The best questions to ask in a job interview are the ones that give you control: what problem the role is being hired to solve, what happened to the last person in the role, where they see you making the biggest difference, and what concerns they have about hiring you. Ask the salary range question in your prep, before the interview even starts.

There are five of them in total, all built on psychology, and none of them are about how good your answers are. The last one is the question almost nobody asks, and it's the one that decides whether you get hired or get ghosted.

In 11 years in executive search, I've sat across the table in more than 10,000 interviews and helped my clients earn more than $30 million in new salaries. I've sat in the debrief meetings, and I know what the hiring manager says about you once you've left the interview.

Why should you ask questions in a job interview?

You should ask questions in a job interview because being good at interviews isn't about giving your best impression, it's about controlling the interview: the prep before it, the questions you ask during it, and how you close it.

Most people think their only job is to turn up and give their best answers. But a candidate who's not in control just turns up and hopes, and hope isn't a job interview strategy.

A candidate who is in control already knows the problem the role is being hired to solve and why it's open. They know what challenges the company has had finding the right people, what salary range has been budgeted, and what it would take for somebody to earn at the top of that range.

When you go in with that information, you've got a lens, and all your answers can go through that lens. That means you can speak directly to the hiring manager's problems instead of trying to give an objectively good answer.

Objectively, you could have the best interview in the world. But subjectively, if you're not proving you can solve their problem, it doesn't matter.

What should you ask before the interview to find out the salary range?

Before the interview, ask the internal talent team or external recruiter two things: what's the salary range for this role, and what would it take for somebody to earn at the top of that range?

The second part is the important part. In the interview itself, it's very hard to talk about money from the start. The only real time salary comes up is towards the end, when you're almost in negotiation mode. So to be in control, you need that information in your preparation.

The psychology principle here is called confirmation bias. It basically means that once they've pictured the right person in their mind, they spend the rest of the interview positively linking what you say to that mental picture.

Let me show you what that looks like. I remember working with a digital transformation lead where the hiring criteria for the top of the range was a team of five and a $1 million revenue target. Interestingly, the job description just talked about four or five different technologies and experience across two industries.

Those were the key hiring criteria, and that's what gets you the interview. It's not what gets you earning at the top of the salary range. The top of the range needed the outcomes: the $1 million target and the team of five, not just the tools, the tech and the industry experience.

When you know that, you can weave your knowledge, experience and results that match those two outcomes naturally into the whole interview.

You can't hit a target you don't know exists.

What is the best question to ask at the start of an interview?

The best question to ask at the start of an interview is to ask the hiring manager to talk you through the exact problem the role is being hired to solve.

In your prep, you'll already have an idea of the problem from the talent team or the recruiter. But don't go in assuming that's gospel. I've seen this play out hundreds of times. They interview the hiring manager before they go out to find candidates, but they might only have got the surface problem, or a small part of what the role is really being hired to solve.

Whatever you can get in your prep puts you one step ahead of someone who doesn't have a proactive mindset or the initiative, or doesn't come with batteries included. But if you assume what you heard in the prep is gospel, you're setting yourself up for potential misalignment with the hiring manager.

It's not that you're asking twice. It's that you're getting double confirmation from the person whose problem you'd actually be solving. So right at the start, ask this:

"Before we go into things, can you just talk me through the exact problem this role is being hired to solve? I want to make the best use of our time and make sure the examples I share are the most relevant."

When they answer, follow up with:

"And if someone came in and solved that, what would you want to see in the first 30, 60 or 90 days?"

The psychology principle here is called future pacing. It basically means they're already picturing you in the role before you're doing it.

A hiring manager doesn't hire the best interviewer. They hire the person they can already picture doing the job.

The questions you ask, and how you set your stall out in those first impressions, show you're already operating at this level and talking peer to peer. You're not someone shooting for the stars or punching above your weight.

What question helps you spot a toxic boss in an interview?

To spot a toxic boss or a bad environment, ask: "What happened to the last person in this role, and what lessons could I learn from them to do an even better job?"

Being good at interviews isn't about getting the job at all costs, especially if that means working in a toxic environment, for a bad boss or for a company without good ethics. It's about spotting the jobs that would derail your career, affect your mental health or stop you being successful in the role.

The beauty of this question is that on the surface, you're asking how to improve on what the last person did. But what you're really doing is digging for dirt.

The psychology principle here is called scapegoating. It basically means that how they talk about the last person in the role is probably how they'll talk about you too.

Listen to the answer. Is this someone who blames other people and never takes responsibility? Or someone who understands things don't always go right, learns the lessons and is self-aware enough to say so?

You're choosing your employer. You're not just choosing a job.

What is a good question to ask near the end of an interview?

Near the end of the interview, ask: "Based on what we've covered so far, where do you see me making the biggest difference?"

This question shows confidence in your ability. If you didn't think you could do the job, or you were winging it or bluffing your way into the role, you probably wouldn't even think to ask it, because you're opening up the possibility that they say, "Actually, we don't see you making a difference here."

It's a clever way of getting the hiring manager to talk through why they think you're right for the role.

The psychology principle here is called self-persuasion. It basically means that people believe what they say out loud far more than anything you could tell them.

And look, I've sat in those debrief meetings after the final interview where it comes down to two very similar candidates and the decision could easily go either way. The difference maker was that one of them had asked this question.

All of a sudden, the scales weren't even. The hiring manager wasn't weighing them up anymore. They were arguing for one of them, using the exact reasons that person had given them in the interview.

Suddenly you're not the one trying to convince them anymore. They're convincing themselves.

What is the best question to ask at the end of an interview?

The best question to ask at the end of an interview is: "What concerns, if any, do you have about hiring me for this role?"

In an earlier round, change the ending: "What concerns, if any, do you have about putting me through to the next stage?" The first round isn't about getting hired. It's about getting invited to the second round.

Most candidates never ask this because it feels like handing the interviewer a loaded gun. But if you weren't confident you could do the job, or you didn't have options, you wouldn't ask it. The very fact that you're giving them a reason to say no demonstrates your confidence.

I know it sounds like a scary question. The reason it's so powerful is that you can handle the objections, address the concerns and clear up any misunderstandings while you're still in the interview.

Because subjectively, you might feel you gave a solid answer, explained something clearly and gave undeniable proof. But to the hiring manager, somehow it didn't land. That's the gap between what you said and what they heard.

The psychology principle here is called negativity bias. It basically means that once they have a doubt, that doubt outweighs everything positive.

I remember a candidate who, in our prep and the earlier interviews, explained in granular detail the problems they'd solved, the projects, the tech, the tools and all of the outcomes. Funny enough, that was the main thing I liked about them. But in the interview, it somehow got glazed over. Maybe they rushed the answer. Maybe they were nervous.

In my debrief meeting with the hiring manager, he said, "My concern is that this person hasn't done X, Y or Z." I knew full well they had, and to a very high standard. But because they hadn't asked this question at the end, they never got the chance to overcome that objection, and I knew they were going to get rejected.

This question lets them fill the void with the missing link, and gives you the chance to close that gap before you leave.

If they've got a concern and you never get the chance to address it, that's why you get rejected, or worse, ghosted.

What are the most common mistakes when asking questions in an interview?

Most candidates waste their questions, or save them all for the last two minutes. These are the mistakes I see most.

  • Turning up without the salary range and what wins the top of it. Ask the talent team or recruiter in your prep, so every answer goes through that lens.
  • Treating what you heard in prep as gospel. Get double confirmation by asking the hiring manager for the exact problem right at the start.
  • Only interviewing to win. Ask what happened to the last person in the role, and listen to how they talk about them.
  • Asking about the hiring manager's boss or other questions that put them on the back foot. Keep your questions about the role, the problem and you.
  • Leaving without asking about concerns. If you don't ask, a doubt you could have cleared up in 30 seconds can cost you the job.

The questions you ask are only half of it. They'll ask you tough questions too, and most people only answer the surface-level question, not the real one underneath. Get the free interview guide to see what they're really asking you in the 20 questions that come up in every six-figure job interview.

The bottom line

The questions you ask in an interview decide how much control you have over it. Find out the salary range and what wins the top of it before you walk in, confirm the problem at the start, dig into what happened to the last person, get them to say where you'd make the biggest difference, and close by asking what concerns they have.

That last question is the one that decides whether you get the job or get ghosted.

What's your next step?

If you want to see how your CV holds up before your next interview, try the free Six Figure CV tool. Upload your CV and get an instant score with specific fixes.

And if you want to work on this with me directly, here's where to start.