The most overlooked key to job interview success: The questions you ask in the interview. They can be the deciding factor in whether or not you’re hired.
In this article, I’m going to share 100+ good questions to ask your interviewer.
And it’s all broken down by category so you can ask a mix of questions about the job, the team, the company’s culture, and more.
Let’s jump into the list of questions to ask in your job interview to get hired.
These are the best questions to ask the interviewer about the specific job you’re interviewing for. This is the most crucial type of interview questions to ask employers, because they’re hiring primarily for their specific needs in this role.
So before thinking about asking about the overall company’s culture, company plans and goals, etc., ask your interviewer at least two to three questions about the position from the list below:
After asking questions about the role, you can move on to questions about the company as a whole. These questions are suitable to ask a hiring manager but also a recruiter or HR person.
Chose one or two of the company-related questions below to ask in your interview, and you’ll impress the employer.
Next, ask one or two questions about the specific team or department you’ll be joining. These questions are best asked of the hiring manager, since they’ll be most familiar with this particular team.
Whereas, an HR person or recruiter should be able to give you some general company information, and can be asked the questions from the previous section.
Here are the best questions to ask the hiring manager about the group or department you’d be joining:
Opinion-based questions (like, “what is your favorite aspect of working here?”) make some of the best questions to ask in an interview and will help you get hired in a couple of different ways…
First, asking opinion-based questions will help you bond with the interviewer.
Everyone likes to share a bit about themselves or share their opinion, so asking for the interviewer’s perspective or personal experience will boost their mood and help you build a connection.
You’ll also find out what it’s like to work at the company so that you can make the right decision about whether the job is the right fit.
Finally, since many of the questions below are opinion-based questions, you can ask multiple people the same question. This means you’ll never run out of questions even if you meet with far more people than expected.
For example, you can ask one of these questions to a recruiter, then an HR person, then the hiring manager, all in the same day of interviewing.
Next, you can ask the hiring manager questions about the interview process and what to expect from the company as you continue to interview.
These are the best questions to ask the interviewer about the interviewing and hiring process for this job.
You should ask four to six questions in your job interview. Ask a mix of questions about the position, the team and company, and the interview process and next steps.
As you move through your job interviews, think about each person you’re speaking to and try to ask questions that they’re best-suited to answer, too.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure about this, but as an example, you’d want to ask a CEO higher-level questions about the company’s direction, strategy, growth.
You’d want to ask a recruiter about the basic duties of the job, the company’s story, etc. And for the hiring manager who would be your future boss, you’d want to ask about career path, training, what type of person they feel is the best fit for this role, etc.
That’s just a rough example, so don’t stress too much over which questions to ask which person in your interview. Almost any interviewer can answer basic questions about role, team, career path, and hiring process, and if not, the interviewer can go ask and find out for you.
Now, the list of questions to ask the interviewer above is massive, so here are a couple of ideas to help you choose which of these questions to ask in an interview.
First, ask questions about topics that genuinely interest you. You’re going to be more authentic and impressive in the interview if you’re asking questions that you care about.
And you’ll find out lots of valuable info about each opportunity to help you make your decision.
Asking interview questions about topics that don’t matter to you isn’t going to help you much.
Next, pick questions that you feel comfortable with and that fit your personality. Which of these questions will fit into the conversation that you’re likely to have with an interviewer? That’s the type of question to ask them in the job interview.
You never want to sound too rehearsed or planned out, so it’s best to pick questions that sound like “you”.
Also, not all of the above questions will make sense for your situation, your industry, etc. So look for questions that really fit best for the employers you’re talking to and for the type of job you’re going after (entry-level, management, etc.)
There are a LOT of questions above, so you may need to just scroll back up and skim through it until a few stand out to you. You only need four to six good questions if you’re interviewing with one person, and you can reuse these questions with different employers.
So invest time in picking your go-to questions, writing them down, and practicing them. That way, you won’t have to think about the best questions to ask each new employer you interview with.
You’ll be familiar and comfortable with the questions you’re going to ask the interviewer and you’ll save time preparing for each interview you go on.
Make sure you don’t ask a question that could be found in the job description, on the company website or via a quick Google search.
For example, if you’re going to ask, “Does your company have a mission statement and core values?”, make sure it’s not on their homepage first.
Also if you want to get hired, avoid asking the interviewer questions about salary, benefits, vacation, dress code, etc. Why? The company is focused on finding the person who is the best fit and will be able to come in and solve their problems. How is it going to look if you seem more focused on vacation time and benefits?
Before we wrap up this guide to which questions you should ask in the interview, I want to leave you with two important tips…
Not knowing when you’ll hear back from the employer leads to anxiety about following up. So always ask, and make note of the timeframe that the employer gives you so that you’ll know when to follow up via email to get feedback.
Here, you’ll find opinion-based questions which are GREAT because you can ask the same questions to multiple people.
(Normally, repeating a question to multiple people is a big mistake to avoid, but it’s completely fine when asking the interviewer something like, “what have you enjoyed most about working here?”)
Here’s why this is great…
If you interview with three or four people in a day, that final person is still going to expect you to ask good questions. And they will NOT be happy if you say, “Sorry, the first three people answered all my questions.”
So opinion-based questions are the best solution to making sure you never run out of questions to ask in an interview.
There are other opinion-based interview questions to ask mixed into the list above too, for example:
If you want more tips to stand out in your next interview (and avoid mistakes), here are a couple of things to make sure you’re doing.
First, be sure to send thank-you emails one day after the interview. This is a great way to set yourself apart and show the employer you made the extra effort.
Also, I’d recommend reviewing this in-depth article on tips for how to pass a job interview. It contains some of the best info I learned while working 5+ years as a recruiter.
And finally, here’s a list of the key things every hiring manager is looking for. Make sure you review that so you target the things they care most about in your interview.
Asking good questions is one piece of the interview puzzle, but you also need to perform well in the interview and follow-up professionally after it’s over. So the resources above will help you with those areas.
Biron Clark is a former executive recruiter who has worked individually with hundreds of job seekers, reviewed thousands of resumes and LinkedIn profiles, and recruited for top venture-backed startups and Fortune 500 companies. He has been advising job seekers since 2012 to think differently in their job search and land high-paying, competitive positions.
Get our free PDF with the top 30 interview questions and answers. Join 10,000+ job seekers in our email newsletter and we'll send you the 30 must-know questions, plus our best insider tips for turning interviews into job offers.