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Comment by theamk | Hacker News Reader

At my job, we have "do you have any questions for us" part as a standard part of every interview -- and my experience shows that most people always have at least one question.

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I suspect most candidates have at least one question because it's pretty widely known that many employers will ask "do you have any questions for us" at the end of an interview, and so will have prepared something that makes them sound interested in the employer in some way, even if they don't necessarily actually care that much about the answer. (For instance the advice on https://www.wikijob.co.uk/content/interview-advice/interview... suggests "Have two or three interesting and intelligent questions prepared before the interview, to show that you are interested in the job and eager to find out more" etc.)

I'll give my anecdote on this:

When I used to not have any questions after the interview - I got rejected what felt like a weirdly high amount and definitely a weird tone from the interviewer.

When I started asking questions - the interviewer seemed to have a much more positive outlook on me and my acceptance rate went up.

I've interviewed a lot and there are people you have to ask questions to or else they will reject you.

As an interviewer and hiring manager, a candidate not asking questions indicates a lack of interest in the company/role. I appreciate when a candidate interviews me about the role, the team and the company. It demonstrates a desire to take advantage of an opportunity to gather more information about whether this is the right opportunity for them.

I think there's nothing wrong with what you're talking about here, but I also think it's different from the comment here. You really need to be asking questions throughout, taking any questions directed at you, answering them, and then using that as an opportunity to learned related things about the company, the team, and the environment you would be spending all your time in. It should be continual engagement and back-and-forth, rather than a one-directional quiz (until it's time to ask your questions.)

When I interview that's my first question, because it helps set the stage for being it a dialog instead of a Q&A barrage. It's much easier to also wash people out at this stage (depending on what # you are in the interviewing sequence) when they have strong opinions of on call rotations, remote work, etc. Questions often come to mind as you go along through an interview process and I'd rather you ask up front then have it sit in the back of an interviewee's mind as something they want to remember to ask.

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