The questions you ask are also being scored

What your questions signal, the four categories worth drawing from, and the common questions that quietly cost you marks at the end of an interview.

The short answer: The questions you ask at the end of an interview are scored, and most candidates treat them as a formality. What they signal is the level you are operating at: a question about the team's current problems reads as someone thinking about the job, while a question answered on the careers page reads as someone who did not look. Four categories reliably produce good questions — the work itself, how success is measured, the team and its constraints, and what happens next. Ask two or three, ask them because you want the answer, and never ask about leave, salary or working hours in a first interview.

Key points

Anything answered on the company website is a question that costs you marks, because asking it proves you did not read it.
The strongest questions come from your own research and reference something specific — they show the preparation rather than claiming it.
Two or three questions is right; a list of eight turns the close into an interrogation the interviewer has to manage.
Save compensation, leave and flexible-working questions for the offer stage, where they are normal rather than premature.

Why the questions are part of the assessment

Interviewers are not being polite when they leave ten minutes at the end. What you choose to ask reveals what you think the job is, and that is a harder signal to fake than an answer to a question you knew was coming.

Two candidates give the same behavioural answers. One asks how the team is affected by the reporting change announced last quarter; the other asks what the culture is like. The first has demonstrated that they understand the business and did the work; the second has asked something no interviewer has ever answered informatively. The gap is entirely in preparation, and it is visible.

Four categories that always produce something

Question categories, with the shape of a good one
Category	What it signals	Example shape
The work itself	You are thinking about doing the job, not getting it	"What does a typical week look like in the first six months?"
How success is measured	You intend to be measurable	"What would a strong first year look like from your side?"
The team and its constraints	You understand teams have problems	"What is the hardest part of this role that is not in the posting?"
What happens next	You are organised and taking it seriously	"What are the remaining stages, and what is the timeline?"

The best question of all is usually none of these: it is one built from your own research, naming something specific the employer has done, and asking what it means for this team. That question cannot be recycled, which is exactly why it works — and it comes out of the four research questions rather than out of a list.

What not to ask, and why

Anything on the website. What the company does, when it was founded, which markets it operates in. The answer is public and asking demonstrates you did not look.
"What is the culture like?" Nobody has ever given a useful answer. Ask instead how disagreements get resolved, or what happens when a deadline is at risk — those produce real answers.
Leave, hours and flexibility, at first interview. Legitimate questions at the wrong moment. Ask the recruiter, or ask at offer stage.
"Do you have any concerns about my application?" It invites an objection the interviewer may not have formed and gives you no room to answer it properly. It is a negotiation tactic in a setting that is not yet a negotiation.
A list of eight. The close is a conversation. Prepare five, ask two or three, and read the room on the rest.

Match the question to the person in front of you, because the same question wastes a slot with the wrong interviewer. A hiring manager can tell you what the work actually involves and what a good first year looks like. A prospective peer can tell you what the team is really like on a bad week, which is the most useful answer available and one no manager will give you. A recruiter can tell you about process, timeline and compensation structure, and is the right person for exactly those.

Prepare five and expect to ask two or three, keeping one in reserve that references something said during the conversation itself. That last one is worth more than anything you prepared, because it demonstrates you were listening rather than waiting — and it is the only question in the set that could not have been written the night before.

Frequently asked questions

What if all my questions have already been answered?

Say so, and then ask one anyway — a good one is always available. "You mentioned the team is picking up the new reporting obligation; is that changing what you need from this role in the first year?" It references something from the conversation, which is better than anything you prepared, and it shows you were listening rather than waiting.

Is it acceptable to ask about salary in the first interview?

Not usually, unless the interviewer raises it or the recruiter asked you to confirm a range. It is not that the question is rude — it is that it is premature, and it shifts the conversation to terms before either side has established that there is anything to negotiate. That conversation belongs at the [offer stage](/learn/salary-negotiation/negotiating-an-offer).

Should I ask about progression?

Yes, if you ask about it as work rather than as title. "What does someone in this role typically move into?" is a question about the shape of the job. "How quickly can I be promoted?" is a question about you, asked before you have given them a reason to care, and it lands badly in almost every setting.