Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview

You’re in a job interview and it comes to the end and the interviewer says so that’s all of our questions. Do you have any questions for us? What do you say? We will discuss today, what you should not do in this situation, the types of questions you want to ask, and make sure you stay till the end because I will give you the best yet the scariest question that you must ask to help you get the job. What not to do when they say, do you have any questions for us?

Please do not say no. I think you answered everything for me. I think I’m good.   
 

No, you have questions. You always have questions. And I think a lot of people think, oh, okay.

What’s the next step in this process? That’s a fine question. You can ask it, but it shouldn’t be your only question. Also, I always recommend coming up with more than those.

Ask questions you genuinely have.

When you’re preparing for the interview , jot down some questions you have, what are the concerns you have for this position? What do you really want to know? But you want to ask questions that are also showing that you are looking to have success in this position if you got it. So you want to be kind of forward-thinking in your questions.

Questions around the culture of the company, people, past successes, and challenges in the Department all tend to do well.   
You can ask a culture question, like, tell me about a typical day in this position, or I actually really like, what’s a typical work week like here? Because when you ask, what’s a typical day, every company, the response will be, well, there’s no such thing as a typical day.  But you’ll learn about what it’s like to work there. Hence, it shows that you have an interest in what they do. But you’re also getting information so you can see, can I picture myself in this environment, then you want to ask questions that show that you are already thinking of what it would take to be successful in this position.

What is it that you would like someone in this position to accomplish in the first 90 days or what is the one trait that you see in people that makes them really successful in this position?

You also might want to ask about challenges. It shows that you’re not afraid of a challenge as well as okay, let me think of how I can solve that challenge. Now, you’re not going to give an answer to that, but you want to ask them, what are some of the challenges you foresee in the next six months that someone in this position will be working on? It shows once again that you are already trying to figure out how I am going to do it. Well here, how can I do my best for you?

What is your favorite part about working for this department?  
 

Another popular one is to try and connect with the interviewer a little more while also getting some idea of that culture. Make sure you’re not asking questions that you could Google the answer to. Ask about the department or specific position and not about the company because most companies now you can learn about their company culture on their LinkedIn page or on their website. But you can’t find out about that Department. It just kind of help get a feel for if I could see myself there. 

Here’s my big trick with this you want to always have at least three questions in your back pocket. That’s how we like to say it because we want to have these ready because inevitably one will be answered for you. Try to have one that is success-driven, one that’s culture-related, and one that’s more connecting, because inevitably, if you only have the culture questions, they are going to sit down and they’re going to say so before we ask you any questions, we want to give you a little bit more of a sense of the culture of our company. Asking questions sometimes takes some nerves, but we promise you, it will be worth it based on what we’ve talked about today. However, if you get an answer that bad, the beauty of it is, you know, right away not to be waiting by the phone for their call. You can pick yourself right back up and go start interviewing for more jobs , go start applying for more positions because this one’s probably just not it.

It is a skill or an experience that you can’t help that you didn’t have. Now you might say, well, you don’t have a lot of experience in this area. This is now your chance to make the argument for why you should get the position. Asking questions allows you the opportunity to fight for the job. Not every interviewer asks to follow-up questions. Sometimes they’re left wondering about those things by asking if you’re giving them the opportunity to clarify anything that’s still leaving them uncertain. It also is an awesome opportunity to show that you can handle feedback, something that so many people are looking for these days is someone who can take feedback.

As a recap, don’t say that you have no questions at the end. Be prepared with three questions, including one on culture, future success, and that feedback question, and make sure to ask that feedback question at the end to clarify any uncertainty. So you can make a strong argument of why you are a great fit for the position.