What are important questions you ask an employer when you are interviewing for a new job?

25 comments

1. What does the day to day look like?
   What is the salary package? What is the expectation from me?

2. Is this a new position or am I a replacement?

3. What are some of the challenges of the role?

   Those who have done this role well, what is it about them that’s allowed them to succeed?

4. Is there posibilities to grow up within the company? And if so, what are the process?

   This one is important to me. As a university student, and I think everyone that is an adult, strive to have a job where he/she can grow. If that is not possible, I don’t think it’s worth it.

5. What does success look like in this position?

6. how much do i get paid

7. What is the team I’ll join responsible for? What opportunities will I have in terms of type of work, from this post as my starting point?
   What products/strategies/operations will I get ownership of, and what will be expected of me from them?

8. What’s the meeting culture like?

   Specific to industry, but how is employee time expected to be broken down, I.e. percentage billable hours (to clients), dedicated self-improvement time, dedicated email/administrative time

9. I always end with: “Are there any other questions about my qualifications or ability to handle the role I could answer for you?” It shows openness and confidence at the same time.

10. How long have folks on this team been here?

11. What is everyone excited about right now?

    Right away it tells you if they know what’s even going on, and if they actually listen to their staff. It also can give you insight into what the rest of the staff thinks. Even moreso if you can tell when you’re being bullshitted. And if it is and honest, but not very good answer (“we’re all just looking forward to ____ finally being over.”) Then you know that much too.

    I never took a job where the answer to that question wasn’t sincere, and something I would be excited about too.

12. Best and worst parts of working there

13. What would be the best part about working here? And what would be the worst?

    How well do people around here interact?

14. How are the benefits?

15. What is the office/team culture like?

16. Why did the previous person leave this role?

17. What do you like about working there? Why is this position open?

18. I like to ask questions to determine if the job will be a good fit for me, so that they know that I value my time, and I have expectations, and then I usually throw this one in there. They are always impressed by it.

    “If I were to start in this position tomorrow, what would be the single most impactful thing that I could begin working on in my first week?”

    I think it gets them to start conceptualizing what it is going to be like to have me on board and the first image they are picturing is usually something that they really want/need help with. It gives them the idea that I will be their ally.

19. “What training and progression opportunities are available?” Particularly if there’s an area of the job spec that I might have less experience with, I would say something like “I noticed in the job spec that the role involves writing development proposals, which is something I’m really excited and would feel challenged by as I have only previously written small scale proposals. What support or training might be available to support with this?”

    “What does success look like in this role?” or “What do you see the roleholder achieving in this role?” I find this really helpful for directing my own professional development. As I’m fairly set in my industry/career now, it’s also potentially a way of scoping competitors’ ideas haha.

    And I think you should also ask about things that are important to you. For example I once interviewed for a job that was focused on one specific project. I asked whether there were opportunities to work on other adjacent projects or potentially swap onto a different project in the future. They said no! And I thought wow that would get incredibly boring very quickly. I turned that job offer down!

20. Ask very specifically about promotion/raise structure if you’re looking for someplace to stay longer term. At a smaller company, that might be questions about what opportunities for advancement are possible within 1-2 years if people above you in the chain of command aren’t promoted or otherwise move on. Would they create a title for you? Would your pay continue to increase for COL and high performance, even if they couldn’t give you a better title until someone else left?

    At a larger organization, find out what obstacles are in the way to promotion/raises. This is especially true in manufacturing/labor as they will try to to sucker you in with an “earn more/learn more” model. Can you be promoted to the next level if there isn’t an “opening” approved by corporate? Will you be given differentiated pay if you are performing a number of hours per shift at the operator level above yours?

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22. Whats your employee turnover rate? If they lose people often, thats never a good sign.

23. Can I have Fridays off?

24. I ask about expected time in the position before promotion and what that looks like. I expect that promotions to be in a 18-24 month time with defined time frames.

    I want to know who I am replacing and why.

    Also, I ask and confirm work from home and corp to corp status.

25. Honestly I’ve naturally asked questions that clarify my understanding of the position or day to day structure.

    As much as possible, try to find ways to ask about getting benefits (if the position will be full time).