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When an interviewer asks, “What questions do you have for us?”, choose a few prompts that reveal how the job works, how success is judged, who you will work with, and what happens next. Use the checklist below as a menu: mark the questions that were not answered earlier, adapt their wording to the role, and leave space for notes.
Career centers recommend researching the job description and organization, preparing examples that connect your experience to the required skills, and asking strategic questions that both assess the opportunity and demonstrate preparation. The result should be a focused conversation, not a script that you read word for word.
Why your questions matter
Your questions are a two-way assessment. They can clarify responsibilities, expectations, team dynamics, development opportunities, and the hiring timeline while showing that you understand the position. The UC Davis Career Center advises candidates to reread the job description, research the organization’s mission, values, leadership, products, services, and clients, and prepare examples tied to the needed skills. The UW–Madison Career Center similarly frames preparation as a way to learn about the employer and decide what you want from a position.
Do not try to ask every question. If the interviewer already explained reporting lines, training, or the first project, cross those items off and use your limited time on what remains uncertain. A concise, well-targeted question is more useful than a long list delivered mechanically.
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How to use this printable checklist
- Before the interview: reread the role description, note unfamiliar terms, and research the organization’s work and stated priorities.
- Choose a short list: select questions from the sections below that address your biggest information gaps. The University of California, Riverside’s graduate-interview guidance recommends preparing five questions, including one about culture and one about what success looks like in the first 90 days. Treat five questions and 90 days as that center’s practical example, not a universal rule.
- Prepare follow-ups: write one follow-up for any answer that could be vague, such as asking for an example of how feedback is delivered.
- During the conversation: listen for answers that arise naturally and check them off. Ask only what is still relevant.
- Afterward: record concrete details about responsibilities, expectations, people, development, and timing so you can compare opportunities accurately.
Printable questions about the role and success
Priorities and early results
- ☐ What would you want the person in this role to accomplish in the first few months?
- ☐ Which outcomes would make you say the hire is on track during the first 90 days?
- ☐ What are the most important responsibilities in a typical week?
- ☐ Which projects or priorities need attention first?
Performance and challenges
- ☐ How will you assess whether someone is succeeding in this position?
- ☐ Which metrics, deliverables, or behaviors matter most?
- ☐ What challenges should a new person expect to take on?
- ☐ What has made this role difficult for previous team members?
These prompts turn a broad job description into observable work. Listen for specific deliverables, decision rights, time horizons, and examples rather than only general statements such as “being proactive.” If success criteria are unclear, ask who sets priorities and how often expectations are reviewed.
Printable questions about the team and working environment
People and collaboration
- ☐ Who would I work with most closely?
- ☐ How are responsibilities divided across the team?
- ☐ How does the team typically collaborate and share feedback?
- ☐ Which partners outside the team are important to this role?
Culture in practice
- ☐ What is the work environment or culture like in practice?
- ☐ What qualities help someone work well with this team?
- ☐ How are disagreements or competing priorities handled?
- ☐ How does the manager support people when work is changing?
A culture question is specifically included in UCR’s interview-preparation advice, while Tufts’ sample interview questions emphasize the skills and qualities an employer seeks. Ask for a recent example when possible; an example of a team meeting, feedback conversation, or difficult decision is more informative than a slogan.
Printable questions about learning and growth
Building capability
- ☐ What opportunities are there to learn or build skills in this role?
- ☐ What would you hope the person in this role learns during the first year?
- ☐ How are new employees supported while they learn the work?
Longer-term development
- ☐ How have people in similar roles developed over time?
- ☐ How are career goals discussed and revisited?
- ☐ What kinds of projects expand a person’s scope after they become established?
These are prompts for clarifying your priorities, not assumptions about what an employer provides. Tufts’ examples address education, internships, strengths, motivation, and career goals; DePaul’s sample questions for experienced candidates include career growth and suggestions made to management. Ask what has actually happened for people in comparable roles, and whether development depends on a formal program or on available projects and manager support.
Printable questions about the hiring process
Next steps and timing
- ☐ What are the next steps in the process?
- ☐ Which interviews, exercises, or conversations remain?
- ☐ When do you expect to make a decision?
- ☐ Is there anything about my experience you would like me to clarify?
Ask process questions naturally if the interviewer has not already explained the timeline. There is no universal hiring schedule. The UW–Madison Career Center notes that the final 10–15 minutes usually provide an opportunity for questions, but the actual time varies by interviewer and format. Keep a short version of your list ready in case only a few minutes remain.
Adapt the questions to your career stage
| Candidate | What to clarify | Useful prompts |
|---|---|---|
| Student, intern, or early-career candidate | How coursework, projects, internships, activities, and transferable skills connect to the work; what support a new hire receives. | “Which parts of my coursework or project experience would be most useful here?” and “How do you help someone new learn the role?” |
| Career changer | Which skills matter immediately, the expected learning curve, and how experience from another field can be applied. | “Which capability would you want me to build first?” and “Where could my experience from another field add value while I learn your processes?” |
| Experienced professional | Current team priorities, role scope, evaluation, and how the position has changed. | “How is this role’s scope defined today?” and “What has changed since the position was created?” |
| Manager or senior leader | Decision authority, organizational priorities, team goals, and leadership expectations. | “Which decisions would I own?” and “What leadership outcome would matter most in the first year?” |
| Technical candidate | The kinds of technical problems, tools, collaboration, and evaluation format involved at this stage. | “What type of technical work would I encounter first?” and “How will the technical portion of the process be evaluated?” |
The early-career themes above reflect Tufts’ examples. DePaul provides separate examples for experienced applicants, including questions about current employment, responsibilities, and growth. The career-changer and manager prompts are practical adaptations: tailor them to the position rather than presenting them as universal employer requirements.
Adapt to the interview format and question type
In-person and live video interviews
Bring or keep open a short list, but do not read every line. For a video interview, test audio, camera, lighting, and the meeting link; keep the job description and your notes accessible without looking away constantly. In person, carry a printed copy if appropriate and write down names and commitments.
One-way or recorded interviews
You may not have a live question period. Prepare the same role, success, team, and growth questions for any later live stage, and use the recorded prompts to identify topics that need clarification. The University of Texas at San Antonio’s 2024 Interview Checklist distinguishes virtual, one-way, and in-person formats and recommends practicing across traditional, behavioral, and technical questions.
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Expect questions about past actions and results. Prepare concise examples using the situation, action, and result structure, then ask how the behaviors you demonstrated are used in this team. The UCR graduate-interview guide identifies behavioral questions as one common type.
Technical or case interviews
Ask about the format, tools allowed, collaboration expectations, and what a strong solution demonstrates when the stage makes that appropriate. UCR distinguishes technical and case interviews. For software-engineering candidates, UC Davis names Cracking the Coding Interview as a coding-interview preparation book and notes that its Career Center has a copy to borrow; that resource is relevant to coding interviews, not a required purchase for every applicant. More general question-type guidance is also available from the USC Career Center.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare answers across jobs
If you are evaluating more than one role, record answers under the same headings instead of relying on memory. The following axes synthesize the areas career centers encourage candidates to explore; they are a comparison framework, not a prescribed scoring system.
| Comparison axis | What to capture | Follow-up signal |
|---|---|---|
| Day-to-day responsibilities and scope | Typical work, first projects, decision boundaries, and competing priorities. | Are duties concrete, and do they match the advertised role? |
| Success and early expectations | Deliverables, evaluation methods, review cadence, and first-month or first-quarter outcomes. | Can the interviewer explain how performance is recognized? |
| Team, manager, and culture | Reporting line, collaborators, feedback habits, conflict handling, and working environment. | Do different interviewers describe the team consistently? |
| Learning and career development | Training, mentoring, project variety, progression examples, and ownership of development conversations. | Are examples specific to people in comparable roles? |
| Process and decision timing | Remaining stages, exercises, decision owner, and expected communication. | Do you know what you must prepare next and when to follow up? |
Questions to avoid asking mechanically
- Questions already answered: repeating information can signal that you were not listening. Refer to the earlier answer and ask a deeper follow-up instead.
- Questions that are easily answered by basic research: use your preparation to ask about implications, priorities, or examples rather than facts on the organization’s homepage.
- A fixed script: the checklist is a menu. Asking fewer, better-targeted questions is stronger than forcing every category into the conversation.
- Promises about outcomes: no single question guarantees an offer. Your goal is better information and a more substantive discussion.
- Rigid rules about compensation or benefits: the appropriate timing depends on the role, employer, location, and stage. Raise terms when relevant to your situation and when the conversation allows it; do not assume one universal stage.
- Legal assumptions: this checklist does not determine which questions an employer may legally ask. Rules vary by jurisdiction, so seek qualified local advice for a legal concern.
A compact one-page version
Print this condensed list, check the items that remain unanswered, and leave room beside each section for notes.
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- ☐ What are the most important responsibilities in a typical week?
- ☐ What should the person in this role accomplish in the first few months?
- ☐ How will success be assessed?
- ☐ What challenges should a new person expect?
- ☐ Who would I work with most closely?
- ☐ How does the team collaborate and share feedback?
- ☐ What is the work environment like in practice?
- ☐ What qualities help someone work well with this team?
- ☐ What opportunities are there to learn or build skills?
- ☐ How have people in similar roles developed?
- ☐ What are the next steps and expected decision timing?
- ☐ Is there anything about my experience you would like me to clarify?
Choose the subset that fits the conversation. Your notes should help you judge whether the work, expectations, people, development, and process match what you need—not merely help you sound prepared.
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