Most candidates treat the “do you have any questions for us?” moment as a formality. They ask one of the standard three: “What does success look like in this role?”, “What’s the culture like?”, or “What are the next steps?” The interviewer gives a standard answer. The interview ends.
That’s a missed opportunity. The questions you ask at the end of an interview are often the last thing an interviewer remembers about you. And they’re one of the few places where you can demonstrate genuine preparation without being asked to.
What interviewers actually notice
I’ve talked to hiring managers at companies ranging from pre-seed startups to public tech firms about this specifically. The feedback I hear most often: the candidates who stand out ask questions that reveal they did real research on the company, the team, or the specific problem the role is solving. Not generic questions dressed up with the company name inserted.
“What challenges is the team currently facing?” is generic. “I saw in your Q3 earnings call that the new enterprise segment grew 40% but gross margins dropped 4 points. Is the engineering team actively working on the cost side of that, and would this role touch it?” is specific. The second question shows you read the earnings call. That’s a signal.
Questions that actually get you honest answers
Generic questions get generic answers. The more specific your question, the more honest the answer tends to be. Here are types that work, with examples.
Questions about the team’s recent work. “What’s the most interesting technical decision the team made in the last 6 months? What were you debating?” This gives you real signal about how the team thinks, and it flatters the interviewer by asking about something they’re probably proud of.
Questions about friction. “What part of the current process is the team least happy with?” Most interviewers answer this honestly because it also lets them signal that the team is self-aware. If they say “nothing,” that’s also useful information.
Questions about onboarding failure. “What does it look like when someone joins this team and it doesn’t work out in the first 90 days?” Interviewers rarely get this question. The answers are almost always illuminating, and they tell you something real about what the role demands that the job description doesn’t say.
Questions about the interviewer’s own experience. “What made you want to join this company, and has your experience matched what you expected?” You’ll get a real answer here maybe 60% of the time. The 40% who give a polished non-answer are also telling you something.
How many questions to ask
Have 6 to 8 prepared. Assume you’ll use 3 to 4. Some will get answered earlier in the conversation, which means you can say “you actually covered this earlier, so I’ll skip it” and move to the next one. That signals that you were listening throughout. Don’t ask questions just to fill time.
If time is short and you get cut to one question, pick the one that matters most to you about whether you’d actually want this job. Not the one that sounds the most impressive.
Questions to skip
A few categories that don’t serve you well:
“What’s the work-life balance like?” Too early. You’ll find out in the offer stage. Asking this in an initial screen signals that time off is your primary concern, which is probably not the impression you want.
“Can you tell me about the company?” You should already know. Any question that the interviewer could answer with “it’s on our website” is a question you shouldn’t ask.
“What are the next steps?” Fine as a final question but not memorable on its own. You’ll get this information at the end regardless.
“How did I do?” Asking for feedback mid-process puts the interviewer in an awkward spot and reads as insecure. Wait until after a decision is made to ask for feedback.
Research that makes your questions better
The best interview questions come from real research. Specifically: the company’s engineering or product blog if they have one, recent press coverage, the interviewer’s LinkedIn profile for their background, and the job description itself read carefully for what it doesn’t say.
A useful exercise: before every interview, write down the 3 things you’re genuinely uncertain about regarding this role or company. Those uncertainties usually make better questions than any template list.
A 2024 LinkedIn report on candidate experience found that candidates who asked specific questions about day-to-day work were more likely to report high satisfaction with their eventual role than candidates who asked general culture questions. This makes sense. Specific questions get specific answers, which means you can make a better-informed decision about whether you actually want the job.
Using Craqly to practice this part specifically
Most interview prep focuses on your answers. The closing questions section gets almost no attention. In Craqly mock sessions, you can practice the full arc of an interview including the closing questions round. The AI interviewer responds to your questions with answers calibrated to the role type and company stage, which gives you a way to test whether your questions are generating useful signal or just polite conversation.
The candidates who practice this section specifically tend to feel more confident in the closing minutes of a real interview, which is when fatigue and nerves are highest.
One more thing
If an interviewer gives you a genuinely interesting answer to one of your questions, follow up on it. “That’s interesting, can you say more about that?” is not a waste of time. It’s a conversation. The candidates interviewers remember are usually the ones the conversation felt like real work with, not an audition for.
You’re also evaluating them. That’s easy to forget when you need the job. But the questions you ask at the end are also for you. Use them.