12 smart questions to ask in a job interview (for job seekers)

Why should you ask questions in a job interview?

A job interview isn’t just about showing why you’re right for the role. It’s also your chance to figure out whether the role, manager and company are right for you.

Asking the right questions can give you a much better sense of what the job is really like, what will be expected of you and whether the opportunity fits where you want your career to go.

You don’t need to ask every question on this list. Pick the ones that fill in the gaps left by the job description or interview, and adapt them depending on who you’re speaking to.

What are the best questions to ask in an interview?

The best interview questions help you get a clearer picture of:

• What you’ll actually be doing
• What your employer expects from you
• How your performance will be measured
• How your manager and team work
• What challenges you might face
• What opportunities there are to develop
• What happens next in the hiring process

Here are 12 questions worth having ready for your next interview.

1. What would a typical day or week look like in this role?

A job description can only tell you so much. This question helps you understand what the role actually looks like day to day.

Ask the interviewer to talk you through the tasks, meetings and responsibilities that take up most of the role. Their answer can help you work out whether the position suits your interests, strengths and preferred way of working.

You could follow up with:

• Which responsibilities take up the most time?
• How much of the work is planned versus reactive?
• Who would I work with most often?
• Are there particularly busy periods throughout the year or project?

Listen for real examples rather than a repeat of the job description. By the end of the conversation, you should have a much clearer idea of how you’d actually spend your time.

2. What would you want the successful candidate to achieve in the first three to six months?

This is a useful way to uncover the employer’s immediate priorities and understand what a strong start would look like.

It can help you separate the things you’ll need to tackle straight away from responsibilities that might develop over time. It also gives you a natural opportunity to connect your experience with a problem or priority the employer needs help with.

For a project or contract role, you could ask:

“What are the most important milestones you’d want this person to deliver during the assignment?”

If the interviewer mentions several priorities, ask which one matters most. Their answer can tell you a lot about where you’d need to focus your attention first.

3. How will success in this role be measured?

It’s one thing to know what you’ll be responsible for. It’s another to know how the company will decide whether you’re doing it well.

Depending on the role, success could be measured through project milestones, quality standards, safety performance, service levels, revenue targets or stakeholder feedback.

Useful follow-up questions include:

• Which measures matter most?
• How often would we review progress?
• Who would provide feedback on my performance?
• What have successful people in this role done particularly well?

The answers should give you a much clearer sense of what good performance looks like in practice.

4. What are the biggest challenges someone in this role is likely to face?

Every job comes with challenges. Asking about them before you join can help you understand what you’re walking into and whether they’re challenges you’d be comfortable taking on.

A demanding role isn’t necessarily a red flag. What matters is whether the interviewer can talk openly about the difficulties involved and explain what the team is doing to address them.

If you’re interviewing for a project-based role, you could also ask:

• What stage is the project currently at?
• What are the biggest risks or dependencies?
• What has the team already tried?
• Where could someone with my experience add value quickly?

Their answers might also give you a good opening to talk about similar situations you’ve handled in previous roles. For help preparing those examples, read our guide to answering competency-based interview questions.

5. Why is this position available, and how has the role evolved?

Knowing why a company is hiring can tell you a lot about the opportunity you’re considering.

The role might be brand new, part of a growing team, linked to a new project or available because someone has moved on. None of those situations is automatically good or bad, but the answer gives you useful context about what you’d be stepping into.

If it’s a new position, ask how the responsibilities were handled before. If you’re replacing someone, you could ask whether the scope or priorities of the role have changed.

A simple way to phrase it is:

“To help me understand the context, is this a newly created role or an existing position?”

6. How would you describe the manager’s approach to communication, support and feedback?

Your relationship with your manager can shape a big part of your experience at work, so it’s worth finding out how they like to work.

If you’re speaking directly to the hiring manager, you could simply ask:

“How do you prefer to communicate with your team and give feedback?”

You could also ask:

• How often do you have one-to-one meetings?
• How much autonomy would I have?
• How do you handle competing priorities?
• What would you expect me to escalate to you?

There’s no single “right” management style. What matters is whether their approach gives you the level of clarity, support and independence you need to do your best work.

7. How does the team work together when priorities change or people disagree?

Ask someone to describe their company culture and you’ll often hear words like “collaborative” or “fast-paced.” Asking how the team behaves in a real situation can tell you much more.

For example, you could ask:

• Which teams or functions would I collaborate with most?
• How are decisions usually made?
• How does the team share information across locations or time zones?
• Can you give me an example of a recent challenge the team solved together?

Pay attention to the examples the interviewer shares. They can tell you a lot about how people communicate, make decisions and deal with pressure.

That’s usually far more useful than a list of company values or broad descriptions of the culture.

8. What are the expectations around work location, hours, travel and availability?

The practical side of a job matters too, especially if those details weren’t completely clear in the job description.

Depending on the role, you may want to clarify:

• Whether the role is site-based, office-based, remote or hybrid
• Which working hours or time zones apply
• Whether there are shifts, rotations or on-call requirements
• How frequently you’ll need to travel
• Whether working arrangements change during busy project periods

For international opportunities, you may also want to ask about the main work location and whether relocation, mobilisation or work authorisation support is available.

And don’t assume that a “remote” role automatically means you can work from anywhere. Employment, payroll and location requirements can vary, so it’s always worth checking the details with your recruiter.

9. What onboarding, training or support would I receive?

Every new job comes with a learning curve. This question helps you understand what support you’ll have while you find your feet.

You could ask:

• What would my first few weeks involve?
• Who would help me learn the role?
• Is there a formal onboarding or handover process?
• Are there systems, certifications or technical standards I’d need to learn?
• How long does it usually take someone to become fully effective?

If you’re joining a project or contract assignment, it’s also worth asking whether you’ll receive a handover and who you can turn to with technical or operational questions.

10. What opportunities are there to develop new skills or progress from this role?

If career development matters to you, try asking for real examples rather than simply asking whether the company offers opportunities to progress.

For example:

• What have people in this role gone on to do?
• Are there opportunities to work on different projects or assignments?
• Does the company offer mentoring or technical training?
• Does it support professional certifications?
• How are employees considered for greater responsibility?

The answers can help you see whether development is something the company genuinely invests in or something that sounds good on paper.

11. What changes or priorities are likely to affect this team over the next year?

This question helps you look beyond the job description and understand where the team (and potentially your role) is heading.

The answer might reveal upcoming projects, new technology, team growth, changing client requirements or other priorities that could shape your work.

You can make the question even stronger by linking it to something you found while researching the company:

“I saw that the business is expanding into [area]. How is that likely to affect this team and the person joining this role?”

It’s a simple way to show you’ve done your homework while finding out what the role could look like in the months ahead.

12. What are the next steps in the interview process?

Before the interview wraps up, make sure you know what happens next.

You could ask:

• Are there further interviews?
• Will there be a technical task, work sample or assessment?
• Who would I meet next?
• When do you expect to make a decision?
• Is there anything else I can provide?

If there’s an assessment involved, ask what it’s designed to evaluate and roughly how much time you should set aside.

Knowing what comes next means you can prepare properly instead of leaving the interview wondering what to expect. If the next stage takes place online, this video interview guide can help you prepare your setup and approach.

Frequently asked questions: 12 questions to ask in a job interview

Which questions should you ask each interviewer?

You don’t need to ask every question to the same person. Think about who’s best placed to give you a useful answer.

When should you ask about salary and benefits?

It’s reasonable to want clarity on compensation before getting too far into a hiring process. The best time to bring it up will depend on the employer, market and stage of the interview process.

A recruiter will usually be better placed than a potential teammate to discuss:

• Salary or day-rate ranges
• Bonuses and allowances
• Insurance and other benefits
• Annual leave
• Retirement benefits
• Relocation or accommodation support
• Overtime, rotation or travel arrangements
• Whether the contract is permanent, fixed-term or project-based

If compensation hasn’t come up yet, you could simply ask:

“Could you share the budgeted compensation range and the main benefits associated with this role?”

And remember, salary is only one part of an offer. Look at the overall package alongside the role itself, development opportunities, working arrangements and where the job could take your career next.

Our blog on job benefits to negotiate besides salary can help you identify what matters most to you.

How many questions should you prepare for an interview?

A good rule of thumb is to prepare five or six questions and prioritise the three or four you’d most like answered.

Some will probably come up naturally during the interview, so having a few alternatives ready gives you room to adapt.

Before the interview:

• Review the job description and note anything that isn’t clear.
• Research the company, project and interviewer.
• Choose questions that will genuinely influence your decision.
• Listen carefully and adapt your follow-up questions.
• Avoid working through your list like a checklist.

Often, the best question you can ask is the one that follows naturally from something the interviewer has just told you.

Can you request adjustments to the interview process?

If you need an adjustment to take part in an interview or assessment, speak to the recruiter or interview coordinator about what support is available.

Depending on your needs and the interview process, adjustments could include a different interview format, written instructions, additional assessment time or assistive technology.

Requirements and legal protections vary between countries, so check the guidance that applies in the location where you’re applying.

What questions should you avoid asking in a job interview?

There aren’t many questions that are completely off-limits. But some can leave the wrong impression or simply use up valuable interview time without telling you much.

Try to avoid questions that:

• Could easily have been answered through basic company research
• Focus only on what you’ll receive without exploring the role itself
• Ask for confidential information
• Make assumptions about promotion or job security
• Have already been answered during the interview
• Invite gossip about previous employees or team members

It’s absolutely fine to ask direct questions about things that will affect your decision. Just think about who you’re asking and be clear about what you’re trying to understand.

Use the answers to decide whether the job is right for you

Don’t ask questions just because you think they’ll impress the interviewer. The answers should help you make a decision too.

After the interview, ask yourself:

• Do I understand what I’d actually be responsible for?
• Are the priorities and expectations clear?
• Do I know how success would be measured?
• Does the manager’s approach suit the way I work?
• Are the working arrangements realistic for me?
• Would the role help me develop useful skills and experience?
• Were the interviewers open and consistent in their answers?
• Do I have enough information to decide whether I’d accept an offer?

A good interview should leave both you and the employer with a clearer sense of whether the opportunity feels like the right fit.

Prepare for your next job interview

Knowing what to ask is only one part of getting ready for an interview.

You’ll also need to talk about your experience clearly and have examples ready that show what you can do. One useful approach is the STAR technique, which helps you structure your answers around the situation, task, action and result.

Use our STAR technique guide to prepare a few strong examples before your next interview.

And when you’re ready to take the next step, search Airswift’s latest jobs and set up job alerts for opportunities that match your skills, location and career goals.