Career Insights: Top 11 questions and more to help you determine if the role is for you

Though the decision to join the company is composed of multiple complex aspects like compensation, progression opportunity, and work-life balance, culture fit, playing an important role on both sides, perhaps remains the most ambiguous of substances to get familiar with within a short period of time.

Here are my top 11 questions to ask on your next interview to help you get the maximum of understanding of the team and the role you are about to join:

1. What attributes does someone need to have in order to be really successful in this position?

2. What are the 3 biggest challenges that someone in this position would face?

3. Do you expect the main responsibilities for this position to change in the next six months to a year?

4. How will I be trained? Are there opportunities for advancement or professional development?

5. Where have successful employees previously in this position progressed to?

6. What are the most important things you’d like to see someone accomplish in the first 30, 60, and 90 days on the job?

7. What metrics or goals will my performance be evaluated against?

8. Why did you come to this company? What gets you most excited about the company’s future?

9. What can you tell me about your new products or plans for growth?

10. What’s your favorite office tradition? What’s different about working here than anywhere else you’ve worked?

11. Is there anything else I can provide you with that would be helpful?

Pick and chose the areas that you feel uncertain about, deep dive into the discussion with follow-up questions, and spread the questions around the full interview cycle to get a better understanding of the opportunity.

NB Questions won’t help you if you don’t know where you are going, a good idea prior to starting to look for the role is to define what you are looking for in great detail. Do the Gap Analysis to help you structure your thoughts.

Planning to work remotely? Ask for a virtual tour of the office or join a weekly standup call to grasp a feeling of culture.

Good luck!