Nice article, but this: "there is a shortage of software developers right and left"...i'm not sure this is accurate. There is a game afoot, but it's not because of a scarcity of software developers. This would have been far funnier as the "Maury Lie Detector" meme, but the image upload button doesn't appear to work. Cheers!

Nice article -- great to awaken an awareness for that most innocuous of questions. It always surprises me when the answer is, "no, not right now". (I usually have a couple dozen questions to ask so my problem is the opposite: having to remember to interject "If you have a few more minutes just a couple more?"... but that is for another article!)

Not only is "no, not right now" a waste of a great opportunity to the "any more questions?" opening, the question is, as you say, a valuable selling opportunity. The fundamental sales concept "Always be closing" could not apply more than to job interviews.

Minor point: your context-less description needs, well, a bit of context--could not figure out how to parse your sentence: "These questions don't usually arise from the context of your interview, but you couldn't cover something you are pretty interested in at all."

Great post - I completely agree that it is an opportunity for the candidate to not only stand-out, but also gain some insight into whether the role is a good fit for them.

I often feel a bit deflated at the end of the interview if the candidate has no questions. It may not be true for them, but I am left with the impression they are not excited / keen to join us.

Over the past year, all interviews i have led have been virtual, so I almost expect more questions as the candidate has their laptop open in front of them (with our webpage open I hope).

Some other ideas for Qs

• Where do you expect the department/company to be in 2 years / Which areas are you looking to grow in?
• How long does the onboarding process take and will i be provided with any training?
• If I were to get the role, who will my line manager be and what is their role?
• Do you work to KPI and if so, will I have individual targets to work towards?

awesome post! this was one of the valuable lessons that helped me a great deal back when I was job-hunting. The importance of going for an interview with good questions to ask the interviewers cannot be over-emphasized. After all, an interview is a two-way process in which both parties are trying to know more about each other and determine their mutual compatibility.