ countries, and we brief candidates properly before every client interview. [Browse our open roles](https://jobs.sizanidstaffing.com).
