10 Questions to Ask a Potential Employer
You’ve landed a job interview, and you’re prepared for all the questions they might ask you. But when you get to the end of the interview… what questions do you have for them?
Here’s the 10 questions to get answered during your interview loop.
1. What differentiates someone who is good in this role vs. someone who is exceptional?
One of my favorite questions to ask. It demonstrates a focus on excellence, and it usually gets a great, thoughtful answer that helps you decide if this is a role you’ll thrive in. Plus, you can use information from this answer to help tell your story in any other interviews left in the interview loop.
2. What are the primary challenges and opportunities for this role?
It’s important to understand what you’d be up against in this role — and to evaluate whether those challenges are aligned with how you’re looking to grow your career.
3. What does success look like for this role? How is it measured?
Being able to articulate how success is defined and measured in a role means that expectations have been clearly thought though. A clear answer to this question will give you confidence that the company knows the value of the work being done in this role.
4. What does growth look like in this role?
Nobody wants a stagnant career — so it’s essential to understand how you will be able to grow and evolve the role moving into the future. How can this role prepare you for the next job you want to take on?
5. What are the upcoming challenges and opportunities for this team?
Similar to question 2 — but it’s important to know what the team or organization is facing in the near term. These are important clues that will help you decide whether or not the role is aligned with what you’re looking for.
6. What are the priorities for this team over the next 6 months? 1 year? 3 years?
Always valuable to know what you will be working on if everything works out with the job — both in the short term and in the longer term (though the longer term projections may be more speculative and less certain). But knowing that the roadmap is clearly defined can provide you with the confidence that you would enjoy your work in this role.
7. What’s your favorite aspect of the culture on this team? What’s your least favorite?
Understanding how a team or organization thinks about their culture and their values is critical when evaluating a potential job opportunity. Nobody wants to end up in an environment where their values don’t align with those of the people around them. These answers are often important clues about what your day-to-day in this role might feel like.
8. How does this team / company think about the role of [my discipline] in the product development process?
Good question to understand how all the pieces fit together in the development cycle — who has a seat at the table, how decisions get made, etc. Especially useful to ask people of different disciplines if you get the chance to interview with a variety of team members.
9. What made you decide to join this team?
It’s good to know the stories of the people on the team you’re interviewing with. Why did they decide make a change? What incentivized them to join this particular company/org/team? Are they happy with their decision? Plus, it provides an opportunity to connect more deeply with your interviewers.
10. How has the team changed since you joined? How do you expect it will change in the future?
Knowing the velocity and scope of change on a team can be a great insight into the culture of the team. Maybe you’re looking for stability. Maybe you’re looking for hypergrowth. There’s no right/wrong answer here — it depends on what you’re looking for in a role.
Best of luck with your interviews!
