 What questions to ask in an interview is always a challenge. You have plenty of things you probably want to find out before accepting an offer. You also know that you have to impress the interviewer with the questions that you do ask. And you know that if you don't ask any questions the interviewer won't be very impressed. So how do you choose what questions to ask in an interview? I'll take you through how to prepare some great tailored questions that will make you stand out and impress the interviewer and towards the end of the video I'll give you 10 good questions to ask in an interview at the end and that won't come across as basic questions that are found on the internet. I'll also go through the types of questions that you should not ask if you want to progress towards job offer. My name is Jess Coles and as a candidate I've been hired through tough recruitment programs into corporates and household names. I've also sat as a hiring manager in over a thousand interviews hiring graduates all the way through to CEOs and I've been a board director of a recruitment company with 140 million in sales. I'll how to get a higher program teaches you everything you need to win your next role against tough competition while saving you time and effort. So do take a look. Before we dive into all the questions you could ask let's start with understanding what the interviewer really wants when they ask what questions do you have for us? There is no way that a candidate will have found out everything from their research and from what the interviewer might have imparted to them during the interview. So I've always been disappointed after asking do you have any questions for me and the candidate says no I think I've had all my questions answered. If you're truly interested in the job you will always have more questions to ask. If you've done a small amount of research you'll have more questions to ask. If you don't ask questions then I as an interviewer will assume firstly you're not very interested in the role or the company second you've not done any research or little research and so are worried about asking the wrong question third you lack confidence or are not sure about what you want and fourth you don't have a curious mindset or you're not that clean on learning more. These and any other thoughts I have are not positive and they will hurt your chances of getting a job offer possibly hurt them a lot. So you must ask questions either during the interview or at the end of the interview or both. The recruitment process is a two-way street in which both parties are trying to find out as much as possible about the other. If you're keen on the role and the company the hiring manager is a lot more likely to be keen on you but asking questions of the interviewer you are demonstrating that you are interested and are keen. So when thinking about what questions to ask in an interview don't worry too much about asking too many questions. If you haven't asked questions during the interview then aim to ask at least say three questions at the end of the interview. I would suggest that you limit yourself to say ten or less questions at the end of the interview. The number of questions to ask is very much a judgment call during the interview itself and take your cue from the interviewer's body language. The next challenge is what to ask. The quality of your questions will make a positive or negative impression on the interviewer and can easily make or break your progression or job offer chances. So when thinking about what questions to ask in an interview the best questions to ask are specific questions that only apply to this particular role and this particular company. But asking these specific questions you are demonstrating that you have done your research. Most interviewers are impressed by those that have done their research and demonstrate this well during the interview. As an interviewer I always favoured those that had put in the time to get to know the company and the specific role that we were offering and then have thought about what this might mean for the role that they're applying to. This effort shows interest, keenness, curiosity, confidence and demonstrates a good work ethic. All interviewers are interested in hiring people with these characteristics. So ask questions that are specific to the role and company and finding information so you can put these types of questions together is not actually that hard. So let's cover how to do your research to answer what questions do you have for us. The first point of call in your research is to spend some time on the company website. Here are a couple of must-know questions to answer. Firstly, the company earns its revenue by bum bum bum and lists out their products and services and gain a high-level understanding of these. Secondly, the company makes sales in these geographical areas, bum bum bum bum. Third, the company values are bum bum bum bum and fourth, the number of employees in the company is x and in the office that I'm working is y. And fifth, the members of the leadership team are abc. Other sources of information include Google for news articles, company's house for financial information, LinkedIn for company and interviewer information. And you'll find lots of sources if you spend the time looking. Think about the challenges that your target role might face in light of your research. Create questions based on these challenges that the role might have or that the company might have. You know, some examples might include, I love the marketing campaign for your new Apple, Mango and Kiwi smoothie. What process do you normally go through when designing your campaigns? Or it could be, I noticed that your revenue dipped last year by 11%. What caused this and is the revenue growing again? Or it could be, I read that your competitor, Tails, has launched a new and successful dog food range. How has that impacted your business so far? Or it could be, you entered the German market four months ago. I was very interested to understand how you're doing in Germany and what were the top challenges that you've had to overcome so far. Or you mentioned that the team I would be joining has a few people challenges. Are you able to expand on that comment and explain what these are? Make your questions as specific as possible to the role, company and the interviewer. This will demonstrate your research and you'll get much better quality information back in return. When thinking about what questions to ask in an interview, there are some questions that you should not ask, such as any questions that indicate that you have a poor work ethic or that you are focused only on what the company provides to you. Other questions, if asked, demonstrate that you have not done much or any research. Examples might include asking questions about information that is clearly shown on the company website. You can also ask good questions at completely the wrong time, such as questions about pay and benefits before you've been offered the job. I've got some examples of questions that you should avoid asking during the interview process. Firstly, how many breaks do I get during the day? Or how long is the lunch break? Second, what are the company values? These should be on the website. Third, who are your main competitors? Fourth, what would my job be? Fifth, what does the company do? What products does the company have? What services does the company offer? Six, when will I be promoted? Seven, when will I get a salary increase? Eight, can I work from home? Nine, what other jobs are available here? And 10, do you check references? Focus on questions that indicate that you're interested in helping the company as well as yourself. Lastly, the more senior the role that you're going for, the better and more probing I would expect your questions to be. I've got 10 good questions to ask in an interview at the end if you don't have any more specific questions to ask. The first is, what do you like or love most about working here? Second, how do you describe the company culture? Three, what in particular excites you about where the company is heading over the next five years? Fourth, what are the pros and cons of the team that I would be joining? Fifth, can you tell me about the most pressing issues that you need me to address if I were to get the job? Sixth, what would this role's typical development path be over the next, say, three years? Seven, what do you see as the company's biggest barrier to growth or growing faster, depending on what the company's status is at the moment? Eight, what do you find the most challenging working in this business? Nine, what have the past employees done to succeed in this position? And 10, is there anything we haven't yet covered that you think is important to know about working here? Judge when you should stop asking questions based on the interviewer's body language and the natural flow of the conversation. So in summary, what questions to ask in an interview is not nearly as big a challenge after a little research about the company and the interviewer. Choosing what questions to ask in an interview is a great way to demonstrate your research, interest, and keenness in the role and the company. These all make a big difference to how the interviewer perceives you. Good luck in your interview. And take a look at how to get higher programs to significantly improve how quickly you get to job offer for the jobs that you really want. Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.