Questions that will really help you learn about employers

“Is there anything else you would like to know about us?” The last few minutes of the interview are the area that you can be particularly active in – and they are often underestimated. Because they are important in many ways. On the one hand, as numerous studies have consistently shown, they are particularly memorable for decision-makers and can cover up minor mistakes in the course of the conversation.

On the other hand, the questions you ask here are helpful because you can find out more about the company and also learn something about the communication culture. But which questions should you ask and which topics should you avoid?

Questions you can ask in a job interview serve a variety of purposes. Maybe you want to learn something about the company, the position and the working environment yourself. These are mostly things that you might not be able to find on the internet or research in any other way. Since time is short, you should therefore first focus on the questions that relate to individual cooperation.

It is important to read carefully between the lines and interpret answers. For example, you can ask innocently what the company expects from new hires, how performance reviews are done, or what the composition of the team is that you would be working with.

Job interview: No “off the shelf” questions

Questions about how the company has changed in recent years, what the most pressing challenges are or how it intends to develop can say a lot about the working atmosphere that awaits you. It is important, however, that you do not ask “off the shelf” questions, but pack them as cleverly as possible in the context of the advertised position. In this way you also avoid that your counterpart can retreat to generalities.

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Questions about possible remote work and home office regulations are also legitimate if the topic has not already been addressed. On the other hand, you should be careful not to ask too specific questions about salary and salary components – at least if no concrete offer has been made.

Even asking too blatantly about sabbatical opportunities, work-life balance or possible salary increases will hardly get you any plus points – especially if you don’t have an excellent track record that justifies such a self-confident appearance.

On the other hand, the answer to the question of how the induction of new employees works and what error culture the company has can also be informative. Incidentally, both answers also provide indications of the degree of structure in corporate management and whether people even think about onboarding processes.

If you sit across from your future manager in a conversation, you can also ask about their own development in the department, as well as the question of what you particularly like about working in the company.

But at the same time, questions in the job interview – especially if the question and answer session takes place towards the end of the interview – have another purpose: They can help to evaluate whether you fit into the company as a specialist or manager and whether “the chemistry is right”. This means that you should ask different questions in a large corporation than in a startup, and that you will formulate the questions differently in an interview for a sales position than for an IT position.

And by the way, the part of the job interview can also serve to emphasize certain values ​​​​or skills of your own CV that fit well with the position to be filled and that put you in the right light. However, you should not overdo the “advertising” in the interests of credibility.

In advance, formulate the questions that are most important for your decision and the specific position and write them down on a piece of paper. Above all, it is important that you prepare yourself well for this part of the questions and at the same time act flexibly – whoever asks, leads.

Because the course of the conversation may have already answered one or the other question sufficiently or showed you that you shouldn’t go into so much detail on certain (technical) points because you identified your own deficits here in the conversation.

Keep an eye on the time frame and use the limited time well. Applicants should also keep in mind that companies are quite willing to make many concessions, especially in the current economic phase, which is characterized by a shortage of skilled workers.

Nevertheless, it is important not to go too far and to conduct this part of the conversation as professionally as possible. It is important that none of those involved lost face afterwards by acting too brashly and that the company that fills the position gets the impression that they can work well and trustingly with you.