Interview Questions to Ask: Top 10 Best for Employers & Candidates

Asking the right questions transforms interviews from interrogations into productive conversations. Whether you’re a hiring manager trying to separate genuine talent from polished talk, or a job seeker trying to figure out if an employer is worth your time, the questions you bring to the table matter more than the answers you give. This guide draws from real SERP examples and recruitment experts to give both sides a dual-sided toolkit for interviewing smarter.

Top lists range: 3-50 questions ·
Common PAA queries: 10 best, top 5 ·
The Muse compiles: 70 questions ·
Indeed covers: 20 questions ·
Strategic questions: 31 from AIHR

A comparison of six major sources reveals stark differences in scope and focus—useful for selecting the right reference depending on your side of the table.

What are good questions to ask an interviewer?

Most candidates spend hours preparing answers to expected questions but neglect preparing questions for their interviewer. That’s a mistake. The Muse points out that asking about role specifics—like “What does a typical day or week look like in this role?”—reveals practical information no job description captures. Growth Hack Your Career calls one question the “absolute #1” to ask: “What’s the biggest problem you’re facing that you’re hoping the person taking on this role to solve?” That question flips the dynamic, showing you understand hiring is about solving real problems.

Questions about team and role

The questions candidates ask about team structure reveal how seriously they take the opportunity. UC Davis Career Center recommends asking about “What is the next step in the hiring process?” which signals professional follow-through. But dig deeper:

• Who would I report to, and what’s their management style?
• What’s the team size and how do you collaborate day-to-day?
• How would my success be measured in the first 90 days?

Questions on challenges and growth

Candidates who ask about growth opportunities stand out. The Muse suggests asking about “What direction do you see this company heading in over the next few years?” to understand long-term trajectory. Peoplegroup.ie recommends asking candidates directly about onboarding, but candidates should flip this: ask what onboarding looks like from the employer’s perspective.

Questions from SERP like onboarding

Based on what’s actually ranking, candidates should ask:

• What does the onboarding process look like? (Peoplegroup.ie)
• What would I work on in the first month?
• What challenges has the person in this role faced recently?

The pattern running through top-performing candidate questions is self-interest paired with genuine curiosity about the role’s challenges. Asking what problems need solving demonstrates you see yourself as a solution, not just an employee.

What are the top 5 questions to ask at an interview?

The top 5 questions differ depending on which side of the table you’re on. Hays focuses on five key questions for candidates, while hiring managers need their own strategic set.

Top 5 for candidates

Based on recruitment firm guidance, candidates should ask these five:

• Do you prefer to work independently or as part of a team? (Hays)
• How do you work productively remotely? (Hays)
• Why do you think you are suitable for this role? (Hays)
• What does success look like in this role after one year?
• What’s the most important thing I could do in the first 30 days?

Top 5 for interviewers

Hiring managers need their own arsenal. AIHR provides 31 strategic questions organized by what you want to assess. The top 5 for interviewers:

• Walk me through your experience with [key requirement].
• Describe a time you had to learn something quickly to complete a project.
• How do you prioritize when everything seems urgent?
• Tell me about a mistake you made and what you learned from it.
• How do you handle feedback that you disagree with?

Examples from Hays and HWA

Hays and HWA both emphasize behavioral approaches. Metaview categorizes self-motivation questions like “What motivated you to apply for this role?” and communication questions as essential tools. UC Davis Career Center confirms behavioral questioning is standard, with leadership examples like “Tell me about a time when you were in a leadership position” being common asks.

“This should be the absolute #1 question you ask an interviewer.”

— Growth Hack Your Career

For candidates, the killer question—asking about the biggest problem—works like magic because it gives you the blueprint for the entire conversation. Regis College adds that asking “How will you know you’ve hired the right person in 3 months?” shows long-term thinking.

What separates good questions from great ones is specificity. Generic questions get generic answers. “Tell me about yourself” is the most common opener according to UC Davis Career Center, but it rarely reveals anything a interviewer doesn’t already know from the resume.

What are the best interview questions to ask candidates?

Strategic questions reveal strategic thinking. AIHR’s guide on 31 strategic interview questions focuses on assessment that goes beyond surface credentials. Metaview organizes questions by skill category—communication, accountability, problem-solving—with behavioral formats that surface real capability.

Strategic questions

The most revealing questions probe how candidates think, not just what they’ve done:

• How do you approach decisions when information is incomplete? (Metaview)
• What do you do to manage stress or avoid burnout? (Metaview)
• How do you influence others when you don’t have direct authority? (Metaview)

Base questions from HWA

Handshake’s entry-level approach emphasizes motivation questions like “What motivates you to do your best work?” as foundational for recent graduates. For more experienced candidates, the base set expands to include past performance indicators.

Casual questions

Some questions feel less formal but reveal personality and fit. Reddit managers share that “Tell me about something you had to teach yourself recently” reveals learning agility. National Careers Service UK notes that hobbies can reveal qualities—cooking shows organization, travel shows flexibility—though this is lower-confidence guidance.

The trade-off is authenticity versus performance. Candidates who’ve rehearsed perfect answers to common questions may stumble when asked about actual problem-solving approaches. The best assessment comes from questions with no right answer—where you see how candidates actually think.

What are the 5 hardest interview questions?

Hard questions separate prepared candidates from professionals. Indeed lists 20 questions that challenge candidates, including behavioral scenarios about failures and mistakes. These questions probe accountability.

Tough questions and answers

The hardest questions have no comfortable answer:

• Tell me about a time you failed or made a mistake. (Indeed)
• What are your weaknesses?
• Why should we hire you over other candidates?
• Where do you see yourself in five years? (UC Davis Career Center)
• Why did you leave your last position?

Killer questions

Hireful.com defines the killer question as one that reveals something unexpected about a candidate—not necessarily negative, but revealing of character, values, or thinking style. Metaview’s resilience question “Tell me about a particularly challenging period at work” qualifies as a killer question for this reason.

Big 3 questions

Three questions always get asked across most hiring processes:

1. Tell me about yourself (UC Davis Career Center)
2. Why are you interested in this position? (Indeed)
3. What questions do you have for me?

“We can’t read minds… but we’ll give you the next best thing: a list of 64 of the most commonly asked interview questions.”

— The Muse

The Muse’s 60+ common interview questions emphasize avoiding canned responses. The hardest questions require candidates to be honest about weaknesses, failures, and genuine motivations—which is why preparation matters but authenticity matters more.

What makes a question hard is context, not content. The same question that feels comfortable in one interview falls flat in another. Candidates should expect curveballs that test adaptability, not just recall.

What are unique interview questions to ask employer?

Standing out as a candidate means asking questions employers don’t hear every day. Prospects.ac.uk recommends seven good questions that probe beyond standard topics like “What does a typical day look like?” to include questions about culture and growth.

Unique for employer

Questions that make employers think:

• What’s the biggest challenge your team has faced this quarter?
• How has this role evolved since it was created?
• What’s one thing you wish you knew before taking this job?
• How do you measure success in this role?

Good for hiring manager

Hiring managers appreciate candidates who ask about their management style. Questions from The Muse include “What skills and experiences you’re looking for in an ideal candidate?”—though candidates should reframe this as asking what success looks like, not what checklist to meet.

From Prospects.ac.uk 7 good

Beyond the standard seven, these stand out:

• What’s the most surprising thing about working here?
• How would you describe your management style?
• What’s the team culture like during stressful periods?
• What opportunities exist for professional development?

The implication: the best unique questions force interviewers to articulate expectations they rarely have to put into words—which itself reveals how well-defined the role actually is.

Related reading: Best interview questions to ask candidates · 51 interview questions you should be asking

Lists from Hays and Indeed pair well with categorized job interview examples that organize questions by scenario for targeted preparation.

Frequently asked questions

For hiring managers, the takeaway is concrete: prepare behavioral questions that reveal actual capability, not rehearsed polish. For candidates, the choice is equally clear—ask questions that help you evaluate whether this opportunity matches your real priorities, not just what sounds impressive.