worried about asking for interview questions in advance

[markymark9]

Hi all,
I’m a senior leader in the public sector (15+ years’ experience) and have ADHD and autism. I’ve got an upcoming interview with one of the London councils for a senior role.
I always struggle with thinking on the spot — especially in interviews — and I usually ask for the questions in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Legally, I know this is fine under the Equality Act, and every time I’ve asked, they have given them to me.
But here’s the issue: not once have I been offered the role after making that request. Every single time — I get the questions, attend, give solid answers, but don’t get the job. It’s making me wonder whether asking in advance creates a bias or doubt about my ability.
I’m now torn. I know I need the questions in advance to be fair to myself — but I’m scared of repeating the same cycle. I feel like I’m being punished either way: mask and underperform, or disclose and lose out.
Has anyone been in this position at senior level? Would you still ask for the questions, or approach it differently?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

If you've had it all ahead of the interview I would definitely question your ability to work in a dynamic way under pressure, which must surely form part of a senior management role.

Dont ask, it will impact a decision even if not meant to. Instead think of and ai potential questions and practice them.

I would think at that level of job it would put them off as once at work you may not get all questions in advance do have to think on the hoof.

Don’t ask - no interview question should ever come as a surprise. I would prepare by writing up a list of all possible interview questions and having my answers prepared ahead of time.

All interviews will consist of general questions and role specific questions. Prepare your answers for the general questions (tell me about a time you made a mistake etc) and then go through the JD and make a spreadsheet of STAR answers for each skill / knowledge required for the role - so a situation, task, action and result from your working life that closely relates to that skill. Practice them out loud.

Once you have your “bank” of answers in this way you will be very hard to ruffle, and you will simply be recalling your studied answers and using them for the correct related questions.

Get chatGPT to help you practice interview questions that you may get, I wouldn’t ask for the questions if you are worried it’s stopping you from getting jobs.

If you’re after a senior job which doesn’t require thinking on the spot, and where you won’t have to come across as credible in conversation… then go right ahead.

I can see how asking for questions in advance is sensible for roles which are mostly about knowledge (eg very technical ones). But anything where you’ll need to manage people/ work with stakeholders / convince people of your position, it’s ridiculous. Interviews are a very good test of some of those skills.

Do you rehearse the answers? Use AI to get the answers?

I wonder whether the lack of spontaneity means you just don't sound authentic or they feel they don't get to know you well enough.

Problem is that if there are enough good candidates, then you need to be the one shining out. If you're giving well rehearsed answers then you probably do fine, but don't stand out in the way someone who is enthusiastic and discusses through the answer.

I retired from a senior public sector role last year, and whilst it depends on the actual role, I can't imagine many that would find this a recommendation. I had to deal with questions and requests from more senior staff, more junior staff, the public and politicians repeatedly and on a daily basis. Whilst the occasional "I will need to consider that question and get back to you" would be accepted, not most of the time. If I couldn't have got through an interview without questions in advance then I don't think I'd have been able to do the job.

Quite sad to see that ‘don’t do it’ is the most common answer. Any organisation that is disability confident, which you’d sincerely hope a local authority is, should be offering the questions before interview as standard, it doesn’t matter on the level. I know it’s not looked on unfavourably in my organisation.

If this was for a routine job, where interviews etc didn't form part of the role, that is one thing. But senior jobs require adhoc effort, that is kind of the point of the job.

Sorry

I’m genuinely interested in this one so I’m sorry if I’m going to sound goady - but in your organisation, how do you test if people are quick verbal thinkers? It’s not always necessary, I know. But, especially in senior roles, it often is.

The most I’ve ever done when interviewing is to send them 15 minutes before the interview start time. Otherwise think these type of roles could be too challenging

edited to add if you want to let me know what the role is via DM I might be able to tell you the type of thing asked ?

Senior NHS here. There is no way in the world we would offer a management job to someone who needed the questions in advance. Like PPs have said, thinking on the spot is such a fundamental part of the job, that if you couldn't do it at interview, you wouldn't be suitable for the role

We don’t have scripted interview questions so wouldn’t be able to send anything in advance. Our interviews are tailored to each candidate and vary depending on the direction the conversation goes in. The only question I tend to use regularly is some variation on why do you want to join us or tell me what you know about us. The rest is adhoc as we recruit from very varied backgrounds for a variety of skills and at multiple levels for multiple countries. We’re also very strong on diversity and inclusion and certainly aren’t looking to pigeonhole anyone. But the nature of our business means it’s essential to be able to think, speak, problem solve and present on the fly so anyone who can’t do this has no chance of being able to do any of our roles (and hopefully would have the sense not to apply).

My DP has autism and adhd, he actually went for his diagnosis because he knew he was going to have to interview for his job again due to restructuring and was worried that it would turn into a popularity competition so wanted something to prevent him being made redundant just because of his autism trates. Anyway..... he ask for the questions in advance as a reasonable adjustment but HR then sent the questions out to everyone in advance.
He got the job / kept his job.
Interestingly he spoke to the recruiter afterwards amd they said they even with thr interview questions in advance most people didn't seem to do any better. But it defo helped my DP overcome the autism difficulties in interview.

I've spoke to other people about it and i think the reasrch is that it doesn't give someone with out autism and extra advantage ( or someone with autism an advantage) but does stop them complely missing the point of a question.
I've interviewed and have had to rephrase and support candidates who I suspect are autistic in interview. But I know not all interviewers would ( or can) make these allowances.

Bold of you to admit you discriminate against autistic candidates for your management positions.

Also I don't think it's that someone needs the questions in advance because they are not quick thinkers
It's the whole social and odd interview situation which makes interviews very difficult for autistic people. Just because you have the skills to laugh and joke and smile easily at the right time in interview does not mean you can make the right decisions under pressure!!
Normal work is soo different to quite a staged and awkward thing as an interview. Even for manager roles.

Where I work (public sector), if one person asks for the questions in advance then all the candidates get them so it's fair.

I think a lot of people dont understand how questions in advance help. For me, its not just about thinking on the spot but also literal interpretation which means I often dont understand a question and need to spend a long time talking about it to get what they are asking me. Without questions in advance, this could use up a lot of my interview time! Anyone saying senior leaders shouldn't have reasonable adjustments because they should think on the spot aren't fully understanding how it helps. Interviewers should not know exactly who has revieved the questions in advance either imo, just HR.

Exactly as someone who is senior leader supporting people with disability, sadly I can't get help i need- but i do appreciate it is coming from good place

There seems to be a lot of stigma in asking for interview adjustments which is pretty disappointing. An interview is nothing like doing a job on a day to day basis even at a senior level. Interviews can be anxiety inducing for lots of people and quite a fake scenario. Personally I don't think a good interview necessarily translates to the best person for the job I've known plenty of useless people who did well at interview turn out to be hopeless once in the role. If you feel asking for questions in advance has had a negative outcome for you previously OP sadly it's probably best to try and get through this one without asking. It might be worth asking though if they can share the topics they will focus on in interview rather than asking for the
actual questions. Whatever you decide I wish you luck.

Its great you share the questions in advance but can I ask how you think it's fair if you give them to everyone?

Neurotypical people already have the advantage of not having a disability, and now you're giving them a second advantage?

It reminds me of this image...

This is so tricky and I'd normally advocate for asking for reasonable adjustments, but if you think it's consistently holding you back then perhaps it might be worth trying without.

I was lucky with my current company and they provided the questions beforehand and they're very actively inclusive, but I'm not sure how well it would've gone down at previous places I've worked, sadly.

I've prepped before by searching lists of questions online, and trying to plan answers including standard ones (strengths, weaknesses, company knowledge, career plans for the future etc) plus situational ones you can use the STAR method for based on your career history and the new role, plus thinking back through all you've done (good and bad) at your previous jobs. My working memory is shocking but I've found that having recently recalled my work history and examples helps bring them to mind during the interview.

To the people questioning how anyone would be able to manage in a senior role if they can't handle an interview, they're very different situations. I don't know many people (ND and NT) who find interviews easy, but it doesn't mean they can't do a job well.

It's really worrying the amount of discriminatory thinking I've seen in this thread and the fact that you cannot fathom working with someone who may think a little differently to you.

I have ADHD and now ask for interview questions in advance. I am also a senior leader and have worked at director/CEO level for over a decade. I am good at my job. Consistently delivering against my objectives, org strategy, budget, speaking at conferences, with MPs and developing the next cohort of leaders in the orgs I've worked in.

What I am not good at is thinking of a random, obscure example of when I did XYZ in the 60 seconds or so I need to come up with it in an interview. I'm clear I only need the questions 30 mins in advance but happy to accept earlier if they prefer. I don't fully prep the response in advance but use the time to identify the relevant examples.

It took me a long time to accept what I needed to help me remove my barriers and enter the interview on a more level playing field as those whose recall isn't affected by ADHD (or another need). Beforehand, I would (and still do) look at person/job spec and try and work out the questions that would be asked and prepare examples. What that fails to address is the number of poor interviewers out there who do not construct questions based on the stated selection criteria.

I encourage you to ask for the questions in advance OP. Their response also shows you what type of employer they will be.

Although you have worked in public sector for 15 years, I wonder how much your neuro divergence really suits that environment? The reason you may not be securing the roles may not be related to asking for questions in advance but your answers not displaying the fairly rigid traits they are looking for.

I'm not in HR so I don't know the reasoning behind it. But I think it's perfectly fair - you're getting the best out of everyone by giving them a all a chance to prepare. Nobody finds interviews easy or enjoyable after all!