What Should I Ask in an Interview?
Interviews are like dates – everyone wants them but when the moment of meeting comes, it’s easy to choke. Unlike dates, interviews require some level of formality, where you ask questions that give you a sense of the company and role, but also showcase your talents and goals.
Chances are that when the “do you have any questions for us” point arrives, you’ve already given a good impression of yourself. Still, with a good question or two you can really wow employers.
It’s also an opportunity to present yourself as a more competitive candidate seeing as one survey found that more than a third of interviewers said not asking good questions was one of the most common mistakes made by candidates.
To make sure you really shine (and secure the coveted second date), ask these questions in your interview.
1. What does professional development look like in this role?
This question shows that you’re thinking long term. It suggests that you want to invest in your career and potentially move up in the company. It also shows that you care about learning and growing in your job. And, by asking about professional development, you can gauge if there are people and tools in place (mentorship programs, certifications, etc.) that align with your career objectives.
2. What tools do you use to foster teamwork and innovation?
Technology is at the heart of any business. Getting curious about what tools the organization uses signals that you’re tech-savvy and that you want to really understand daily processes. Specifying tools for teamwork and innovation goes further to present you as someone who is a team player and who wants to constantly be experimenting and making the business a leader in its industry.
It’s worth noting that with this question, interviewees will probably ask you if you’ve had experience with the tools they mention. Don’t panic if you haven’t, you can be honest but say that you asked because you want to research the toolbox in advance. You’ll undoubtedly get brownie points for the initiative.
3. Can you share examples of how the company has responded to changes and new trends in the industry?
If you want to sense-check the resilience of the company you’re interviewing with, this is a smart question. You could specify a particular event that you know about in the industry (e.g. mass layoffs in the tech vertical) or leave the question open-ended for the interviewer. The idea is to see how the business adapts to change and how it stays relevant in a changing environment – characteristics that might imply how secure your job there would be and how successful the company may be.
Image courtesy of Epic Hire – Alexander DuFour – Dayton ’25
4. How do you give feedback?
Feedback is how you advance in your career, so it goes hand-in-hand with the professional development question. This question, though, is rooted in the culture of feedback in an organization. What you’re really asking is – “is feedback a priority here?” and “do you give feedback in constructive ways?”
5. What metrics do you use to measure progress?
This question can apply on both the business and personal level. It’s all well and good companies talking about their strategies and goals, but it’s important to know how exactly they define success and the journey toward it. The response will tell you more about how you’re expected to perform. Additionally, you can see if your style of working fits with how they measure individuals’ progress.
6. How are new hires supported during the first few months?
You can discover a lot about a company based on how they treat their newbies. Asking this question shows that you’re onboarding-oriented, and that you want to know there are programs in place to help new hires get up to speed as soon as possible. If you want to go a step further, you could ask the interviewer to share some accounts from recent new hires about their experience.
7. What roles will I be working closest with? How am I expected to report to them?
Your position won’t exist in a vacuum, you’ll have people from your team or other teams that you will need to collaborate with regularly. This question tells interviewers that you want to zoom out from your specific responsibilities to grasp who you’re working with and how you influence one another. The part about reporting expectations also emphasizes that you’re someone who wants to maintain good communication with the right people.
8. Does the company organize community-building events?
This question could relate to the business’ internal community (aka staff) or the community in terms of neighbors, local businesses, and charitable organizations. It’s a question that shows that you’re socially conscious, and know the value of nurturing collective power. Not to mention, asking this could open doors to you becoming a community ambassador in the company or carving out a similar role for yourself if one doesn’t already exist.
9. How does your company curate an inclusive culture?
Companies should be a reflection of the world around them, meaning they should be diverse! The more active a company is in welcoming people from different locations with different abilities, the more perspectives and creativity there will be.
Plus, this question holds the company accountable for any DEI initiatives the company has. The goal of this question is not to intentionally trip anyone up. However, it is a great question just to get an authentic feel of how inclusive the company culture and structure are.
10. How do you maintain and promote a healthy work-life balance?
It’s 2024 and work-life balance matters. The company you’re interviewing with should have demonstrable ways to keep people engaged with their work and with sufficient energy to rest and invest in other projects. This question highlights that you have interests outside of work and that you care about the human aspect of workplaces. It’s a great question because it reflects you as well-rounded and interesting, but also that you value downtime – which only benefits your productivity anyway!
Ask questions at the end of an interview!
When deciding “what should I ask in an interview”, you can approach it in a number of different ways: follow our template above, cater it based on the specific company or job description, or get creative. Ultimately though, the most important message is definitely be prepared to ask questions at every stage of the interview process.
These are just 10 of many, many questions you could ask during an interview. Use these as inspiration to craft questions that convey what is important to you and your career. The more personalized your questions are, you’ll seem more unique to interviewers and get responses that carry more significance to you.
Take steps to get to your next interview sooner. Create a profile on Epic Hire.