Questions to Ask Your Next Manager
Avoid surprises by asking these 7 questions before signing your next offer letter
š Hi, this is Akash with this weekās newsletter. I write about leadership in software engineering. This week we hit 1000 subscribers! Thank you for your readership.
This week Iām sharing 7 essential questions you should ask the hiring manager next time you interview. Hope you enjoy this edition!
āDo you have any questions for me?ā - how many times has this question startled you in interviews?
Itās not that we donāt expect it. Yet, it leaves us thinking, āWhat should I ask?ā
The pressure is off the charts if itās the hiring manager round. We want them to like us. At that moment, we donāt think about whether we like them.
But did you know that people leave their boss 5 out of 10 times, not the company?
Itās sad, but not surprising. Leadership is difficult, and thereās no right way to do it.
People have good intentions, itās just not the right fit.
Have you ever started on a new role and soon realized itās not going to work out?
What if thereās a way to avoid it?
Today, I will share 7 essential questions to ask your future manager before you make a decision. I wish someone had shared this with me sooner. I have made bad choices and later regretted them; you donāt have to.
ā Main Takeaways
How to choose your next role carefully by asking questions
Practical thought process to deal with emotional difficulties of asking questions
Sample questions you can use on your next Hiring Manager interview
Letās dive in!
šāāļø Asking Questions Will NEVER Cost Your Job
Do you feel uneasy asking questions to your potential manager?
Iāve always felt very uncomfortable. Iād tell myself, āitās okay, I can adjust?ā or when I notice some red flags, āthey probably didnāt mean it that wayā.
Many of us struggle to ask for what we want. We think, āWhat if they think of me as difficult to work with?ā or āIs it the right time? Iām sure Iāll get plenty of opportunities to ask questions.ā
If you feel like that, Iām with you. Iāve made the mistake of not asking enough questions. I always thought itād hurt my chances if they felt interviewed.
The truth cannot be further from this. When you ask questions, the HM knows,
You have a genuine interest in the role and the company
Youāre a dedicated person who cares
You are looking for stability
Depending on the company youāre interviewing, you might have an HM interview round,
at the very beginning of the process (Amazon, Meta)
at the very end of the process (Google, OpenAI, Netflix)
multiple times during the process (Apple, Anthropic)
(these are based on my experience interviewing at these companies, it may vary)
I appreciate having an initial conversation with the HM for a quick vibe check. But I prefer saving in-depth questions for later.
If youāve only spoken to your potential manager once at the start, ask for another call before moving onto the offer stage.
You might want to wait till this stage because:
Starting with hard questions might not be a great experience
You can avoid this conversation altogether if others donāt go well
Now your interview feedback is available, and youāll get more personalized answers
Itās a personal choice though. The important thing is to ask and assess your match.
Letās explore 7 questions that you MUST ask before signing your next offer letter.
āļø 7 Questions to Ask Before You Decide
š§ 1. What are your core leadership values?
Have you ever felt that your manager isnāt sharing important information?
Not a big fan of how feedback is communicated?
You and your manager have your own set of values. Itās okay if theyāre not the same. But, it becomes a struggle when itās completely opposite.
How do you deal with that?
If you ask someone if theyāre a micromanager, youāll only get a āNOā.
Asking an HM about their leadership principles is a great way to understand their style. You can ask them:
āHow have your leadership values evolved throughout your career?ā
Tells you about the adaptability and growth journey of their own.
āWhat are the top 3 values that guide your leadership approach?ā
Itās a nice ice-breaker into this topic of core values.
āHow do you ensure that you strike the right balance between values?ā
It tells you how they adjust their style depending on the situation.
The core idea here is to understand how they lead. And if that aligns with what youād want from your next manager.
š¢ 2. How are decisions made at the team or organizational level?
Engineers spend most of their time not coding. The majority goes into planning and designing systems, all requiring decision-making.
Wouldnāt it be great if you had clarity on how decisions are being made at your new team?
Iāve worked in both engineer-driven and top-down cultures. Some I like more than others. You should know what youāre getting into if you're making a switch.
Try asking these questions:
āHow transparent is the decision-making process?ā
Tells you about overall company culture.
āHow much autonomy do individual team members have in making decisions?ā
Know how much influence is with the team vs coming from executives.
āIf there's a disagreement within the team, how is it resolved?ā
Tells you how escalations are used and handled.
Organizational culture plays an important role in your happiness. These questions can reveal a lot about internal culture and processes.
š 3. What are your career goals and aspirations?
If youāre particularly growth-minded, this is for you.
Without going into the āengineers can better manage engineersā debate, I can say an ambitious person is more likely to support your accelerated career goals.
Itās purely based on my experience, but I wish someone had told me this sooner.
Growth is much more than just promotion. Increase in scope, influence are all growth. A leader with very high ambitions for themselves can create spaces for you to grow with them.
But, it sounds a bit intrusive and awkward, right?
Hereās how you can reframe this question,
āWhat aspects of your role keep you motivated?ā
Know about their interests and passions.
āI'm impressed by your accomplishments so far. What are some of your future aspirations that you're most excited about?ā
A subtle way to ask the questions is by praising their current position first.
āHow do you see the team's success contributing to your overall career goals?ā
Tells you about their career goals.
Itās always an interesting conversation with the HM. Itās also one of the questions that can catch them off guard. Try to understand how they see themselves growing into their dream role.
š± 4. How would you support my growth objectives?
Itās time to turn the table. Understanding how the HM thinks about growth should play a key factor in your decision.
Weād want to avoid joining a company only to realize thereās no growth trajectory.
As a TL at Google, I led a team and multiple impactful workstreams. This was not the case when I transitioned to Apple. They donāt have formal TL roles.
If I hadnāt discussed this clearly with my current manager, I wouldnāt know that Apple works differently.
Hereās what I asked (well, along the same lines),
āHow does performance evaluation work at [Company X]?ā
Tells you about the process and frequency.
āHow often do you have career development conversations?ā
Hear how seriously they invest in the team's development.
āIām very interested in growing as a leader, what opportunities will be available if I join this team?ā
Understand the available opportunities and how they support growth in general.
The more context you can provide, the better. Youāre trying to gauge potential opportunities and see if they align with your expectations.
š ļø 5. What is your strategy when someone on your team is underperforming?
āThe ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversyā
- Martin Luther King Jr.
How your manager handles difficult times can determine your job satisfaction.
Going into a job, underperforming is likely not on your mind. I wish my performance were always under my control. However, many external factors can affect how you perform.
Sometimes letting go is the right, yet hard decision a leader must take to protect the team (read more in this article from
).ĀTo understand the HMās response to a crisis, try these questions,
āWhat kind of support and resources do you offer to employees who are struggling?ā
Tells you about how they provide support to members.
āWhat steps do you take if an employee's performance doesn't improve despite your efforts?ā
Learn whether they can make hard decisions if needed.
āHow do you balance providing feedback with maintaining a positive and supportive environment?ā
Know how they treat feedback.
Knowing that youāll get all the support helps with psychological safety.
š¤© 6. What excites you the most about this team?
We have many opportunities to learn more about the teamās work. But getting insights from the leader on their vision reveals a lot more.
The lack of a vision is dangerous. Trust me, you donāt want to work there!
You can ask the following questions,
āWhat are some of the ways the team is currently innovating or pushing boundaries?ā
Innovation is a good indicator of a solid vision.
āHow do you think the team will evolve and grow in the coming years?ā
Clarity in the team direction is important for a leader.
āWhere do you see [Project A] going?ā
Demonstrate their technical abilities as a leader.
If you decide to chat with the HM last, it generally means your interviews went well. Make sure youāre sold on the vision, not just other things. Itās hard to survive work if youāre not interested at all.
ā¤ļø 7. What do you care about?
The last one is a miscellaneous category. Topics around remote work, expectations, and work hours.
A few of the good managers Iāve worked with say,Ā
āI donāt care where you work from, what time youāre working, as long as you get sh*t doneā.
Itās important to me. Trusting me with the work and offering flexibility is important in todayās world.
Managers have different work ethics. To get to know them more, inquire about things you care about.
š š Parting Thoughts
I used to interview often, not to change jobs, but to stay current and prepared. I always hesitated to ask hard, meaningful questions.
I felt I might not get an offer if I offended them somehow.
Iāve joined companies only to realize, it was never going to work out. Since I started being more vocal about my needs, asking questions was never the reason for any of my rejections.
Donāt take chances. Start asking questions that fulfill your needs. Interviews are a two-way process, use it.
Tell us about your favorite questions to ask your potential manager.
Share them in the comments!
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Awesome questions. My experience: HM are mostly skip managers who are finding people for some new manager under their matrix. In this case you donāt get to know their intention until you join the company. To sum up: managers are good at hiding their intentions and real characteristics as they are trained to sugarcoat thingsš
Loved the article. Thanks for the tips, this would help me in my upcoming interviews.