Ask HN: Reverse interview questions or how to avoid bad clients & employers

1. You're asking because there is the normal amount of office conflict in your work place? 2. You're trying to build a "Team of Rivals" company culture like Barrack Obama in 2008 i.e. making Hilary his secretary of State 3. You're giving me a coded message that there are genuinely prickly personalities and a lot of conflict in your team?

Number 3 is the real question.

The good thing about asking reverse questions is that you can avoid getting bad clients and employers. The problem with asking these kind of questions is that it puts the employer on the back foot and is unlikely to result in a job. It will depend on how much you want the job I suppose.

This provides insight into if the role has come out of an expanding workload/new projects or replacing an employee.

If it is to replace an employee you could follow up with "how long were they with you". What you are trying to do is get hints of if there is high staff turnover. You could also add in some more questions about staff retention but this could lead to some uncomfortable situations and might not go down well with the employer, as Stonk has mentioned already.

The other side of this is if they have new projects or increased workloads. This will lead you into discussion about the projects/work and hopefully let you get a better idea on where the role will fit into the company.