13 Interview Questions to Ask After a Layoff — From a Workplace Communication Expert

I'm writing this from the other side of an experience I didn't see coming: I was let go from a job coming off maternity leave. From a culture I had outgrown long before they made the call for me. And three years ago, I was in the same place a lot of you reading this are right now — interviewing, evaluating, sending follow-ups, and trying very hard not to walk into another situation that's going to take more than it gives.

If you're freshly laid off, first: I'm sorry. It's disorienting in a way you can't fully prepare for. Whether you loved your old role and are scared you'll never find that culture again, or you were burned and want to make sure your next chapter looks nothing like your last, you're carrying a lot into these interviews. The good news, and it took me a minute to see it this way, is that you also have something you didn't have the first time around. You have data. You know what you won't tolerate. You know what you need. And the interview process is exactly where you get to use it.

An interview is not a one-way audition. It is a two-way information exchange. They are deciding if you are right for them. You are deciding if they are right for you. The only way you get to make an informed decision is by asking the questions that surface the truth underneath the polish — and then listening, very carefully, to how they answer.

Below are the questions you should be asking in every interview I take right now. Read them as a communications expert would: not just for the content of the answer, but for the way it's delivered.

When you want to understand what success actually looks like in the role, ask: 

• "What would success look like in this role?" 

• "If I started tomorrow, how could I make an immediate impact?" 

• "What kind of backgrounds tend to succeed in a role like this?" 

• "What are the expectations of someone on this team?" 

What you're listening for isn't the answer itself… it's the specificity of the answer. A hiring manager who has thought through what the first 30, 60, 90 days look like has a team that's set up to support you. A hiring manager who fumbles or gives you a generic "we just want someone who's a self-starter" is telling you the role hasn't been clearly defined yet. That's not always a dealbreaker. But it is information.

When you want to understand the culture beyond what's on the website, ask: 

• "How would you describe your management style?" 

• "Can you paint a picture of what my day-to-day would look like?" 

• "Can you describe the culture to me?" 

• "What do you like about your DEI initiatives, and what do you think you could do better?" 

• "Why do you like working for [company]?"

That last question is one of my favorites. It allows you a window into the type of culture your manager, or the person you would report to, incentivizes and sets the tone for. 

When you want to see how someone actually leads in hard moments, ask:

• "Tell me about a time you had to fight for what was right"

• "Tell me about a time something didn't work out — a missed quota, a failed initiative — and how you handled it." 

These two questions will change how you evaluate leaders. The people who lead well when things are easy can be charming and convincing. The people who lead well when things are hard are the ones you actually want to work for. Listen for whether they take ownership or deflect. Listen for whether they protected their team or threw them under the bus. The story they tell you about a hard moment is the story they'll one day tell about you.

When you want to understand what your future actually looks like there, ask:

• "What's the long-term outlook for this role and how does it fit into the business objectives and ROI goals?" 

• "I have a good sense of what I can contribute to make this team successful — I'm curious how the team will support me in my success and career development?" 

That second question is the one I would have given anything to ask before I took that role after my daughter was born. I learned the hard way that you can be the best performer in the building, but if the structure around you isn't designed to support your growth (or, candidly, to support you through life events like a maternity leave) you will eventually run out of road. Ask the question. Watch their face. Listen to whether they've thought about it before, or whether you're the first person who's ever asked.

And on top of all of that, ask anything that comes up while you're researching the company, the team, the leader, and the role. Your gut is going to flag things. Honor it.

After being let go in a way that confirmed everything I'd already been quietly noticing about that culture, I made a promise to myself: I would not stumble into another situation I had to claw my way out of. The way I keep that promise is by asking the questions that make me a little uncomfortable, that make them a little uncomfortable, and that get us both to the truth faster than the polished version of the interview ever would.

You have permission to be discerning. You have permission to take your time. You have permission to ask the hard questions, even when the job feels like a lifeline.

In a future post, I'll walk you through the email templates I use throughout the interview process — outreach, thank-yous, and how to check in without sounding desperate. For now, save this list somewhere you can pull it up before your next interview, and go in armed.

You've got this. And I'm right there with you.