The best and worst questions to ask at the end of a job interview

For all the advances in data science, artificial intelligence, and behavioral assessments, one hiring ritual remains stubbornly unchanged: the job interview, where candidates are still subjected to awkward brainteasers about golf balls in airplanes, forced to disclose their “biggest weaknesses” to amateur psychologists, asked whether they would keep working after winning the lottery, or made to present to silent panels who seem less interested in evidence of competence than in observing how gracefully applicants endure a mildly humiliating social experiment.

Despite decades of research showing that traditional interviews are only moderately reliable predictors of performance, organizations continue to rely on them heavily. In fact, the typical interview still resembles what it looked like decades ago: a loosely structured conversation in which hiring managers form impressions based on intuition, chemistry, and gut feeling.

From a scientific standpoint, this is not ideal. Unstructured interviews are vulnerable to a long list of well-documented biases. Interviewers may favor candidates who resemble themselves (“similarity bias”), appear confident or attractive (“halo effects”), or simply fit the cultural stereotype of what a successful employee looks like (“culture fit”). First impressions loom large, even when they are based on thin evidence. Charisma often outperforms competence.

And yet, interviews persist. Why? Because hiring managers, like most humans, remain convinced they can “spot talent” when they see it. In other words, the interview is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

The end game

Fortunately for candidates, this irrationality does not mean human behavior is unpredictable. As behavioral economist Dan Ariely famously put it, people are “predictably irrational.” That predictability matters, and you can use it to your advantage. Even if interviews are imperfect, there is a growing body of research on how interviewers evaluate candidates and what signals tend to shape their judgments. Understanding those signals does not mean manipulating the system. It simply means avoiding the common mistakes that cause many candidates to underperform, or ensuring that you come across as well as you can.

One of the most overlooked opportunities occurs at the very end of the interview, when the interviewer – at times without a proper underlying plan or deliberate strategy – asks a deceivingly simple question: “Do you have any questions for us?” Many candidates treat this moment as a formality. Some (usually the unprepared ones) say “not really.” Others improvise a question on the spot, which rarely has a significant positive impact. Indeed, both approaches are somewhat risky and could result in decreasing candidates’ ratings even after an overall good performance.

Studies on interview dynamics suggest that most employers expect candidates to ask questions, and they interpret this behavior as a signal of preparation, motivation, and interest. When candidates decline to ask anything, interviewers often interpret it as a sign of disengagement or lack of curiosity or preparation. At the same time, asking the wrong question (or too many of them) will likely backfire. The difference between leaving a strong impression and undermining one often comes down to a few subtle signals.

Five rules

With that, here are five basic rules to inform your interview question strategy:

First rule: Avoid questions that make the conversation about you

A bad type of questions candidates often ask at the end of interviews are typically self-centered, focused on maximizing personal value at the expense of the organization or employer, and, above all, signal a total lack of social skills (lack of awareness of, or interested in acknowledging, the basic etiquette or rules of interaction governing any professional setting).

Examples (from most to least acceptable) may include:

“What is your working from home policy?”

“What would my vacation time be?”

“How soon could I be promoted?”
“What are the working hours like?”
“How quickly could I get a raise?”

“If I get bored after a few months, would the company help me find a more interesting role somewhere else?”

“Is it acceptable if I continue applying for other jobs while working here, just to keep my options open?”

“How flexible are you if I decide I’m not really a morning person?”

“Would it be a problem if I occasionally skipped meetings that seem unnecessary to me?”

“How soon before I could start delegating most of my work to other people?”

To be sure, these may be legitimate concerns. But raising them too early signals that your primary focus is personal gain rather than contribution. It is also a good illustration of a broader point I made in Don’t Be Yourself, authenticity is often overrated as a career strategy. Saying exactly what you think, when you think it, regardless of what others may think, may feel courageous and honest to you, but in professional settings it can simply reveal poor judgment and be a suicidal career move. Successful people don’t just express themselves; they also know when to edit themselves and how to say things to maximize positive effects and minimize negative effects, which requires quite a bit of strategy.

A more effective strategy is to instead ask questions that focus on the organization, the team, or the work itself. This signals interest in the role and demonstrates that you are thinking about the broader context.

Second rule: Demonstrate preparation

One of the easiest ways to impress an interviewer is to show that you have done your homework.

Instead of asking generic questions like …

“What does the company do?”
“What are your priorities?”

“How has the role evolved over the past few years”
“What would success look like in the first 12 months?”

… try referencing recent public information, which signals engagement. For example:

“I saw that the company recently expanded into the European market. How does this role contribute to that strategy?”

“I noticed the company has been investing heavily in AI and data capabilities. How is that changing the way this team operates day to day?”

“I saw your CEO recently emphasized sustainability as a strategic priority. How does that translate into concrete initiatives for this role or department?”

Or:

“I read about the recent partnership your firm announced. What challenges does that create for the team?”

Questions like these demonstrate that you are informed, engaged, and attentive.

Third rule: Use questions to signal the traits employers value

Smart candidates use the final questions not just to gather information but to highlight desirable traits indirectly. Consider the following examples.

To signal curiosity and learning orientation: “What are the most important things someone in this role needs to learn during the first six months?”

To signal teamwork and emotional intelligence: “Which teams or stakeholders does this role interact with most closely?”

To signal ambition and drive: “What does success look like in this role after the first year?”

To signal self-awareness and self-criticism: “What distinguishes people who really thrive here from those who struggle?”

To signal adaptability and resilience: “What challenges tend to surprise people when they first take on this role?”

Each of these questions subtly communicates something about the candidate asking it.

Fourth rule: Listen carefully to the answer

Asking the right question is only half the equation. What happens next matters just as much. Strong candidates treat the answer as an opportunity for dialogue rather than simply nodding politely. For example, if the interviewer describes the challenges of the role, you might respond:

“That’s interesting. Could you say a bit more about what has made that particularly difficult for the team so far?”

“That’s useful context. From what you’ve seen, what distinguishes the people who end up thriving in this role from those who struggle?”

“That’s helpful to know. In my previous role we faced something similar when we expanded our client base, and one thing that helped was…”

This approach allows you to reinforce your experience without sounding rehearsed. More importantly, it shows that you are paying attention and treating the occasion as an opportunity for smart dialogue and interaction, making the most of it. Similarly, if the interviewer describes a key success factor, you might respond:

“That’s interesting; building cross-team relationships was actually a big part of my last project.”

“That resonates with me; in my previous role we found that clear communication across functions made a huge difference in delivering results.”

“That’s helpful context; in my last position we faced a similar priority, and one of the things that worked well was…”

In short, the goal is not to prolong the interview unnecessarily, but rather to connect your experience to what the interviewer values, and showcase your ability to react, improvise, and share relevant experiences on the fly.

Fifth rule: Don’t overdo it

Candidates who ask no questions risk appearing uninterested. But candidates who ask too many questions risk appearing unfocused or overly demanding. A good rule of thumb is to ask one or two thoughtful questions.

Remember that interviewers are usually busy. Turning the last five minutes of the interview into a 15-minute interrogation is unlikely to win you many points. Curiosity is good; monopolizing the conversation is not, and could make you come across as a self-centered narcissist or someone with zero self-awareness if you fail to get the signals that is timed to shut up.

Equally important is the tone. Questions should feel prepared but not scripted. If they sound rehearsed, they may come across as performative. If they are entirely improvised, they may reveal a lack of preparation. The goal is to appear thoughtful, engaged, and authentic, which requires you to pay a great deal of attention to how interviewers evaluate you.

The worst possible response?

Of course, there is one response that consistently creates a poor impression:

“No, I think you’ve covered everything.”

This answer suggests either a lack of curiosity or a lack of preparation. Neither interpretation works in your favor.

The real purpose of the question?

In theory, the opportunity to ask questions at the end of an interview exists to help candidates evaluate whether the role suits them. In practice, it often functions as another evaluation moment.

Interviewers are not just listening to what you ask. They are asking themselves what your question reveals about you: your curiosity, your priorities, your preparation, and your interpersonal skills. In that sense, the final question is less about information gathering and more about signaling. The irony is that while the science of hiring has advanced enormously (from predictive analytics to AI-assisted assessments) the human interview remains stubbornly subjective.

But once you accept that reality, the strategy becomes clear. You cannot eliminate the biases embedded in interviews. But you can learn to navigate them. And sometimes, the difference between a forgettable interview and a memorable one comes down to something as simple as asking the right question at the very end.