Stupid questions you shouldn’t ask in an interview

There is the adage that there are no stupid questions. In spirit, this is true. Asking questions demonstrates interest, curiosity, and a thirst for learning.

In an interview situation, the right questions can further your candidacy, demonstrate your qualifications, give you an edge over other candidates, help you determine whether the job is a good fit, and generate a positive rapport with the interviewer. However, in an interviewing scenario, there are questions that are best to avoid.

Stupid questions usually come from candidates who are more interested in knowing what the company can do for them. They can be a result of laziness or even a lack of genuine interest in the job. They are stupid because they do not really focus on the purpose of the interview, which is to discover if the job is a good fit and get an offer.

If you really want that job, there are a host of stupid questions that come under three primary categories:

The obvious

Questions about things that are obvious or that can be easily looked up communicate that you are lazy and not really interested. They fall along the lines of: Who are your clients? When was the company founded? What products and services do you offer? All of these and others can be easily found on a company’s website and through other basic, readily available research.