At some point towards the end of almost every interview, you’ll hear the same question: “Do you have any questions for us?”
It can be tempting to say no. Perhaps you feel like everything has already been covered, you don’t want to take up any more of their time, or you simply want to get through the interview and find out whether you got the job. But this is actually one of the most important parts of the conversation.
An interview isn’t just an opportunity for a company to decide whether you are the right person for the role. It’s also your opportunity to decide whether the company, the role and the people you’ll be working with are right for you. After all, accepting a new job is a big decision. You could be committing to a project for the next two or three years, working under a particular manager, taking on a different level of responsibility and potentially changing the direction of your career.
So rather than thinking of the final few minutes as the part where you simply ask a couple of questions because you’re expected to, think of it as your chance to interview the interviewer.
Why asking questions matters
Saying “No, I think you’ve covered everything” isn’t necessarily going to cost you a job, but it can leave an interviewer with very little to remember you by. On the other hand, asking a list of generic questions can have much the same effect. Questions such as “What is the company culture like?” or “What does a typical day look like?” aren’t necessarily bad questions, but they are questions that almost any candidate could ask.
The best questions show that you have listened during the interview, thought about what you’ve heard and are genuinely considering whether the opportunity is the one you are going to want to take. They can also tell you a lot about the business. You may learn why the position is available, what the manager expects from the person coming into the role, where the team is heading or what opportunities there could be for progression.
Most importantly, you may uncover things that help you decide whether you would actually be successful in that environment.
Start with the reason the role is available
One of the most useful questions you can ask is surprisingly simple: “Why is the role available?”
There can be a big difference between a company hiring because it has won several new projects and a company replacing someone who left after six months. Neither answer is necessarily a red flag, but you want to understand the circumstances before making a decision.
For a Contract Administrator, for example, you could ask whether the position has been created because of business growth or whether you are replacing someone who has moved on. If you are replacing someone, you could follow up by asking what that person went on to do.
The answer could give you some useful insight into the business and the role. Perhaps the previous CA has progressed into a Project Manager position within the company, which may tell you something about the opportunities available. Alternatively, perhaps several people have held the position in a relatively short period of time. That’s something you would want to explore further before making a decision.
The important thing is not to make assumptions based on the answer. Instead, use it as an opportunity to understand the bigger picture.
Find out what success actually looks like
Job advertisements tend to tell you what an employer wants you to ‘do’. An interview is your chance to find out what they actually expect you to ‘achieve’.
Rather than simply asking what the responsibilities of the role are, ask: “What would success look like for the person in this role over the first six months?”
This can be particularly valuable for construction professionals because two companies can advertise essentially the same role while having very different expectations. For a Project Engineer, one business might expect you to primarily manage RFIs, documentation, and technical coordination, while another might expect you to take on significant responsibility for programming, subcontractor coordination and site delivery from day one.
Understanding that difference before accepting a position can save you from walking into a role that isn’t what you expected.
You could also ask what they would want the successful candidate to have achieved by the end of their first six months. Listen carefully to the answer because it can tell you whether the business has realistic expectations, whether there is a clear structure around the role and how your performance is likely to be measured.
Ask about the challenges, not just the opportunities
Most companies will naturally talk about what is going well during an interview. That’s understandable. They want to sell you on the opportunity just as much as you want to sell yourself.
But you should also understand what isn’t going so well. One useful question is: “What are the biggest challenges the team is dealing with at the moment?”
This is much more revealing than simply asking what the challenges of the role are. It encourages the interviewer to talk about the reality of the project or team rather than giving you a standard description from a job advertisement.
For a Site Manager, for example, you might ask: “What are the biggest challenges on the project at the moment, and what would you need the person coming into this role to take ownership of?”
You might hear that the project is behind program, there are difficult subcontractors, design information is still being finalised or the client relationship needs some attention. That doesn’t automatically mean you should walk away. In fact, some people actively enjoy coming into a project where there are challenges to solve.
The important thing is knowing what you are walking into and whether the employer is realistic about what it will take to turn things around. A challenging project can be a great career opportunity, but it’s very different from being told you are taking over a straightforward project when there are significant issues sitting underneath the surface.
Understand the manager you’ll be working for
You aren’t just accepting a job. You are accepting a manager, and for many construction professionals, the relationship with their direct manager can have a huge impact on how much they enjoy their work and how successful they are in the role.
So don’t be afraid to ask questions that help you understand how that person manages their team. You could ask, “How would you describe your management style?” or “How do you typically support your team when someone is dealing with a difficult issue?”
For a CA, this could be particularly useful if the role involves working closely with a Commercial Manager or Project Manager. You might ask, “How do you like your CAs to approach you when they have a commercial issue they need to work through?”
The answer can tell you a lot. Do they want people to come to them early? Do they expect you to find the solution yourself before raising an issue? Are they hands-on, or do they give their team plenty of autonomy?
There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong management style. What matters is whether their style works for you. Someone who wants a high level of autonomy may struggle under a very hands-on manager, while someone who values regular guidance may find a completely hands-off management style frustrating.
Finding this out during an interview can help you avoid discovering the mismatch several months after you have accepted the job.
Ask where the team is going
You don’t want to only understand the job you are accepting today. You also want to know where it could take you tomorrow.
Ask: “What are the plans for the team over the next 12 to 24 months?”
This can open up a much bigger conversation around growth, new projects and opportunities within the business. For example, if you are a Project Engineer hoping to move towards a Project Manager position, you could ask, “As the business grows, how do you see this role developing over the next couple of years?”
Similarly, if you are a Site Manager, you could ask what projects are coming up after the current project and how the team is expected to be structured as those projects commence.
You may discover that the company has a clear pipeline of work and a genuine opportunity for progression. Or you may find that the role is likely to remain fairly static. Again, neither is necessarily wrong. It simply helps you decide whether it aligns with where you want your career to go.
Ask how people progress
If career progression is important to you, don’t leave it to guesswork.
A question such as “Can you give me an example of someone who has progressed within the business from a similar position?” is often much more useful than simply asking whether there are opportunities for career progression.
Almost every employer can say yes to the second question. The first requires them to demonstrate it.
For a CA looking to become a PM, for example, you might hear about someone who started as a CA, moved into a Senior CA role and then progressed into project management. That gives you a much clearer picture of whether the pathway you are interested in actually exists within the business.
You can also ask about training and development by saying, “What opportunities are available for training and development, and how do you support people who want to take the next step in their career?”
The answer can tell you whether development is something the company genuinely invests in or simply something mentioned during recruitment. If an employer talks about development but can’t provide any examples of how they have supported people in the past, that’s worth considering.
Don’t forget the practical questions
There are also questions that help you understand the day-to-day reality of the role. These might include the expected hours, how performance is measured, what the key KPIs are, how much autonomy you will have, who you will report to and how the project team is structured.
These questions are particularly important when the role has specific expectations around hours, output or availability. For example, a Site Manager should have a clear understanding of the expected working hours and site arrangements before accepting a position.
Likewise, a CA should understand the balance between commercial management, administration and project support expected of them, while a PE should know how much of the role is office-based versus site-based.
These details may not sound particularly exciting, but they can have a big impact on whether the role is going to work for you. It’s much better to have these conversations before accepting an offer than to discover after a few weeks that the reality of the role is very different from what you expected.
The best questions are the ones you genuinely want answered
You don’t need to walk into an interview with 15 questions written down. In fact, asking questions simply for the sake of asking them can make the conversation feel forced.
Instead, prepare a few questions before the interview, then listen to what is discussed. You may find that some of your questions are answered naturally during the conversation, while something the interviewer says may prompt a completely different question that is much more relevant.
The questions you ultimately ask should be the ones that you genuinely want to know the answer to. And don’t be afraid to ask a follow-up question.
If the interviewer tells you that the company is growing quickly, ask what that growth looks like. If they mention that the previous person has progressed internally, ask what that progression looked like. If they tell you the project is facing some challenges, ask what they expect the successful candidate to do about them.
This is where you can turn the final few minutes of an interview into a much more meaningful conversation.
Remember, you are interviewing them too
It’s easy to become so focused on getting the job that you forget to consider whether you actually want it. That can be particularly true when you have been looking for a new opportunity for a while or when the role appears to be a significant step forward in your career.
But getting the job is only the first step. The bigger question is whether you will be happy, successful and able to grow once you are there.
The right role is one where your skills and experience fit the company’s needs, but where the company also fits what you want from your career. That means understanding the expectations of the role, the people you will work with, the challenges you will face and what opportunities may be available to you in the future.
So the next time an interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions for us?”, don’t see it as the end of the interview. See it as your opportunity to find out what really matters. Because an interview isn’t just about convincing them to choose you. It’s about deciding whether you would choose them too.
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