Interview Insights: What Questions Do You Have for Me?

The ending stage of the interview is the part that candidates get most tripped up about. “What questions do you have for me?” The important thing to remember here is that you need to show that 1) you are genuinely interested in and passionate about the role, and 2) that you can articulate and convey yourself better than the competing candidates.

Another thing to note here is that whatever question you ask is a test of how well you were listening to the interviewer. Avoid asking generic questions—cite specific examples about the role and show that you are interested in learning all facets of the company. As always, preparation is the key to confidence! Do some background research on the company and make a mental list of the things that spark your interest and things about the company that you’d like to explore.

It’s important that the interview feels more like a comfortable dialogue than an interrogation for both you and the interviewer. One way to turn your question into a conversation is to ask the interviewer something that affirms your knowledge of the industry while inquiring about the specific goals you would like to see yourself achieve within the role. A good rule of thumb is to NOT ask questions that could be answered with a quick Google search or a couple clicks on the company’s webpage. Think about something you did really well in your last position and apply it to a question such as “In my last position I implemented ______ program where did _______. Is there something like that already in place or somewhere in the company where I can provide a similar solution?”

“The biggest thing I’m looking for is engagement,” says Herb Broadwater, Contingent Workforce Program Leader “Whatever the candidate asks will tell me if they are long-term career minded or not, and that’s a big deciding factor.”