Someone I admire once told me:
“What you ask also tells me something about who you are.”

I have carried that sentence with me ever since. And the more people I interview, the more accurate it feels.

With the stakes being as high as they are today, interview preparation has started to feel almost like studying for an oral exam. Candidates rehearse answers. They memorise stories. They polish wording. But very few people prepare seriously for the moment when they stop answering and start asking.

At some point, the interviewer says:

“Do you have any questions for us?”

And I often see candidates relax. Many have seen a TikTok reel or a LinkedIn post from one of the many “career influencers” listing the right questions to ask. Even if those questions may have worked once, somewhere, interviews are not templates. When questions are repeated without understanding the context they came from, they stop being insightful.

Things go south because of the questions you ask, or do not ask, more often than you think. In 2026, interviews are not decided only by who gives the best answers. They are also influenced by who asks the most telling questions.

Not the smartest ones. Not the safest ones. The most revealing ones.

Why questions can matter just as much as the answers

Answers show whether you can do the job. Questions show something else entirely:

• Whether people want to work with you.
• Whether you were actually paying attention to what was discussed.
• Whether your focus is in the right place.
• Whether your interest is genuine or performative.

If you reached the interview stage, you already cleared the first bar. Your competence is assumed. From that point on, hiring managers are primarily assessing risk:

• How you think.
• How you prioritise.
• How you deal with uncertainty.
• What you optimise for when information is incomplete.

Your questions expose a significant part of that.

The part most candidates underestimate

Many candidates use questions to protect themselves. They try to minimise personal risk. Seek predictability. Avoid disappointment. Look for guarantees. That instinct is human. But in interviews, it can work against you. Because in 2026, most companies are not optimising for people who need certainty. They are looking for people who can operate without it.

Questions that can harm candidates

These are just some of the questions that are common, and understandable, but they can cost opportunities. Not because they are bad in isolation, but because of what they signal, or because they are asked in the wrong context.

“What does a typical day in this role look like?”

This assumes structure where there often is none. In startups and growing organisations, days are shaped by priorities, not routines. What interviewers often hear is not curiosity, but a desire for predictability. That can raise questions about how you react when plans change.

“How does the promotion path look for this role?”

Ambition is fine. But asking this too early shifts the focus away from contribution. It can signal that you are already looking past the role you are being hired for, which naturally leads hiring managers to question commitment.

“How is work-life balance here?”

Absolutely a fair concern. The issue is timing and framing Without context, it can sound like avoidance rather than self-awareness.

“Why did the last person leave?”

This can put interviewers in a difficult position. They cannot always answer honestly, and that is a fact, which means the question can create tension before trust exists. I am not saying you should not want to know. But realistically, in most settings, this is not a first-conversation topic. Just imagine you were sitting down for a first date, would you immediately ask what went wrong in their last relationship?

“Is this a long-term role?”

This question often reveals anxiety around stability. In a market defined by change, guarantees rarely exist. Additionally, in most job ads it is already specified whether a contract is permanent or fixed-term. Asking this again can suggest that you did not pay attention to the information provided.

Asking the right person also matters

Another mistake I see frequently is asking the right question to the wrong person. It is rarely useful to ask a recruiter about deep team challenges or what defines success in the first six months. That conversation belongs with the hiring manager or the team. Recruiters primarily assess alignment, motivation, and risk. Hiring teams assess execution, impact, and delivery.

Knowing who to ask what already tells us a lot about a candidate’s maturity.

What stronger questions tend to do instead

Stronger questions are grounded in reality.

• They show awareness of constraints.
• They focus on priorities, not just benefits.
• They signal ownership without entitlement.

Examples that have consistently worked well in my experience during screening conversations:

“What made you personally choose to work here?”
“What is something about the company that has been harder than you expected?”
“What tends to differentiate people who move forward in the interview process, from those who struggle in later stages?”

These questions show, in my view, that you are willing to challenge the surface level, that your focus is in the right place, and that you understand timing, while also revealing a lot in return.

I am not saying there is a formula that guarantees success. But I can say this with confidence:

Candidates whose questions make interviewers pause and think “This person gets it.”, often go further than those who deliver flawless speeches about how much research they did beforehand.

Not because they tried harder.
But because they paid attention to the right things.