3 Questions you should always ask at the end of an interview

The dreaded question at the end of an interview- “do you have any questions for us?”. The fear of asking something that will make you sound incapable vs. wanting to show how engaged, awesome, proactive you are is a tough place to be in. You can always say “no, I don’t think so- thank you.” But let’s be honest: you want to stand out, ask a question no one else they are interviewing has thought to ask, cement yourself in their memory- while also potentially learning a little more about the company you could end up working for. 

Something to think about when coming up with a shortlist of questions to have to hand (either on a notepad next to your screen if you’re interviewing remotely, or memorised if you’re seeing them in person) is that they aren’t just interviewing you- you’re interviewing them, the business, to see if they will be a good fit for you. Chances are, if you’re reading this article you have a disability and/or chronic illness, and need to know whether they are going to support you with that. 

Question one: What is your favourite thing about working for this company? 

This is a great question to start a conversation about the work culture of the company, how well they support their members of staff, how approachable and easy to talk to the managers are. This is also a good point to sit back and listen, you’ve probably been doing all the talking up to this point, and letting someone else talk about what they love about where they work is going to,hopefully, tell you a lot.

If you’re not impressed with their answer, or the conversation is going well and you want to learn more, you can go on to ask further questions. Does the company invest in staff development? What does internal career progression look like? What are the flexible working arrangements advertised?

Question two: What challenges do you foresee coming up in this role that I should be prepared for? 

Thinking ahead, being prepared, knowing you’re going to face challenges and not being afraid of them- these are all excellent traits to show at the interview. No job is without its challenges, and being able to show that you’re able to recognise this is a big plus. Challenges that may come up at this point could include very tight turnaround deadlines, difficult clients who don’t communicate well, and last minute projects. 

A good follow up question could be: “how often do these challenges come up?” so you can gage whether the role is actually right for you. If you’re ready to take them on though, being able to throw in a final- “I faced this challenge before, and this is how I overcame it/ I love the challenge of a tight deadline and wouldn’t foresee this as being a problem”- could make all the difference. 

Question three: Is there anything on my CV, or that we have talked about today that makes you question whether I would be a good fit for this role? 

There is nothing worse than hearing back from an interviewer with a rejection and feedback, that you know wouldn’t have been an issue if you could just explain. If they are a good interviewer, they will have pulled areas of your CV that they weren’t sure about and tested them on you through their questions. But we all know that nerves, muddling up memories and forgetting things happen when we are in a stressful situation. 

Asking this question outright gives you the opportunity to tackle this head on. If you’re going for a role that needs experience in an area you haven’t got, but you match with all their other requirements, being able to explain how “no I don’t have direct experience with this skill, however I have worked on xxx which I feel has a lot of transversal skills/ worked closely with xxx whose main responsibility was this skill, and much of our work overlapped.” Then go in with the killer line- “This is an area I am confident in getting started with, but also very much interested in developing.” 

Remember the aim of these questions is to get to know the company to see if it’s a good fit, as much as they want to get to know you for the same reason. Write them down beforehand. If you take in a notepad to the in person interview, make sure they are on the first page so you can find them at the end.