June 21: Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview
Asking questions at the end of an interview is still part of the interview process.
Source: Dave Anderson
Published: May 2022
Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview
One of the most important signals you can send during an interview is the questions you ask at the end.
Here are five ideas:
What's your favorite thing about working on this team?
What's the most exciting project you've worked on recently?
What do you think slows our team down the most? What prevents us from hitting our goals?
Do you know what my first project might be if I was hired? I'd love to have an idea of the type of work I'd be doing if I was hired.
What is a common mistake people make while joining, and how would you recommend I avoid making that mistake?
Bonus: Questions not to ask:
How much is this position paid?
What does this team do?
Can I transfer teams once I join?
I don't have any questions left.
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I like these questions to think about also for team catch up 1 on 1s. when joining a new company, and in fact even for a check in with a team you've been on a while.
They could be more vital in the interview process, when you consider you've had bad experienced in previous companies, especially around expectations, or even more basic issues you could have smoked out if you had just asked. When you consider how big of a commitment you're making in accepting an offer, these are more relevant to screen your choices of companies, than to send 'signals' IMO.
I would slightly disagree with avoiding: 'what does this team do?' as it's a valuable question put to someone who's actually on the team... perhaps could be phrased better to say you have a general idea but would like to here from them what the team does.
Super helpful!