Questions to Ask the Person You Are Replacing
For anyone starting a job or taking over a role who gets time with the person who held it, whether in a formal handover or over coffee after they have moved on. The questions follow the order a handover tends to run in: what the job really is, the work in flight, where things are kept and who has access, the people, the manager, and the parting advice, including why they are going and whether you can call them later.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The job
What does an ordinary week in this job actually look like?
Why ask it
Ask them to walk you through last week, day by day, instead of describing a typical one. A useful answer has names, times and recurring tasks in it. If all you get is 'it varies', the job is mostly reacting, so ask what they were reacting to and who was asking.
What have you found hardest about this job?
Why ask it
People answer with whatever cost them the most evenings, so ask for the last time it happened and how long it took to put right. Then ask what made it easier: a checklist, a person to call, a habit of starting early. A hard part they solved is a method you can take away, and one they never solved is worth raising with your manager before it becomes your first bad week.
Which parts of the job take the most time, and which matter the most?
Why ask it
The two lists are seldom the same. Have them put rough hours against each task, then mark the three their manager would notice first if they slipped. Those three are what to protect in the weeks when you are still slow at everything else.
What do you do that is not in the job description?
Why ask it
Every seat collects extras over the years: a report done as a favor, the supply order, being the one who understands the old system. Write each one down with the name of whoever it is for. You can decide later which to keep, but a favor that stops without warning looks like a failure on your part.
What has to happen every week, every month, every quarter and once a year?
Why ask it
The yearly tasks are the ones that get lost, because nobody will have done them since you arrived. For each, get the date, what sets it off and who is waiting for it. Going through the past twelve months of their calendar together jogs the memory, and it is the moment to have the standing meeting invitations forwarded to you.
Which weeks of the year are the heaviest, and what do you start doing ahead of them?
Why ask it
A crunch that arrives on a known date, such as year end, a renewal season or an audit, is one you can prepare for, and their preparation list is worth copying down word for word. Should that date fall inside your first two months, tell your manager now that you will need help through it.
Which tasks look simple and are not?
Why ask it
These are the jobs that take ten minutes once you know the trick and most of a day when you do not. Ask to do one while they watch, which shows up the steps they no longer notice themselves. Someone who insists everything is straightforward can usually still name the task they would least like to hand to a temp.
What could go wrong quietly, with nobody noticing until it was too late?
Why ask it
You are after the missed renewal, the filing date, the backup nobody checks, the payment that needs a manual approval. Whatever they name goes in your calendar that day, with a reminder set well ahead. 'Nothing' from someone long in the seat usually means they check by habit, so ask what they look at first each morning.
Which decisions did you make on your own, and which did you take to someone else?
Why ask it
Their line is not automatically yours, since the freedom they had may have been earned over years. Note where they drew it, then confirm with your manager which parts carry over to you. Be wary of 'I just did it and nobody ever asked': that is a habit, and you would be the one explaining it.
Where do requests come from, and how fast do people expect an answer?
Why ask it
Have them name every channel: their own inbox, a shared mailbox, a ticket queue, people stopping at the desk. Then ask which requests they answered the same day and which could wait a week. Whatever speed they kept is the speed people will expect from you on day one, fair or not.
Work in flight
What is unfinished right now, and what is the next step on each item?
Why ask it
Ask for this as a written list, with the next action, the person waiting and the date beside each line. 'Nearly done' is the phrase to stop on. Find out exactly what remains, and whether they could finish it before they go instead of handing you the last tenth of a job you never saw start.
Which deadlines fall in my first month?
Why ask it
Put each one in your calendar while they are sitting next to you. Ask whether the date is set by someone outside, such as a client, a regulator or a contract, or only by custom, because a customary date can often be moved with one conversation. Asking what was due in the same month last year catches the ones they have stopped thinking about.
What goals or targets were you set for this year, and where does each one stand?
Why ask it
A target set for the person who is leaving does not vanish with them. It can turn up in your first review with your name on it. Get the number, the date and an honest guess at whether it can still be met, then ask your manager which of them you are being held to and whether the figures change for someone starting partway through.
What have you promised anyone that is not written down?
Why ask it
Spoken commitments come back weeks later as 'but I was told': a price held for a client, a favor owed to another team, time off agreed with someone they managed. Ask them to send each person a short note saying what was agreed and that you are taking over. A promise you would not have made is easier to revisit while the person who made it is still around.
Is anything already late or going wrong that I should hear about from you first?
Why ask it
Say plainly that you would rather know now and will not hold it against them. A busy job rarely hands over spotless, so an account with nothing wrong in it is a reason to look at the oldest things in the queue. Take what you learn to your manager while the outgoing person is still there to explain it.
What is waiting on someone else, and who do I chase?
Why ask it
Get the name, what was asked for and the date it was asked. Better still, have them send one last reminder with you copied in, so the thread sits in your inbox and the other person knows who to answer.
Which decisions have you been putting off that will now land on me?
Why ask it
People who know they are leaving tend to defer the awkward calls: a supplier to choose, a difficult review, a renewal. Ask what they would decide and why, and whether they are willing to make the call before their last day. Even if you end up choosing differently, their reasoning in an email is worth having.
Is there any work you would stop doing if the choice were yours?
Why ask it
Most roles carry a project or a report that everyone has stopped believing in and nobody has ended. Do not drop it on their word alone. Ask who started it and who would notice, then raise it in your first month, when a newcomer can ask 'do we still need this?' without it sounding like criticism.
Are any contracts, renewals or subscriptions coming up, and who signs them?
Why ask it
Get the dates and where the paperwork is kept. Notice periods and automatic renewals depend on each contract, so read the terms yourself and do not rely on anyone's memory of them. Ask too whether signing is within this role's authority or goes to someone above.
Does this role hold a budget, and how much of it is already spent or promised?
Why ask it
See the figures on screen, do not just hear them: what was approved, what has gone out, and what is committed but not yet invoiced. The committed column is where a newcomer gets caught, approving something against money that is already spoken for. Who sets a budget and who can move money within it differs by employer, so ask your manager or finance how it works there.
Files and access
Where is everything kept: the files, the templates, the past reports?
Why ask it
Have them show you on screen and open a few, because a described folder structure is forgotten by lunchtime. The worrying answer is 'on my desktop' or 'in my email'. Ask how this employer handles a departing employee's mailbox and personal drive, and get anything you will need moved somewhere shared before the account closes.
Which logins, accounts or keys does only this role hold?
Why ask it
Think of supplier portals, a shared mailbox, the social media accounts, an alarm code, the key to a cabinet. Anything registered to their name, their own email or their phone for security codes has to be transferred before the last day, not after. Use whatever process the employer has for handing over credentials instead of taking passwords on a slip of paper.
Which access took you longest to get, and who granted it?
Why ask it
Permissions can take weeks, and you only find out which ones when you are blocked in the middle of a task. Their answer is your list of requests to put in today, each with the name of the person who approves it. Ask whether they can back the requests while they still have the standing to.
Is there a handover document, and what did you leave out of it?
Why ask it
The second half, asked with a smile, brings out what felt too obvious or too awkward to write down. If no document exists, offer to write one yourself from this conversation and send it to them to correct. Correcting your draft is a much smaller job for them than starting from a blank page.
Which written procedures still match how you really do the work?
Why ask it
Only the person in the seat knows where practice has drifted from the manual. Have them point to the steps they skip or do differently, and note the reason for each. Where the work is audited or regulated, take the gap to your manager instead of choosing between the two versions on your own.
What do you carry in your head that this job depends on?
Why ask it
Prompt them with examples: why the spreadsheet has that odd column, which customer must be phoned and never emailed, the trick that makes the month-end report balance. Take notes and send them back for checking. 'It is all documented' from someone many years in the role deserves one more push: what would have broken had they been out sick for a month?
Which spreadsheets, scripts or workarounds did you build yourself?
Why ask it
A homemade tool has one author and no manual, and its faults show up after that author has gone. Ask them to run each one in front of you, say where it breaks and what it replaced. Check it lives on shared storage, and that you can open and edit it from your own account.
Which system gives you the most trouble, and how do you get around it?
Why ask it
You want the workaround and the name of the person who can fix it when the workaround fails. A support contact they know by first name is worth an introduction. If the trouble is constant and everyone has given up reporting it, mention it to your manager early, as an observation and not a complaint.
People
Who are the people this job cannot work without?
Why ask it
Expect names that appear on no chart: the person in finance who processes things the same day, the coordinator who knows where everyone is. Ask what each of them appreciates, whether that is notice, a phone call or a thank-you. Then ask to be introduced in person, since an introduction from a trusted colleague passes some of that trust to you.
Who relies on what this role produces, and what does each of them expect?
Why ask it
For each person, get what they receive, when, and how exact it has to be. Then ask which of them has complained before and what about. Someone who has been let down once will be checking your first delivery closely, so that is the one to get right.
Who is hard to work with, and what have you found works?
Why ask it
Ask it in private, and lean on the second half so the answer stays practical. A good reply is a method, such as 'send it in writing a day ahead', and not a character sketch. Treat it as one person's experience: the friction may have been between the two of them, and you get a fresh start that is worth protecting.
Whose opinion carries weight here, whatever their title says?
Why ask it
In most workplaces there is someone whose doubt can stall a plan and whose backing gets it through, and it is not always the most senior person. Ask how the outgoing person kept them on board. If the answer is 'I never worked that out', you have learned something about why certain things stayed stuck.
Is there history between this role and another team that I should know about?
Why ask it
Old arguments about who owns what tend to outlast the people who had them, and knowing the story lets you recognize it when someone alludes to it in a meeting. Listen for whether they tell it as settled or still sore. If sore, an early visit to that team, before you have a position to defend, is your best chance to reset it.
If the job comes with a team, what does each person on it need from their manager?
Why ask it
Ask about strengths, what keeps each person going, and anything promised about training, pay or time off. Hear it all and still form your own view, because one manager's star and problem case can look different under another. Health matters and formal performance records should reach you through HR or your own manager, under the employer's rules, and not in a hallway chat.
Did anyone here want this job?
Why ask it
A colleague who applied and was passed over will be watching how you start, and knowing it is a reason to reach out, not to be on guard. Go to that person early, ask for what they know, and give them credit for it in front of others. Your manager can answer this too, should the outgoing person not know or prefer not to say.
Which clients, suppliers or outside contacts should hear about the change from you?
Why ask it
Some relationships belong to the person more than the role, and those need a joint call or an email from them with you copied in. For each contact, ask what has been promised and what the sore point is. A client who learns of the change from an out-of-office reply starts with you on the wrong foot.
What have people been told about you leaving and me arriving?
Why ask it
You do not want to be the one who breaks the news to somebody, or to contradict the official version by accident. Ask who knows, who does not yet, and what reason was given. If nothing has been announced, ask your manager to settle the wording before your first meeting with the wider team.
Who else knows parts of this job well enough to answer my questions later?
Why ask it
It may be a deputy, a long-serving colleague or whoever covered their time off. Get a name for each area of the work, so you are not sending every question to one person. No names at all is something your manager should hear, because a role only one person understands is a reason to ask for a longer handover or more of it in writing.
The manager
What does the manager care about most, and how can you tell?
Why ask it
The second half asks for evidence: what they ask about first, what they check themselves, what last made them unhappy. Compare it with what the manager told you in your interview. Where the accounts differ, one is what the manager intends and the other is what they do, and you will need to satisfy both.
How did you keep the manager informed, and what happened when you did not?
Why ask it
You are inheriting a rhythm: a Friday summary, a quick word each morning, or silence unless something breaks. The story of the time the manager was surprised tells you what must never arrive as news from somebody else. Check the routine with the manager too, since they may have put up with it more than liked it.
What did the manager praise you for, and what did they correct?
Why ask it
Praise shows what counts as good work in this seat, and corrections show what the manager actually notices. Someone who cannot recall either is telling you that feedback is scarce here and you will have to ask for it. Do not assume the same standards apply to you unchanged: a new person is often watched on different things.
What does the manager expect of this role that nobody ever said out loud?
Why ask it
Arriving before a certain meeting, answering messages in the evening, a tidy summary before every one-on-one: such habits harden into expectations without being agreed. Take each one to the manager as a question. Some were the previous person's assumptions and never a requirement, and you need not inherit those.
How does the manager take bad news or a mistake?
Why ask it
Ask for the last time it happened and what was said. 'Fine, as long as I told them early' gives you the rule to follow. A pause or a lowered voice is worth noting without building a verdict on it; it may simply mean you bring bad news with a proposed fix attached.
What did you ask the manager for and not get?
Why ask it
Budget, an extra hire, a tool, training: the refusals mark where the limits are and which requests already have a history. If you plan to ask for the same thing, find out the reason given last time. A fresh case from a new person can land differently, but only if it answers the earlier objection.
Was there anything you and the manager saw differently about how the job should be done?
Why ask it
Where they disagreed is often exactly where the manager is hoping for a change from you. Hear the outgoing person's side without taking it. Then put the neutral version to the manager, 'what would you like done differently from before?', and decide where you stand once you have done the work for a while.
Parting advice
What would you tackle first if you were in my seat?
Why ask it
They know which problem is ready to be solved and which only looks urgent, so ask for one thing for the first week and one for the first three months. Set the answer beside what your manager has asked for. Where both name the same thing you have your starting point, and where they differ, the manager's list is the one you will be judged on.
What would you do differently if you were starting this job again?
Why ask it
The best answers are specific: 'I would have written the process down in my first year' or 'I would have said no to the extra reporting'. Each one is a head start you did not have to earn. 'Nothing' usually gives way when you ask what they would tell themselves on their first morning.
What are you proudest of having done in this role?
Why ask it
It tells them you came to learn and not to judge, which loosens every answer after it, so consider asking it early. It also marks what not to dismantle in your first months without understanding it. Changes to a predecessor's proudest work get noticed by everyone who watched it being built.
What did you want to fix and never get to?
Why ask it
Their unfinished list is an agenda with the diagnosis already done. Ask what stopped each item: time, money or permission. Time you may have as the new person, but where it was permission, find out who refused and why before you make the same proposal.
What looks broken here but is that way for a reason?
Why ask it
An odd step in a process sometimes guards against a problem that happened once and was expensive. Ask for the story behind each one. 'Nobody remembers why' is not the same as 'there is no reason', so check with one more long-serving person before you change it.
What mistake would be easy for me to make in the first month?
Why ask it
They may well describe the one they made themselves, so ask what it cost and how they found out. You are listening for hazards particular to this seat: the report whose totals have to match another, the person who must be told before anyone else. General advice about listening and taking your time is kind, and less useful.
Why are you moving on, if you do not mind my asking?
Why ask it
It is fair to ask once, lightly, and to accept whatever answer comes; a promotion, a move or retirement shows the job can be left on good terms. If they hint at workload or the manager, do not dig for gossip, just ask whether there is anything in it you should watch for. Where the person was let go or is leaving unhappy, skip the question altogether.
If you are staying with the organization, how involved do you want to be in the old job?
Why ask it
For an internal move, agree a line together: questions welcome for a set period, and after that the decisions are yours. When the predecessor is now your manager it matters even more. Ask which pieces they want to keep a hand in, because settling it at the start is far easier than after the first time they overrule you.
May I contact you after you have left, and what is the best way to do it?
Why ask it
Most people say yes and mean it for a few weeks, so suggest the limit yourself: a handful of questions in the first month, sent together, or one short call once you have tried the work. Take a personal email or number only if it is offered. If they are leaving for a competitor or on bad terms, ask your manager how contact is handled at this employer before you use it.
What have I not asked that you would want to know in my place?
Why ask it
Ask it last and then stay quiet for longer than is comfortable. It often brings out the thing they were unsure they should mention, about a person, a risk or the role itself. Thank them for it without pressing for more than they chose to give.
How to run a handover with the person you are replacing
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you meet
Ask for the time, and ask early
The handover is often the first thing squeezed in someone's last weeks, when they are also finishing their own work. As soon as you know who held the job, ask your manager whether you can have time with them, and how much. If they have already left, ask whether the employer is comfortable with you getting in touch, since that depends on how they left and on the employer's own rules.
Find out how they are leaving
A person who was promoted, is retiring or is moving to another city will usually talk freely. Someone who was let go, or passed over, may not, and may not be available at all. Ask your manager for the plain facts before the meeting so you know which questions to bring and which to leave out, starting with the one about why they are going.
Read what exists first
Read the job description, any handover note and the last few reports the role produced before you sit down. Then your time together goes on what is not written anywhere. 'I saw the monthly report goes to four people. Which of them reads it?' gets further than 'tell me about the reports'.
Pick your questions by how much time you have
With a full week of overlap you can cover every group on this page. With one hour, take Work in flight and Files and access first, because deadlines and logins are the things nobody else can reconstruct once the person has gone. People, The manager and Parting advice can be picked up over coffee later, or partly from colleagues.
During the handover
Start with their work, not your plans
Open by asking what a normal week involves or what they are proudest of. Someone who feels their years in the job are respected tells you far more than someone who feels audited. Keep your ideas for changing things to yourself for now.
Watch them do it
Wherever a task involves a system, ask to see it done and then do it yourself while they watch. Described steps skip whatever has become automatic. Doing it under their eye is how you find the missing step while they are still there to supply it.
Write it down and send it back
Take notes in the meeting and email them a tidy version the same day, asking for corrections. It gives you a record, lets them catch what you misheard, and often prompts a reply that begins 'one more thing I forgot'.
Move access while they still have it
Leave nothing that involves a login, a key or an account for the final afternoon. Transfers and permission requests go through other people who have their own queues. List them on the first day, and follow the employer's process for each.
Keep the personal questions for a private moment
Questions about difficult colleagues, the manager and reasons for leaving belong in a one-on-one, away from the desk, and near the end, once some trust has built. Ask each once. If the answer is short, let it stay short.
Weighing what you hear
It is one person's view
Everything they tell you about people is true of how those people were with them. Take the practical parts, such as who prefers a phone call, and hold the judgments loosely until you have met everyone yourself.
Specific is good, smooth is not
A handover full of dates, names and admitted loose ends is a healthy one. An account in which everything is fine and nothing is pending, for a job that kept someone busy for years, means you should go and look at the oldest items yourself.
Check with the manager, without quoting
Where the outgoing person's account of priorities differs from your manager's, ask the manager an open question about the subject. Do not open with 'they told me that', which puts someone who helped you in an awkward spot.
Their way is not the only way
You are learning how the job has been done, not agreeing to do it identically. Keep everything running as it was for the first weeks, note what you would change, and change it once you understand what it touches.
Mistakes to avoid
Using the handover to criticize
Remarks about what you would have done differently cost you the rest of the conversation. They also travel: the person leaving still has friends in the building.
Asking for gossip
There is a difference between 'what works with her?' and 'what is she really like?'. The first gets you a method. The second gets you someone else's grudge and a reputation for collecting them.
Leaving the contact question to the last minute
Ask whether you can get in touch later while there is still time to agree how. Then use it sparingly, with several questions gathered into one message, and only after you have tried the people who still work there. By then they are answering as a favor, on their own time.
Assuming their authority passes to you
Sign-off limits, system permissions and informal freedoms were given to a person, and whether they transfer depends on the employer. Confirm each with your manager before you act on it.