Podcast Questions to Ask
80 questions to ask on a podcast when a guest has come on to talk about their work, grouped in the order an interview tends to run: openers that get the guest talking to your listener, how they started, what the job is really like, where they disagree with their field, a quick fire round, and the questions that close an episode. The standard questions to ask guests on a podcast are here next to less usual ones. A handful were written for a live studio, for presenters who came looking for radio interview questions to ask in a short slot that nobody can edit afterwards, and they sit at the end of Openers, The Work and Closers.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Openers
For anyone hearing you for the first time, who are you and what do you do?
Why ask it
Start here even with a guest you know well, because some of your audience will be new to them, and the answer sets the vocabulary for the rest of the episode. If it comes back as a job title and a string of jargon, ask how they would put it to a stranger on a train.
What are you working on right now?
Why ask it
Asked near the top, it gets whatever is live in the guest's head this week, and a guest who has talked about something they care about tends to settle. If what comes back is a launch announcement, say you will return to it at the end and ask what took up most of their attention this month.
What do you want to make sure we get to today?
Why ask it
Guests usually arrive with one thing they want to get across, and it is better to hear it in the first five minutes than to discover at the end that you never reached it. If the answer is a book or a launch, say when you will come back to it, then move on.
Who are you hoping is listening to this?
Why ask it
The answer tells you who the guest thinks they are talking to: beginners, peers, the person they were ten years ago. Hold them to it later, and when an answer drifts toward insiders, remind them of who they named.
What does your usual introduction leave out?
Why ask it
A guest who does a lot of shows has a two-line bio that gets read out at the top of each one. Asking what is missing from it gets you something those other episodes do not have, and it tells the guest early that this will not be the standard tour.
What were you doing an hour before we started recording?
Why ask it
A small, true detail from the guest's actual day, a school run, a site visit, a meeting that overran, puts a person in the listener's mind before the expertise arrives. It is hard to answer with a rehearsed line. Keep it to a minute.
Why are we talking about this today?
Why ask it
A radio interview nearly always has a reason for being on air this week: a report out on Monday, a festival on Saturday, a story already in the news. Get the guest to say it in their first answer, because someone who catches four minutes in the car needs the reason before the background.
Origins
How did you get started in this work?
Why ask it
Nearly every guest expects the origin question, so the job is to get a scene and not a summary. Ask for the first step that actually led here: a class, a favor for a friend, a job taken for the money. When the answer opens with a lifelong fascination, ask what year it was and where they were living.
Where did you grow up, and how much of that is still in what you do?
Why ask it
A place gives the listener a picture: a farm, a flat above a shop, a town with one big employer. The second half matters more than the first, so if the guest says home has nothing to do with the work, take them at their word and move on.
Was there a turning point, a moment after which this was the plan?
Why ask it
Some careers turn on a day, a phone call, a redundancy, one customer saying yes, and some only look that way in the retelling. Ask what they did the following morning. A guest who says it was gradual has answered too, and you can ask when they first said the job title out loud.
What did you expect this work to be like, and how was it different?
Why ask it
The gap between the job the guest imagined and the one they got is where the detail is, and it is not something a bio covers. A listener thinking about entering the field hears what the brochure version leaves out.
What do you wish someone had told you before you started?
Why ask it
The answers tend to be practical: how long the first sale takes, how much of the job is email, what the qualification does not cover. Follow up by asking how they found out instead, since learning it the hard way is the story worth the airtime.
What did the people around you think when you started?
Why ask it
A parent, a partner, a boss who thought it was a phase: other people's reactions bring characters into a story that is otherwise one person describing themselves. Ask whether any of them have changed their mind since.
What was the first money you ever made from this?
Why ask it
The first invoice or paycheck is usually a precise memory, and often a small enough sum that the guest enjoys saying it. If they would rather not give the figure, who paid and what for still marks the day an interest turned into work.
What were you bad at in the beginning that you had to learn?
Why ask it
A listener who is just starting out needs to hear that the guest was not born good at it. Ask how they learned it, whether from a course, a patient colleague or repeated failure, because the method is the part someone else can borrow.
What did you do before this that turned out to matter?
Why ask it
An earlier job that looks unrelated often explains what sets a guest apart from others in their field: the nurse who became a designer, the teacher who now runs a sales team. Ask for one thing they still do the way that job taught them.
Who taught you the most, and what exactly did they show you?
Why ask it
'Exactly' is the word doing the work. Without it you get a tribute to a mentor. With it you get the thing the mentor actually did, a way of marking up a draft or of running a meeting, that someone listening could try.
What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Why ask it
Guests who do many interviews have a polished line for this, so pin it down: who said it, what was going on at the time, and what they did differently the week after. If they cannot name the occasion, it is a quotation they like and not advice they took.
What is the best piece of advice you ignored?
Why ask it
Ask it after the advice they took. Turning the question around gets a story with a consequence, and often some honesty about being stubborn. Ask whether they would ignore it again.
What is a book or piece of work you keep going back to?
Why ask it
A question about the book that changed their life tends to get a famous title, and this one gets the book they actually use. Follow up on which part, since a particular chapter or track says what they are still working out.
What was the closest you came to walking away from this?
Why ask it
What kept the guest in is more useful to a listener than the low point itself, so ask about that second. Let them decide how much of the bad stretch to tell. If it involved health, money or family, take what is offered and do not dig.
What would you be doing if this had not worked out?
Why ask it
A guest with a ready answer, teaching, the family business, a trade they trained in, is often telling you how uncertain it felt at the time, which is good for a listener in the uncertain part to hear. If they say there was never a plan B, ask how they paid the rent in the first year.
The Work
What does a typical day look like for you?
Why ask it
If the guest says there is no typical day, ask about yesterday, from the first email to the last. Listeners build their idea of a job from its highlights, and an hour-by-hour account of an ordinary Tuesday corrects that better than a description of the role.
What is your favorite part of the job?
Why ask it
An easy one that lets the guest sound like someone who enjoys their work, which is worth having on the recording before the harder questions. Get past 'the people' by asking about the last afternoon when they lost track of time.
What part of the job would you hand to someone else tomorrow?
Why ask it
It asks for the dull or dreaded side of the work without calling it that. Ask why they have not handed it over already: the cost, the trust it would take, or a suspicion that it matters more than they would like.
Can you walk me through one project from start to finish?
Why ask it
One case told in order shows how the guest makes decisions, which a question about principles rarely does. Choose the project yourself from your research, or they will reach for the one they tell on every show.
What takes far longer than anyone outside would guess?
Why ask it
Most crafts have a hidden time sink: the edit, the paperwork, the wait for someone else to sign off. Naming it corrects the listener's picture of the job, and anyone in the same trade will nod along.
What is one habit that changed how you work?
Why ask it
Hold the guest to one, and ask for the before and after, or you will get a morning routine list. The answers worth having are small and specific: a weekly review, writing before email, a rule about which meetings to refuse.
What does a bad day look like for you?
Why ask it
A bad day is ordinary enough that nobody has to confess anything to describe one: the client who changes the brief, the equipment that fails, the email at five. Ask what they do at the end of a day like that, which is where the coping habits come out.
Which part of the job has never gotten easier?
Why ask it
Experienced guests often name something basic here, like starting, pricing or giving bad news, and hearing that does more for a beginner than encouragement would. Ask what they do about it now that they know it will not go away.
What is the biggest challenge you are facing at the moment?
Why ask it
Keep it in the present tense. A challenge from five years ago arrives with its lesson attached, while a current one has no ending yet, so the guest has to reason aloud. If it concerns staff or clients, let them keep the details vague.
How do you know when a piece of work is finished?
Why ask it
The answer is the guest's standards, described without the word. Listen for whether it is a deadline, a feeling or a checklist, then ask about a time they let something go too early or held on too long.
What piece of work are you proudest of?
Why ask it
The choice is often not the thing the guest is known for, and the distance between the two is your follow-up: why that one, and why did it get less notice? If they do name the well-known one, ask which decision in it they would make the same way again.
How does someone actually make a living doing this?
Why ask it
Listeners wonder and hosts often skip it. Asked about the field and not the guest's own income, it can be answered freely: salaries, day rates, grants, a second job. Leave it to them whether to volunteer their own numbers.
What was the last thing you said no to, and why?
Why ask it
Asking for the last refusal gets a real case, an invitation, a client, a promotion, where a question about priorities gets a statement of values. The reason they give is the filter, and a listener with too much on can borrow it.
Who do you call when you are stuck?
Why ask it
Guests are usually presented as working alone, and this brings in the people behind them. Ask what the last call was about and you get a recent, specific problem in place of a general remark about the value of mentors.
How do you switch off from work?
Why ask it
Some guests have a firm answer, a sport, a rule about the phone, a dog that needs walking, and some will admit they have not managed it. Both are worth hearing for a listener in a demanding job. Do not steer it toward advice on balance unless the guest offers some.
Is there a project you abandoned that you still think about?
Why ask it
Finished work has a tidy story and abandoned work does not, so the guest has to think aloud about why it stopped: money, timing, nerve, a collaborator who left. Ask what it would take to go back to it.
What mistake cost you the most, in money, time or trust?
Why ask it
Naming the kinds of cost in the question stops the answer turning into a neat lesson about growth. If the guest skips to what they learned, go back and ask what it set them back, and for how long.
What decision are you still not sure you got right?
Why ask it
A regret is a settled verdict, and this asks for a case that is still open: the job they left, the partner they bought out, the offer they refused. Expect a pause while they work it out, and leave it alone.
What does this mean for people living around here?
Why ask it
Local radio depends on this one. A guest speaking about a national subject can usually name a street, a venue or a nearby employer once asked, and that is the detail a station's own audience tuned in for. On a podcast with listeners everywhere, ask who feels it first instead.
What do members of the public ask you most often, and what do you tell them?
Why ask it
On a phone-in show it fills the time while the lines are quiet, and hearing it often prompts the first caller. The guest has answered it many times, so the reply comes out short and clear, which suits a slot with no edit.
Opinions
What is the biggest misconception about what you do?
Why ask it
People inside a field usually know the standard wrong picture of it, whether that is the lab coat, the corner office or the idea that the whole day is the creative part. Ask where they think the picture comes from. The correction is often a good line for the episode title or a clip.
What advice gets repeated constantly in your field that you think is wrong?
Why ask it
A guest who disagrees with the standard advice has usually paid to find out, so ask for the occasion. Then ask who the advice does work for, which turns a complaint into an argument a listener can weigh.
What did you argue for early in your career that you would argue against now?
Why ask it
Arguing for something is stronger than believing it, so the guest has to own a position they once defended out loud. The follow-up is what moved them: a result, a person, or simply doing the job for longer.
What do people in your field say in private that they will not say in public?
Why ask it
Let the guest speak for the field so that nobody has to be named, and do not push for names if none are offered. If the answer is something people already say openly, ask what the riskier version would be.
Where do you disagree with people you respect?
Why ask it
'People you respect' keeps this from turning into an attack on easy targets. You get the live argument inside the field, and the guest has to put the other side fairly because they have just said they respect it.
What criticism of your work do you think is fair?
Why ask it
Asking for the fair criticism lets the guest choose it, so it does not land as an ambush. A guest who can state the objection well earns trust for the rest of what they say. If they cannot think of one, offer the objection you found in your research and ask whether it is fair.
How do you define success now, and is that different from when you started?
Why ask it
A definition of success, asked for cold, tends to come out as a slogan. The comparison with their starting self gets a before and after: the salary they once aimed for, the title, the size of the team, and whatever replaced it.
What would you change about your industry if it were up to you?
Why ask it
The wording asks for a proposal, so the guest has to say what they would do and not only what annoys them. Then ask who would lose out if it happened, since that is usually why it has not.
Where do you think your field will be in five years?
Why ask it
A forecast is easy to give and nobody checks it later, so tie it to the guest's own behavior: what are they doing differently this year because of what they expect? If the answer is nothing, treat the prediction as a guess and move on.
What is normal practice today that you think will look wrong in ten years?
Why ask it
This asks the guest to criticize the present, their own practice included, which is harder than describing the future. If they exempt themselves, ask which of their current methods they suspect will date badly.
What question in your field would you most like to see answered in your lifetime?
Why ask it
Experts are mostly asked for answers, so a question about what is still unknown is a change of gear, and it keeps the episode from sounding more certain than the field is. Ask what stands in the way: money, data, or a method nobody has found yet.
What are you paying attention to that most people in your field are not?
Why ask it
What someone is watching is a fact about how they spend their time, which makes it harder to bluff than an opinion about where things are going. If the answer is a trend that is already in every newsletter, ask for something smaller that they noticed themselves, in their own work or among their own customers.
Quick Fire
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
Why ask it
Tell the guest before you record that this one is coming, because few people can produce a surprising fact on demand. With notice you get the amateur boxing, the first career as a florist, the twin. Without it you get 'I am actually quite shy'.
What are you reading, watching or listening to at the moment?
Why ask it
Three options, so that a guest who has not finished a book this year still has an answer. Get the full title and the author's or maker's name on the recording, since listeners will look it up and you will need it for the show notes.
Early bird or night owl, and when do you do your best work?
Why ask it
The first half takes two seconds. The second is the part a listener can use, since it is about arranging a day around your own energy. If the hours they name are not the hours the job allows, ask how they get around that.
Overrated or underrated: the biggest trend in your field right now?
Why ask it
Prepare three or four items from the guest's own world to run through this way, and allow one sentence of reasoning for each. Take the underrated ones seriously, since that is where a guest is likeliest to say something you have not already read.
What word or phrase from your field should be retired?
Why ask it
Most professions have a piece of jargon their own members are tired of. You get a real opinion in a few seconds, and the word they pick often points at something the field has been overselling.
What is something cheap that made your working life noticeably better?
Why ask it
Small purchases get honest, specific answers: a kitchen timer, a better pen, a notebook they buy by the box. A listener can act on it the same day, which is rare for anything said on a podcast.
What did you tell people you were going to be when you were ten?
Why ask it
A light question that sometimes turns serious, when the ten-year-old's plan is still visible in the adult's job. Keep it to one line unless that connection is there, and follow it when it is.
What do you listen to while you work, or do you need silence?
Why ask it
A fitting one for an audio show, and nobody needs time to think about it. If they name an album or another podcast, ask which kind of task it goes with, the concentrated work or the admin.
What are you a beginner at right now?
Why ask it
The guest steps outside the thing they are expert in: a language, a sport, baking bread. People tend to describe being bad at something with more humor than being good at it, which makes an accomplished guest easier to like.
What is on your desk right now?
Why ask it
An audio show cannot show the room, so this lets the listener see it. The odd object, a child's drawing, a dying plant, three coffee cups, tends to stick longer than the guest's job title does.
Who, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with?
Why ask it
The name by itself is seldom the interesting part, so ask what the first question at the table would be. That shows what the guest is still curious about, and it stops the round stalling on a famous name and a shrug.
What would your colleagues say is the most annoying thing about working with you?
Why ask it
Asked lightly, it gets self-knowledge without the stiffness of a question about weaknesses. Laugh with the answer and move on. A quick fire round is not the place to dig, and the guest should come out of it looking human.
Closers
What would you tell someone starting out in your field this year?
Why ask it
Tying the advice to this year makes the guest account for what has changed since they began, and say whether the route they took is still open. If it has closed, ask which door they would try now.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Why ask it
The answer is usually about temperament more than tactics: worry less, ask sooner, leave earlier. Ask what age they are picturing, and whether that younger self would have taken the advice, which tends to get a laugh and a truer second answer.
Where should a beginner start if they want to learn what you know?
Why ask it
Guests tend to recommend what they would read now, with years of experience behind them. Ask what they would hand to someone in their first month, a book, a course, a small project to attempt, and what it costs, because a listener deciding whether to try it will want to know.
What is next for you?
Why ask it
This is the guest's invitation to mention the book, the launch or the tour, and many have been waiting politely for it. Give them a full minute, then ask what comes after that, which is the part they have not written a press line for.
What date in the next twelve months are you counting down to?
Why ask it
A forward-looking question lifts the tone after the harder middle of an interview, and asking for a date keeps the answer from dissolving into general optimism. A launch, a move, a race, a wedding: it does not have to be about work.
What do you want to be remembered for?
Why ask it
A large question that suits a guest late in a long career better than one five years in. For a younger guest, ask what they want to have finished ten years from now. In both cases, notice whether the answer is about the work or about people, and follow that.
What is a question you wish interviewers would ask you?
Why ask it
The guest names the question and then has to answer it, so remember to ask it back. It works best near the end, when they know what the conversation did not reach, and it tells you what to ask the next guest from the same field.
Is there anything we have not covered that you wanted to say?
Why ask it
Ask it even when you are over time, and keep recording through the answer. A guest who says 'no, I think we got everything' has still been given the last word, and one who says yes is about to tell you what your questions missed.
What question would you leave for the next guest?
Why ask it
A chain question gives a show a running thread, with each guest answering the one left by the guest before. Read out the previous guest's question and credit them by name before you ask for a new one.
Who would you like to hear on this show?
Why ask it
Guests often know who in their field talks well and has not done the rounds. Ask what they would want that person asked, which hands you an opening question, and a guest who has named someone on the recording is usually willing to make the introduction.
Where should people go if they want more from you?
Why ask it
Ask for one place, not five, because a single address is easier to remember than a list. Say it back yourself and put it in the show notes so nobody has to rewind.
If a listener does one thing after this episode, what should it be?
Why ask it
A closing question that ends on one usable instruction in place of a recap. If the answer is to stay curious or keep an open mind, ask for something a listener could actually do this week.
What are the date, the place and the price, for anyone who wants to come?
Why ask it
When a guest is on air because of an event, these are the facts a radio listener cannot scroll back for. Have them written down in front of you too, and repeat them slowly after the guest, since somebody is hearing it at the wheel with no pen.
We have about a minute left, so what is the one point you want people to remember?
Why ask it
Live radio ends when the clock says so, and telling the guest how long they have gets an answer that fits. Ask it early enough that you can still thank them by name before the news.
Running the Interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Preparation That Shows Up in the Audio
Listen to one of their other interviews, not just their bio
You will hear their stock answers, and you can then avoid the questions that trigger them. It costs an hour, and it is the surest way to keep your episode from sounding like the guest's last appearance.
Send topics, not questions
A guest who has seen the exact wording tends to arrive with a prepared answer and read it out. Sending three or four areas gives them time to think without letting them rehearse sentences. If a guest asks for the questions anyway, send the first one, so that the start is easy.
Choose from the groups, not down the list
The groups follow the shape of an interview, so take one Opener, most of your questions from Origins, The Work and Opinions, and one Closer. Which of the middle three you lean on depends on the guest: Origins for someone your listeners have not met, Opinions for someone they have already heard tell their story elsewhere.
Write eight questions and expect to use five
The best material usually comes from following an answer, not from the next item on your list. Order them so the two you most want are in the middle, when the guest has warmed up but is not yet watching the clock.
For a radio interview, plan to the clock
A live slot has a fixed end and no edit, so pick three questions, not eight, and ask the one you most want second. People tune in partway through, which means saying the guest's name and why they are in the studio again every few minutes. The last question in Openers and the last two in The Work and in Closers were written for that setting.
While You Are Recording
- Say when you are about to start recording and get a clear yes first. Rules on recording a call differ from place to place, so check the ones that apply to you and to your guest.
- Ask one thing at a time. Where a question on this page has two halves, ask the first, let it be answered, and use the second as the follow-up. Asked together, the guest picks the easier half.
- When an answer is abstract, ask for the last time it happened. A named week and a real outcome usually make a better clip than a principle.
- Leave three seconds after they stop. Guests often add the honest sentence in that pause, and the pause comes out in the edit anyway.
- If a guest gives you a rehearsed answer, thank them and ask about the part they left out. You do not have to say it sounded rehearsed.
- Follow the story that seems slightly off-topic for a minute before deciding. You can cut a tangent later, but you cannot go back for one you steered away from.
- Announce the quick fire round before it starts and say how many questions are coming. A guest who knows short answers are wanted will give them, and three or four is plenty before it starts to feel like a form.
- Say the number back when a figure or date is mentioned. It catches a mishearing while the guest is still there to correct it.
- Ask permission before pressing on anything painful, and mean it. If the answer is no, move on without comment and leave the exchange out of the episode.
Closing and Afterwards
- Keep recording until the call has actually ended. Guests often relax once the last question is done, and what they say then is sometimes better than the interview. Ask before you use any of it.
- Confirm on the recording how they want their name and role described, spelling included. It saves an email and prevents a correction after publication.
- Decide before you record whether guests on your show can ask for a cut, and tell them which it is. If they can, ask at the end whether there is anything they would like taken out.
- Note the timestamps of the two moments you would clip while they are still fresh. Otherwise finding them means listening to the whole recording again.
- Send the episode link with one line about the part you thought was strongest. It shows you were listening, and it gives the guest something to say when they pass it on.
- Keep a list of questions that produced unexpected answers, and of the ones that fell flat. After twenty episodes that list will fit your show better than any page of questions, this one included.