DEV Community

Cover image for What questions should the interviewee ask the interviewer?

What questions should the interviewee ask the interviewer?

Jakob Attkinson on November 23, 2019

There are countless articles that advice every interviewee to ask questions when they go to an interview. Be it something technical, personal or gr...
Collapse
 
eonuk profile image
eonuk

I tend to squeeze a question in right at the start if possible, before the job interview starts. Usually at the tail end of the small talk before everyone gets comfortable. Something along these lines "So, I read the job advert and it got me really interested, but I know these adverts can get a little out of date / recruitment agencies lose the context of the job / so I was wondering what you take on the job is and how I can help?"

At this point, they may not answer it "We'll get onto that later". But quite often, they will give their viewpoint of why they need to hire someone. This is extremely useful because you can now tailor all your answers to fit that viewpoint, removing irrelevant information that is of no interest to them. This gives you are distinct advantage over other candidates who will be answering blindly without knowing what is driving the company's job search.

Collapse
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard
  • who are you most important customers?
  • what pain point do you solve for them?
  • how do you make money?
  • how do you collect and use feedback?
  • what is your approach to testing?
  • why were you interested by me?
  • what do you expect from employees?
  • which non technical aspects of my work do you find important, and how do you make time for them?
Collapse
 
attkinsonjakob profile image
Jakob Attkinson

Why is it important who their customers are and why that pay?

I mean, when you apply you should already have an idea about their product. Who is it for shouldn't matter that that much.
Curios to find out, maybe there's have angle I haven't considered yet.

Grray idea about feedback and softskills. Gonna use these ones too, nex time

Collapse
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard • Edited

I have been burned enough working on projects that waited way too much to do a public release or to start charging customers money.
This is a sure receipt for gold-plating and bike shedding.
Without paid customers, you don't have a compass of what is important to do next.
If they don't have paid customers, I want to know it and to know if they have a real plan to go there.

Without understanding the users, you can't do good work IMHO.

Collapse
 
lautarolobo profile image
Lautaro Lobo

What the best and the worst thing of working here?

That gives you a taste of the working environment (and if the interviewer is brainwashed or a total liar).

How long have you been working here?
Would you say it's an horizontal or vertical organization?

Collapse
 
attkinsonjakob profile image
Jakob Attkinson

Have you ever gotten a decent answer to "worst thing about working here"?

P.S. What's a vertical/horizontal organization ?

Collapse
 
lautarolobo profile image
Lautaro Lobo

Noup, but I was in only a few interviews.

Broad def...

Vertical: the boss says and we all obey, without question.

Horizontal: there's a space to discuss our roles and how the company works.

Collapse
 
nicholaslash profile image
soundsmitten • Edited

I try to ask something to see how the interviewer (if they are technical and in your domain) feels about the technical direction your domain is going in. For example, how do they see Apples paradigm shift into adopting reactive principles and declarative UI? If they seem passionate about the future and the possibilities, then it is likely a better fit for me.

Collapse
 
attkinsonjakob profile image
Jakob Attkinson

Would the question be relevant to the company? I mean, if you apply to a company that makes video games for iOS, the question is perfectly legit. If the company is in automative then... Even if you get to talk to the CTO I am not sure he could answer or even care about it

Collapse
 
mohanraj225678 profile image
mohanraj225678

This thing confuses the interviewee the most. I have given a lot of interviews, and every time I feel confused about whether what question would be apt to ask or not. Here are the following questions that you can consider asking your interviewer while giving an interview

  1. What would be the challenging aspects of my job?
  2. What is the scope of my professional as well as personal development in this company?
  3. What are the training programs available if I will be working as an employee in your company?
  4. What motivates you to go along with the growth of this company?
Collapse
 
attkinsonjakob profile image
Jakob Attkinson

Thanks for sharing!

One of the questions I always asked and is super important to me sounds something like what's the company's policy about unpaid vacation? After about 2 years, I always take 2 to 5 months off, unpaid, to travel and evaluate my priorities in life.

If the answer is either nope, can't do or I don't know I lose interest in the company. I am not saying my reason is legit, but that's something important to me and it's something that I always state upfront so that, when the time comes, management doesn't see it as a surprise.