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.

Honestly I feel for you, I also debate whether to ask for the reasonable adjustments I need or to even disclose disability because it does lead to so much discrimination unfortunately. I try and look for companies which are Disability Confident and places where I feel they actually want to support you, because if a company really judges you and is prejudice towards you because you ask for questions ina advance, will they give you reasonable adjustments you need to do the job? Will it be a good environment or an ableist one? I have sometimes not asked for adjustments especially when applying for a part-time job (not a career thing just something on weekends) because they'll see my as not worth it otherwise. People complain when disabled people don't work and then complain when we ask for our legal rights of reasonable adjustments so we can actually work.

Bluntly as others have said, I would be put off by anyone applying for a senior roll who admitted to not weren't able to think on the spot so I wouldn't ask, almost all questions in an interview follow a formula so I'd just hyper prepare instead.

I actually think this is unfair and can't believe it's allowed, talk about having a massive advantage. It says alot depending on the role that you are unable to think on the spot or apply your previous experiences (which is usually what the questions are asking). If you're senior and think you could do the job, then just prepare for the interview like everyone else has to. There's only so many variables of questions they can ask.

Wow. I am so shocked at the responses here!
Someone with autism doesn't stand a chance in your work places if even at interview you see any difference as weakness!

I wouldn’t

I agree with those saying they are surprised by some of the replies here.

@markymark9 I am sorry that you think this is holding you back but as you can see, it seems to be quite likely! How shocking that a reasonable adjustment like this is looked on so badly. If the interviewee were a wheelchair user, I hope all of you would allow them to be interviewed in a downstairs room (or have a list available).

My dd is ND and really worries about interview questions. If she has them beforehand she is just much calmer and less anxious – and thus able to show what she knows and what she has done much better, which is surely the point of an interview.

Someone I know who is very senior in an NHS comms role once asked on social media for suggestions of possible questions for a specific role – and then added, "don't worry, we automatically send all the questions to all the candidates" – which I thought was great. An interview is not an exam or a test of memory.

If the issue is that the OP has trouble thinking on the spot (as she said), that the accurate picture, having given everyone the questions in advance, is that there is no fence at all. The modification is not designed to "make up" for having a disability, it is designed to remove the barrier caused by needing to think on the spot.

You give solid answers after being given the questions in advance?

THIS is your problem.

You need to be giving exceptional, utterly brilliant answers.

You have the questions. Fair enough. But come on.....you should be absolutely flying with your answers!

Solid? Forget it.

This is great advice. In reality lots of people struggle with thinking on the spot - so that aspect is a pretty common worry for lots of the people being interviewed.

They get round it and manage the issue by doing this - planning for the likely scenarios they might be asked about. Do this.

How many times has this happened, op? If you’ve asked twice and not got the job twice, it could just be that there was a better candidate. If it’s many times then I agree it might be a factor.

I tend to prepare by writing out every possible question I can think of and then writing my answers- first longhand, then bullet points, then just a couple of prompt words. It is a lot of work but makes such a difference. I don’t believe anyone can give good answers to behavioural questions without some sort of process like this- to instantly think of a great example and shape it into a STAR response on the spot is beyond most of us.

Agree with pp that the correct process if someone asks for the questions in advance is to give them to everyone. It’s not supposed to be about giving that person extra help but removing the barrier that prevents them competing fairly.

If the interviewee were a wheelchair user, I hope all of you would allow them to be interviewed in a downstairs room (or have a list available).

Such a ridiculous comparison. OP is basically wanting the answers to a test, it's really not the same. If she can't give examples of how she has or would approach a situation then she's not right for the role. If all the candidates are given the questions then at least that is fairer, although as an interviewer it takes away alot of spontaneity and flexibility as well (which isn't a good thing to assess the best candidates)

Sorry OP I tend to agree that this becomes more important the higher you go.

If you know the Job /tasks its the stressing over the process which is the problem.

Can you get some interview help and pratice answering with friends and family?

One thing which can be hard is reading the panel but if you can work on that you can try bring stuff which you see pleased a member into later sections of the process.

Because having the questions or not will not make any difference to a NT person.

Except if its technical they either know the answer or can do a prep and find the answer beforehand.
So not supplying the questions puts the NT person at a disadvantage if the only reason the person was picked is because they had time to prep.

If its personality that would not change.

The objective is to have an even playing field with no barrier not to give the person with a disability an unfair head start.

I am ND. Senior leaders need to be able to think quickly. I know that can be hard for some of us including me!
You won't show quickness of mind if you can't demonstrate that in the interview.
You'd be better off posting the job ad in copilot and asking it to give you some quick fire industry related questions based on the job ad.

The issues for autistic people is not that they can't think on the spot. I think research has shown that they cam make great underpressure decisions when fully informed and no the processes. My gut feeling would that they are probably very strong at seeing the bigger picture and processing lots of data to make an informed choice underpressure . I'm stereotypically thinking of chess players !!
Interviews are all about building raport and confirming to general social Interview conventions. If an autistic person fails to do this they are deemed not to be able to so the job! Based on possibly one of there weaker skills!
Interview questions are often worded in a very confusing way. I'm not autistic and enjoy Interviews but I really bull shit my way through them! I get the gist of what the question is asking.
Autistic people struggling to get the gist of what the questions are asking and often they are terrible worded as well. Most people would not get hung up on that but autistic person could be struggling to get over the poor grammar and not see what the question is asking!!
In a day to day work situation they will have good coping strategies around this.
I am not autisticbut speaking from experience of 2 close friends who I have done Interview help with
.

I disagree. The reasons OP and another poster have given for requesting the questions beforehand are due to thinking time and understanding the question properly. If that gives them the opportunity to answer the questions to the best of their ability and show their experience and skills in the best light, they aren’t disadvantaged by other people also being given thinking time and time to look over and fully understand the question.

Depending on the size of the organisation and if the request for questions in advance has gone through HR and not the interviewers, giving the questions in advance to everyone means that the interviewers won’t be able to tell who asked for them in advance (I imagine it’s obvious if you interview 5 people and one has had the questions in advance). Which means that if someone, even subconsciously, was prone to be prejudiced against someone who made that request, they wouldn’t be able to.

See I think I agree with this as everyone is then on an equal playing field. I don’t have a formal disability as such but if I ever get to interview stage on a job I really desperately want, I become overwhelmed and stressed in a way that in my personal or work life I never am. I know I’m not the only one and so this easement would be helpful to all.

I'm afraid that I'd join those who wouldn't entertain the idea of offering a senior level job to someone incapable of answering questions in an interview.

If you're only offering "solid" answers, after having the benefit of knowing the questions in advance, I suspect that the interviewers would be very unimpressed.

How do you cope with answering questions in the workplace if you can't communicate well with prospective employers?

It’s not just about ‘thinking on the spot’, interview questions can be difficult to interpret for literal thinkers. I was once asked ‘How would I do X?’ As I did not know how the person asking the question would approach task X, I answered that I did not know. Of course I knew how to do X and could’ve told them if they phrased the question differently - how would you do X or how would one do X? It seems obvious now but in the moment I couldn’t see past it.

Believe me I understand that because I'm the same. The point is that we need to be able to demonstrate how we'd react in a situation like that. Would you ask someone to clarify or explain it again or just act like you've understood and give advice or an answer based on that?

‘If the interviewee were a wheelchair user, I hope all of you would allow them to be interviewed in a downstairs room (or have a list available).’

I don’t understand how a list ( ? Of questions) is necessary for a wheelchair user. i occasionally have to use a mobility aid, it doesn’t affect my brain!

I can understand why you wouldn’t ask- and ChatGPT is great for generating interview questions. You can get some great prompts online too to help.

I just wanted to come on here to say- increasingly it is good practice to share questions in advance with all candidates. I’ve done it and had good experiences. It doesn’t make the interview formulaic- as the follow-up/probe questions aren’t scripted on either side- and you can soon find out if an answer is ChatGPT generated or the candidate knows their stuff. But it does reduce the anxiety of the artificial interview situation and leads to everyone being more able to show what they can actually do- which is really what I want to find out when recruiting- not just who can perform in the artificial environment of an interview. Interviews are a piece of theatre and aren’t a real test of ability- they are important and a tool but for most roles they are not a good way to test the capabilities of the role.

Interviews are hard. If you can't cope with a few unexpected interview questions then how can you be trusted to perform in a senior role? I'm sorry but I wouldn't hire you

You’re better off making a list of every possible question they could ask and working out the answers. Or ask for interview questions here. I’m ND too and this works well for me.

This. If you can't perform in a light pressure scenario like an interview you aren't a good fit for a senior role unfortunately. Same way someone who is colour blind isn't suitable for a pilot role