You will be able to ask questions that show your interest and give you what you need to decide on an offer.
Near the end of most interviews, the interviewer asks whether you have any questions. Many candidates say no because everything was covered, or ask only about leave entitlement or hybrid arrangements. Those are fair things to want answered, but they reveal little about how seriously you take the job.
The questions you ask at the end have two jobs. They show you have thought about the role, and they help you decide whether to accept an offer. These are the two jobs of interview questions. When you are focused on winning the offer, the second job is easy to forget, and it matters just as much as the first.
Ask what success would look like in the first six months. The question shows you are thinking about doing the job well, beyond just getting it, and the answer tells you a good deal about the manager.
A manager who has thought about the role will describe clear, concrete goals. For example: "By six months, you'd own the weekly delivery dashboard and have rebuilt the reporting for two depots." A manager who cannot answer, or gives a vague answer such as "just settle in and learn", may not have a clear picture of what they need. That can make the job frustrating.
The answer is useful either way. If you are hired, you know what you will be measured against. If you are not, you have learned what employers in your field expect at that level.
When you are interviewing with your future manager, ask how they work with the team. Two questions are useful here: how they give feedback, and how often they meet the team and each person one-to-one. The answers show you what day-to-day working life will be like.
A manager who says they give feedback as things come up and meet each person every week or two is describing a working relationship you can picture. A manager who says they are quite hands-off and their door is always open may be telling you that you will get little guidance. Neither style is wrong in itself, but one may suit you better than the other.
The manager shapes your experience of the job more than almost anything else, so it is worth learning how communication will work before you sign. Lesson 3.1 of Communicate at work: writing, speaking and meetings, "What your manager actually wants from an update", describes how much easier work becomes once you and your manager have agreed how you will communicate.
It is fair and useful to ask why the role is open. The usual answers are that the team is growing, which is a good sign; that someone was promoted or moved internally, which suggests people can progress; or that someone left.
If someone left, it is reasonable to ask gently what happened to the previous person. Keep the tone curious. You could ask whether the previous person was in the role long and where they moved on to. If they moved to a bigger job, that is encouraging. If the role has turned over several times in two years, that is worth noticing, and worth asking about elsewhere, for example through someone in your network who knows the company.
Wei Ling was interviewing for an analyst role at a logistics firm and asked why the role was open. The answer was that the role was new, created after the company won a large regional contract. That told Wei Ling the team had budget and a clear reason to hire. It also gave Wei Ling a follow-up topic: what the contract would require from the analyst.
Different interviewers can answer different questions. HR or the recruiter, often in the first round, can best answer questions about the process, team structure, benefits, working arrangements and the timeline for a decision. The hiring manager can best answer questions about the work itself, what success looks like in the role, how they manage and why the role is open.
Asking the hiring manager about leave policy wastes time with the person who knows most about the job. Asking HR how the manager gives feedback gets you a general answer at best. Save each question for the person who can actually answer it.
Before every interview, write down five questions. Include what success looks like in the first six months, how the manager gives feedback and how often they meet the team and each person one-to-one, and why the role is open, with a gentle follow-up about the previous person if someone left. Then sort each question by who can best answer it.
Expect to ask only two or three. Some will be answered during the conversation, and the time left at the end is usually short. Having five ready means at least two good ones will remain whatever was covered.
During the interview, note which of your questions get answered along the way. If one was, say so and build on it with a follow-up. Wei Ling, for example, could say: "You mentioned the regional contract earlier. What would the analyst's role be in delivering it?" Building on something said earlier shows you were listening, which is a small point in your favour.
At the end, put two or three of your remaining questions to the right person. Use the answers to judge both the role and whether you would accept an offer if one comes.
For the activity, write your five for your next interview and decide which you would put to the hiring manager and which to HR.
Write five questions for your next interview. Mark each one H for the hiring manager or R for HR.
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