Questions to Ask During a Job Interview

This should be taken as an opportunity to insure that you will be able to be successful if hired for the opportunity being discussed. The follwing are key when in this phase of the interview:

The scope of questions set the tone of the interview.
You will be judged by the quality of your answers as well as your questions asked.
One of the keys to a successful interview is to actively listen to a interviewers answers and drill down into their answers to get a sense of their genuine motivations for answering the question the way they did (if the interviewer does not do that initially).

In general, the following questions should not be asked within an interview setting:

Questions that are easily researched - this will show lack of preparation.
Personal questions - these can lead to awkward situations and be difficult to recover.
Questions that demonstrate a lack of interest
Questions that demonstrate self-entitlement

Below are the 5 categories that should be investigated during an interview to acquire information to know if the position is right for you:

Position

Find out the rationale behind the position itself.

Responsibilities

These type of questions will allow you to insure that your skillset and motivations are truely aligned with the company's needs. Even if you have a job description for the posisition, it is always good pratice to validate what is in the job description at the beginning of the interview.

Resources available

These type of questions will be allow you to vet out (based on your experience) if the required resources are in place (or will they need to be developed) to be successful.

Performance metrics of the role

These type of questions will give you some insight into how you will be evaluated if hired.

Corporate culture/environment

These questions are essential to understand if the working environment is healthy and somewhere that you can be successful.

Example Question (For the Interviewer) with Rationale and Commentary

What are the biggest challenges for the company?

Rationale

This is one of my favorite questions to ask in an interview for a few reasons:

Use Case 1: This is an excellent open ended question that may uncover other topics that may add valuable additional information for you to consider/ask about (especially if you can slip this question in early in the interview).

Use Case 2: Even if your preparation/industry knowledge has given you some insight to what potential challenges the company may be facing, the question will do three things: Validate/reinforce the information that you have acquired. Open an opportunity to learn more about the company/industry. Show knowledge level from the interviewer.

Use Case 3: If the interview consists of multiple parties (in seperate settings), I like to ask this question to (each party in order to) vet and see if the team is on the same page. This will show how well the company is aligned.

Logical follow-up question(s)

Are there currently any resolutions being considered to overcome these challenges? - This will give you a sense of the level of ownership that management is taking.

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List of Questions (For the Interviewer) with Rationale

*The questions are seperated into the categories above.

Questions to Ask During a Job Interview

Questions to Avoid

Categories of Questions to Ask the Interviewer

Example Question (For the Interviewer) with Rationale and Commentary

Rationale

Logical follow-up question(s)

List of Questions (For the Interviewer) with Rationale