How Many Questions Should You Ask in an Interview?
Do you have questions about job searching or navigating the interview process you’d like answered? You’ve come to the right place. Each month, we're featuring a question that's frequently asked by job candidates and the answer we've shared with them.
This month's question comes from a job seeker who was stumped on the number of questions to ask in an interview. Knowing an "ideal" number to ask can be challenging and will depends on a few factors that our Director of Recruiting, Tera, has outlined below.I have several interviews scheduled coming up and in the past, I’ve always tried to get all my questions answered without taking up too much time of the person interviewing me. Is there an ideal number of questions? How many questions should you ask in an interview?Thanks,Properly Prepared
Asking Interview Questions–Go For Quality, Not Quantity.
Properly Prepared–Great question! This is something we’ve heard quite often from the candidates we work with. I recommend preparing 3-5 questions for each interview, and anticipate asking 2-3 of them. However, this all depend on where you are in the interview process and the flow of the conversation.For example, some candidates will have only a couple of questions during an initial phone screening. However, in later stages of the interviewing process–during the final rounds of interviewing (before an offer is extended), it’s not uncommon for candidates to ask 3 to 5 or more questions. It all depends on the information they’re seeking clarification or further detail on.I wouldn’t get too hung up on the amount of questions you ask though. It’s more important to prepare thoughtful, quality questions to ask regarding the opportunity itself–how your performance will be measured, what your first 30/60/90 days will look like, the biggest challenges facing the team–questions that fulfill 3 important goals of interviewing for a candidate:
3 Goals to Achieve When Asking Your Interview Questions
- Learn if the employer and opportunity are right for you.
- Convey your interest in the employer.
- Make sure the interviewer has no doubts about you.
As long as you build your questions with these 3 goals in mind, I’m confident you’ll do just fine. Be sure to check out our Interview Insider posts. There’s a lot of great information there as well to help you with interviewing.Best of luck in your search!Tera Hockaday-JanishDirector of Recruiting at Neteffects & 1904LabsLike this post? Check out more over on our blog & articles under Talent Tips
