In case you have an interview coming-up and are wondering what to say when the interviewer asks if you have any questions, here are some ideas for interview questions that you can ask:
- What are your expectations from the person who joins this role, in terms of deliverables and achievements, in the first 4-6 months?
- How is the team structured and who are some of the people/departments I would be dealing with on a regular basis?
- Can you share the general background of a few of the people in the team? How long have they been with the company?
- Which 1-2 companies are your main competitors? How do you compare yourself to these companies?
- How would you describe your company culture and way of working? What type of people do well here?
- Why is this position open? How long was the previous employee in the job and why did he/she leave?
- How much time/effort does your company spend on issues surrounding employee satisfaction? Do you have any formal/structured initiatives in place for this?
- What are some attributes of the company which employees are happy with and what are some common complaints?
- How easy or hard is it, to move between departments and/or location within the company?
- What is your (or my future supervisor’s) leadership/management style like?
Which interview questions to ask and when to ask them, does depend on how your interview is going and the stage of the selection process. In general, the more they like you and the further you are in the interview process, the more detailed/specific/’personal’ your interview questions can get. I think it is also good to keep in mind, that you don’t have to ask questions, just for the sake of asking questions. It is better not to ask an interview question, than to appear fake and uninterested in your own question.
