Best questions to ask at the end of the interviews?

Question

Hi friends,

I am not sure what are the best questions to ask at the end of the interview? Since I have done enough research on the firm, and have a good understanding of them.

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Hi there,

As others have said, there is no right question. That being said, I would not ask anything that you can find online or from the team managing the recruiting process (e.g., timeline).

Some of my favourites / go to’s as an interviewee were:

You've been at Firm X for X years. What has kept you here instead of pursuing other opportunities?
What have been the most memorable opportunities you’ve had?
What excites you the most about Firm X and what keeps you coming in every morning?

in general, I liked to ask (and be asked as an interviewer) questions that are personal and give you a feel of the culture so I can see whether it was the right fit.

Good luck with your interview!

Answer 2

Hey,

Think of the following questions:

How has the company adapted in these COVID times? What specifically has changed/improved?
Which clients or type of work you will be staffed on should you join them?
Expectations from new hires?
Where is the focus & what clients are expecting as COVID situation gradually improves
How do they promote innovation/risk taking?
Ask for their tips on typical mistakes to avoid for new hires
Mention key insights you have picked up from your research- talking to their employees, attending any webinars/open events, reading a publication etc. Ask for their view

As much as they want to know about you, you want to know about them as well to ensure its a good fit for you.

All the best.

Answer 3

Hi there,

First, remember that the interviewer's mind has already been mostly made up about 5 minutes into your interview. So, relax!

Ask about them

People love to talk about themselves. Just ask them what they've worked on recently or what their journey at the company has been like. Importantly, do your research beforehand - find out what they've done and try and pick something from their past that looks interesting to you. Tailor your questions just like they tailor their FIT questions to your resume."So, how did you end up in the Industrial Goods sector?"

Ask insightful questions

Ask anything about them, about the case, or about the company. Try to be “insightful” in the sense that you're not just asking the same generic questions anyone can pre-prepare, but actually asking something relevant to what you've done with them/discussed that day!

Ideally, your questions should show them that you're insightful, inquisitive, bright, thinking about current topics, etc. For example:

"I saw you worked on a big digital transformation for a financial services company - I experienced one myself and it seemed so hard to move such a big organisation. What did you see as the major challenges and breakthrough moments?"

"I know that x big trend is happening. I also know that y types of companies exhibit z traits. How do you reconcile this difference when ensuring y companies adopt x trends?

Summary: Ask about THEM and ask insightful questions!

Good luck and here's some additional advice for the fit portion of your interview: https://www.preplounge.com/en/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

Answer 4

Hey there,

This part is not evaluated and should rather be used to ask questions that you are actually interested in and you gain from knowing more about. Do not think about impressing the interviewer!

Ask about, for instance:

Work / travel situation pre vs post COVID
Growth trajectory of the firm
Favorite project
Journey within the firm
Training opportunities once hired

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 5

The best question to ask:

Generally, there is no “best question" to ask here. This is because they are not assessing you at this stage.

However, a rule of thumb would be to ask about the interviewers. For example; What is the most interesting project you have worked on?

Answer 6

Another dimension to think about - apart from the answers already provided:

Don't think about yourself as just an interviewee - think of yourself as a consultant who has joined recently. And think of the interviewer as either a colleague or a mentor (depending on seniority). Now what are the questions you are most likely to ask them as a colleague? Ask those.

Feel free to DM me with your thoughts and we can fine tune some custom questions for you.

Answer 7

There's no "best" questions but my advice has always been to ask questions that a 3 month tenure consultant would ask who is already working at that firm than something any candidate could as ask any interviewer. By the end of your interview, you want your interviewer to be seeing you as someone who has already joined their firm, or else you clearly have not been successful.

It's not explicitly assessed but it does make a difference in terms of the impression your interviewer leaves when “leaving the room”.

Answer 8

Hello! I would agree in that the questions you ask at the end of the interview are not really evaluative, but rather are an opportunity for you to build a positive rapport with the interviewer and get some further details about the firm. Here are some of my key dos and don'ts:

Build a positive rapport with the interviewer by tapping further into the case and/or shared interests. Quite often the interviewers will pick cases that are close to the fields they work in, or ones that are based on an actual case that they did. This could be a good opportunity to ask them more about their line of work in said field, particularly if it is one you are interested in. Even if it isn't directly tied to the case, you could ask about some of their favorite projects, what types of clients in the space they do work with, some interesting new challenges in the space, and so on - anything that feels like a natural and interesting extension of the conversation.
Ask about their personal experience to get a more detailed picture of life at the company. You are going to be interviewed by people who have done some pretty interesting work at the company for years, so it could be a good chance to get their perspective on a particular aspect of company life as well as some great insights. Closely read their resume beforehand to get a sense of what might be some interesting experiences you could ask about. Did they change offices, so that you can ask about the difference in office culture? Do they serve multiple different industries, or serve some specialized area of interest like digital or startups?
Avoid asking the following:
- Generic questions. I would avoid anything that seems like a pre-prepared, cookie-cutter end of the interview question, such as “what does your typical work day consist of?”. There's nothing wrong with asking them per se, but they rarely lead to a deeper conversation or develop your rapport with the interviewer.
- Questions that are more appropriate for HR. For instance, specifics of their staffing model or number of analysts per office are totally valid questions, but are more appropriate for HR than a consultant. Again, you definitely won't be penalized for asking something like that, but it won't get you much either.
- Things that you could easily google. I would avoid asking anything that you can get the answer through a quick google search, because it can seem lazy. This is why I think asking about someone's personal experience can be quite powerful - there is nothing google-searchable about that.

Answer 9

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