"No questions from my side."
It is a polite sentence, it is often sincere, and it costs candidates offers every week. It is the last thing the interviewer hears, and it reads as indifference even when you simply found the conversation complete.
The questions you ask are part of the assessment. Here is how to use them.
Why this moment is not a formality
Interviewers use your questions to check three things: whether you listened, whether you understand the job, and whether you are evaluating them back.
That last point matters more than candidates expect. Someone who asks nothing looks like someone who will accept anything, and that is not a flattering read in a market where the company also has to convince you.
An interview is a two-way conversation. Both sides need to leave it convinced.
How many questions should you prepare?
Four or five. Not one, not ten.
One or two will get answered during the interview itself, which is exactly why you need spares. Ten turns the end of the meeting into an interrogation and eats the time the interviewer needs for their own closing.
Write them down. Taking a notebook out and reading a prepared question is not a weakness, it signals preparation.
Questions about the role itself
These are the safest and the most useful, because the answers change how you would do the job.
- What does a typical week look like in this role?
- Why is this position open? Is it a replacement or a new role?
- What are the first three things you would want done in the first six months?
- What is the most difficult part of this job?
The question about why the position is open is the single most informative one on this list. A replacement, a growth hire and a role that has turned over three times in two years are three very different jobs.
Questions about how success is measured
This is the set that separates prepared candidates from polite ones.
- How will my performance be evaluated, and by whom?
- What does a good first year look like in this role?
- What would make you say, twelve months from now, that this hire worked?
Asking this tells the interviewer you are already thinking about delivery rather than about getting the offer. It also protects you: if nobody can describe what success looks like, the role has not been defined yet.
Questions about the team and the manager
You are joining people, not an organisation chart.
- How is the team structured, and who would I work with day to day?
- How do you prefer to give feedback?
- How are decisions made when the team disagrees?
Ask these of the hiring manager, not of HR. The answer to the feedback question in particular tells you more about the next two years than any culture page will.
What to ask a recruiter rather than the panel
Not every question belongs in every conversation.
Keep salary, package, notice period and contract type for the recruiter or the HR contact. They are legitimate questions and you should absolutely ask them, just not in the middle of a technical panel where nobody in the room owns the answer.
If you are working with a recruitment consultant, this is precisely what they are for. Ours brief candidates on package and process before the client interview, which keeps the interview itself about the work. If contract vocabulary is unfamiliar, the notice period and permanent contract definitions are a good starting point.
Three questions to avoid
Some questions actively cost you ground.
- Anything answered on the website. "What does the company do?" signals you did not spend ten minutes preparing.
- Anything only about what you get. Holidays, remote days and promotion timelines are fair questions, but not as your first three.
- "How did I do?" It puts the interviewer in an awkward position and rarely gets an honest answer. Ask about next steps and timing instead.
The one question to close on
If you ask nothing else, ask this: "Is there anything about my profile that makes you hesitate?"
It is uncomfortable. It is also the only question that lets you address a doubt before it becomes a rejection you never get an explanation for. Most interviewers will answer it honestly, and some will change their mind on the spot.
In short
Prepare four or five questions, keep two in reserve, and make at least one of them about how the job is measured.
Ask the panel about the work, and the recruiter about the package.
And never close with "no questions from my side". If you genuinely have none left, say what you learned that confirmed your interest. That does the same job, and it lands very differently. Ready to put it into practice? See the current openings.
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