Top 5 Questions to Ask in a Job Interview

Anyone who has ever done an interview will know that one of the hardest questions to answer is, “Do you have any questions for me?”. Often, you’re so worried about yourself, you forget that interviews are an opportunity for you to find out more about the role and the company you’re applying to. Having a few questions prepared before you go in can help put you at ease, and get you all the information you need to know going into a job. We’ve listed five top questions to add to your bank below.

Q1. Based on the direction of the company, what do you think will be your greatest accomplishment in the next 3 years?

This is a good question to ask early on in the interview process. For a company to function effectively it needs to have a clear idea of where it’s headed and a plan on how to achieve those goals. This question will allow you to find out if the company has that foresight. A company that doesn’t think ahead may not be worthy of your time, as they might not have the guarantee that they’ll still have a role for you in 3 years time.

Q2. What are the most important qualities of someone who is successful in this role?

This is a great set up question to learn more about the position itself. You’re essentially asking the interviewer “What traits are you looking for?”. This allows you to immediately compare what the interviewer is looking for with your own work history and experience, allowing you to reiterate or go into further detail about how your qualities match what they’re looking for.

Q3. If you were to offer me this position and I were to accept, in a year’s time what will I have done specifically that you will consider this hire a hugely successful?

This question allows the interviewer to set out their expectations for the year and it lets you know what the interviewer considers to be successful. You can use this information to show off how exactly you would achieve the goals they’re setting out. You know the end goal, so now apply it to what you’re done in previous positions and show how you can make it work.

Q4. If you were to offer me this role, what would you say will be the biggest surprise to me within one week of this job?

This question serves as a little safety net for you. It gets the interviewer to consider “What might this person not know yet about the company?” or “What surprised me when I first started?”. In most cases it puts the interviewer on the spot and you’ll be provided with a negative surprise, rather than a positive one.

Q5. What is your management style, and what are your expectations of the position that you might have not already mentioned?

This will be a question for your manager, or whoever will be overseeing you day-to-day. You want to make sure you understand what kind of managing style they operate on and whether you will be in sync, before you accept the offer. The main reason people leave their job is due to conflicting values with management, so make sure before you accept that you know exactly what is to be expected of you, and what type of people you’ll be working with.

Bring Clarity To Your Job Search

These are just some examples of questions you can ask in an interview that will in turn give you the ammunition you need to show yourself off. If you’d like to find out more about the best ways to prepare for an interview, we here at Clarity would love to help!

Book a career consultation with one of our expert recruiters today!