Questions to ask to an interviewer at a job interview
Picture this: You’ve just finished answering your last question at an interview and now the interviewer says, “please feel free to ask me any questions if you want in the remaining 3–5 minutes!” You ask:
“What do you like the most about working here?”
It is a good question! It is also the one of the most overwhelmingly common questions asked by (Software Engineering) interview candidates across tech. So I have an answer prepped just for it!
In about 80 seconds I’ll paint a picture that will cement the collective passion of us working towards the future of tech. It doesn’t matter where I work. Best part of it is it will all be true and well thought out so the candidates can immediately connect to it and I never get tired of seeing the lit up eyes of them after hearing it!
I wouldn’t discourage it, and feel free to ask this to get various responses form different interviewers. However, think about it — you should already have a decent idea about this before applying to a job. There are b/vlogs about “a day in XYZ”, there are articles about the culture, there are many sources that say what a certain company is doing and why. So, when it is your turn to ask the questions to the interviewer, can you ask something else that isn’t easily available whilst standing out a little?
Why
The questions are often a tell-tale sign of the experience of the candidate. While this still remains the most common question, the more experienced candidates ask it in different ways roughly along the lines of:
1. What is the product are you working on?
2. What is the culture in [this place]?
3. What makes you work in the team/org you’re in?
4. I work at [tech giant]. How do you think WLB at [this place]?
See, all of them are valid questions but if you think about it, how is this helping you? Would my answer going to change your decision to join? Unlikely. Would an interviewer going to spill their grievances to a candidate? Highly unlikely.
Occam’s razor says, it is one of the more common questions because unfortunately, in many cases the candidate hadn’t thought about better questions to ask. So why not prepare for it a little?
Instead of wasting this 3–5 minutes with a commonly available topic, let’s try to utilise the time because:
1. You want some insights that aren’t available easily.
2. You can leave a hint about a little extra about your experience in a form of a question while learning how it compares to the new place.
3. You establish a hint to the way you think. Technical is good. Empathy is good. Growth mindset is good. Self awareness is good.
4. You subtly sell your teamwork and soft skills and how good it’ll be to work with you.
NOTE: Get this straight. Under no circumstance, the question you ask in the end is going to compensate for a poor performance in the interview. The reverse is also true. This is just a final polish.
How
Following are more geared towards SWE interviews. It can be extrapolated towards other types as well! In general, you can:
- Get specific. Is this a coding interview? Is this system design? Is this behavioural? Some other type? Curate questions for each type appropriate interviews!
- Establish a short personal connection saying why this thing is important to you — an how is it done in this new place!
Example: Hey I struggled with XYZ before until I realised ABC. How is XYZ different in your company? What is your opinion about ABC? - Quietly sell yourself without overdoing it. This is especially important in behaviorals. Lets say you prepared for a skill but the interviewer didn’t ask you about it. This is your tiny chance to subtly push the narrative you’ve dealt with XYZ! Do it in a way that benefits you and the interviewer both and doesn’t come off as bragging!
Example: When I did XYZ at scale, I had this problem ABC which I solved with PQR. Do you use PQR? Or do you have a different approach? - Express a genuine interest. This is a good one for fresh graduates without a lot of experiences.
Example: I’ve done work in XYZ and find it really interesting. What are the opportunities are there in the space in this company?
Conclusion
See, interviews are two-way streets. Whilst the interviewer is assessing your capabilities and experiences, you should also get signals from the interviewer about things are important to you and you do not have an publicly available answer. This is your chance to establish the fact that apart from your great technical capabilities, you care about the stuff that matters, you have a genuine interest to grow, and you’ll be a great teammate to work with.
Ask yourself — how can I make the most of this 3–5 minutes time?