How to Ask for Interview Questions in Advance
Twenty things to ask before an interview, from the requests almost any recruiter will grant to the ones that need careful wording. Most employers will not hand over their questions, but they will usually tell you the format, the assessment criteria, the panel and the themes, and a growing number share questions or a case study in advance if asked. Includes how to route the request if you need the questions as a disability adjustment.
20 questions · each with the reason to ask it · conversation guide
The questions
Open any question to see why it works
- 01
Could you tell me the format: how long it runs, who I will be meeting, and whether there is an exercise?
Why ask it
Start here, because this is information the recruiter is expected to give and often simply forgot to send. It also does most of the practical work of preparation: a 45 minute panel of three with a written task is a different event from an hour with the hiring manager.
- 02
Will any part of it be a technical test, a presentation, or a written task?
Why ask it
Ask specifically rather than asking whether there is anything else to prepare. Recruiters answer the question you asked, and candidates regularly arrive expecting a conversation and find a whiteboard, or a laptop with no internet access.
- 03
What criteria or competencies am I being assessed against?
Why ask it
The most valuable question on this page, and the one most likely to be answered in full, because in many organizations the criteria are already written down and are not confidential. Knowing them tells you which four stories to have ready without anyone having to leak a question.
- 04
Are the questions the same for every candidate, and are they scored against a rubric?
Why ask it
The answer tells you how to pitch your answers. A structured interview scored against a rubric rewards complete, well-labeled examples with your own actions named, while an unstructured conversation rewards rapport and asking things back.
- 05
Do you share interview questions in advance? Some teams do, and it would let me prepare properly.
Why ask it
Worth asking plainly, because a number of employers, particularly in the public sector, universities and charities, now send questions or themes as a matter of policy. Framing it as a practice you have seen elsewhere makes it a normal request rather than a favor.
- 06
If you cannot share the questions, could you tell me the themes we will cover?
Why ask it
The fallback that usually succeeds, and the wording matters: you are accepting the no before it arrives. Themes are enough to prepare against, and recruiters can give them without treating candidates unequally.
- 07
Which parts of the job description matter most to the panel?
Why ask it
Postings are often assembled from an old template and half of the bullet points are inherited. Asking which parts are live tells you where to spend preparation time, and the answer sometimes reveals that the role has quietly changed.
- 08
Should I bring examples from a particular kind of work?
Why ask it
A narrow request that recruiters can answer without a policy problem, and it gets you a long way. If they name a domain, a scale or a type of stakeholder, build your two strongest examples in that direction rather than your favorite ones.
- 09
Is there anything you would like me to prepare or bring?
Why ask it
Ask even when you assume the answer is no, because the answer is quite often a portfolio, a set of references, identification documents, or a short case. It also puts on record that you asked, which protects you if a requirement surfaces late.
- 10
Who will I be meeting, and what are their roles?
Why ask it
Names and job titles let you prepare for the interests each person brings: the future manager, the peer who will have to work with you, the person from another department checking you can explain your work. It is also information that is rarely refused.
- 11
Roughly how long should my answers be?
Why ask it
An unusual question that recruiters tend to answer honestly and helpfully, often with something like two to three minutes. Panels working through a rubric in an hour have a real time problem, and calibrating to it is worth more than a better anecdote.
- 12
If there is a presentation, what is the brief, the time limit and the audience?
Why ask it
Get all three in writing. The most common presentation failures are running over time and pitching at the wrong audience, and both come from a brief that was passed on verbally and incompletely.
- 13
Will the case study be sent in advance, and how much time will I have with it?
Why ask it
Sent the night before, given on the day, or given as a take-home over a weekend are three different tasks. If it is a take-home, ask how long they expect it to take, and treat that figure as a limit rather than a suggestion.
- 14
Is there a stage after this one, and would it need different preparation?
Why ask it
Tells you how much to hold back and how to pace the process. It also occasionally reveals that this is the final stage, which changes what you should raise now rather than saving for later, including compensation.
- 15
I would find it easier to give my best answers if the questions were on the table in front of me. Would that be possible?
Why ask it
A modest, specific request that many panels will accommodate, since they are reading from a sheet anyway. Ask in advance rather than in the room, and note that this is separate from a formal adjustment request.
- 16
I have a condition that affects processing spoken questions. Who should I speak to about having the questions in advance as an adjustment?
Why ask it
This is a different route with different rules, and it usually goes to HR or a recruitment inbox rather than to the hiring manager. Ask who owns it rather than making the case to whoever answers, and expect to be asked what would help rather than for a diagnosis.
- 17
What tends to separate the candidates who do well at this stage from the ones who do not?
Why ask it
Answered surprisingly often, because it lets the recruiter be useful without breaking any rule. Answers are usually about form rather than content: examples too vague, no numbers, one long answer that ate half the interview.
- 18
Is there anything in my application the panel is likely to want me to address?
Why ask it
Invites the objection early, when you can prepare an answer instead of improvising one. A gap, a short tenure, a missing qualification: if the recruiter names it, you can open with it rather than waiting to be asked.
- 19
What are the practical details: the platform, whether cameras are expected, where to arrive and who to ask for?
Why ask it
Dull and worth asking, because logistics are where avoidable stress comes from. Ask for a direct number in case the video link fails, which is the failure most likely to make you late for your own interview.
- 20
If something occurs to me before the day, who is the best person to email?
Why ask it
Establishes a route for the follow-up questions you will actually have, and tells you whether the recruiter or a coordinator owns this process. A named contact also makes a late clarification look organized rather than anxious.
What you can and cannot get in advance
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What employers actually share
What employers actually share
Usually yes
- The format, length and structure of the interview.
- The names and roles of the people you will meet.
- The competencies or criteria you are assessed against, which are frequently already published.
- Whether there is a test, presentation or written exercise, and its brief.
- The themes or areas the questions will cover.
Sometimes yes
- The exact questions. Common in parts of the public sector, in universities, in some charities, and increasingly in organizations trying to reduce the advantage held by well-coached candidates.
- A case study or dataset ahead of the day.
- The scoring rubric, or at least the headings it uses.
- The questions on paper in the room, which many panels will do on request.
Usually no
- Questions for a technical assessment or live coding exercise.
- Anything that would make candidates unequal, which is the real reason behind most refusals rather than secrecy.
- Questions from a panel that has not written them yet, which is more common than candidates assume.
How to word the request
How to word the request
- Ask the recruiter or coordinator, not the hiring manager. It is an administrative question, and the manager is the person you least want to look anxious in front of.
- Put the practical reason in the request: preparing examples, arranging cover at your current job, or booking a room for a video call.
- Ask for the format and criteria first. Those are easy yeses, and the conversation is then open for the harder ask.
- Accept the refusal in the same message: "and if you cannot share the questions, the themes would help." It gives them something to say yes to.
- Keep it to three or four lines. A long justification makes a routine request look like a negotiation.
- Ask once. Following up on a no reads as pressure and is remembered by the person who will be scheduling your next round.
If you need this as an adjustment
If you need this as an adjustment
- This is a separate process from asking as a preference. Say plainly that you are requesting an adjustment and ask who handles it, rather than making the case to whoever replies first.
- Ask for the specific thing that helps: questions in advance, questions on paper, extra time, a break, no time limit on a task, a written alternative to a live exercise.
- You are generally not obliged to explain a diagnosis. Describing the barrier and the adjustment is usually enough.
- Make the request early, in writing, and confirm what has been agreed a day or two before, since arrangements are frequently agreed and then not passed to the panel.
- If the request is refused outright, ask what alternative they can offer and keep the reply. That record matters more than winning the argument in the moment.
Using what you get
Using what you get
Prepare examples, not scripts
If you are given questions or themes, resist writing answers out to be memorized. Recited answers sound recited and collapse when the panel asks the second half of the question. Prepare four or five examples you can take in different directions instead.
Map your examples to the criteria
Take the assessment criteria and put your strongest example against each one. Two criteria pointing at the same story is the gap worth filling before the interview, and it is invisible if you prepare by topic instead.
Say that you prepared
If they sent themes, referring to them in the room is a point in your favor rather than an admission. It shows the process worked and that you took the trouble.
Do not assume the list is complete
Panels add questions, follow up unpredictably, and skip their own script when something interests them. Questions received in advance are the floor of what you will be asked, not the ceiling.