Don’t save your questions for the end of a job interview, says expert—you might never get to ask them

Often interviewers will leave the last 10 or 15 minutes of an interview to ask those questions — but sometimes you’ll run out of time. Instead of waiting for that opening at the end, “ask questions as you go along,” says My Perfect Resume career expert Jasmine Escalera.

Here’s how.

During the interview, look for moments in which you can build on your prospective employer’s discussion to get your questions answered as well.

“For example,” says Escalera, “if they ask you a question about a particular project that you worked on that aligns with a challenge that they’re facing, you have the opportunity to then say, can you describe the challenge a little bit more for me?” That can give you a sense of what your day-to-day duties could look like.

You can also ask for examples of career paths that previous employees in the position have taken within the company, what the company offers in terms of professional development as a whole and what’s available in that position, specifically.

The idea is to listen for cues within the conversation that give a natural opening for you to ask your own questions and get your priorities in the interview met, including assessing your own interest in the job.

Keep in mind, you don’t want your interviewer to feel like you’re bulldozing their agenda. You want to be respectful and give them a chance to lead.

But you also want to make sure you’re asking the questions you need to “assess the role the right way,” Escalera says. Consider what you’d like to find out ahead of time, listen attentively as they navigate and see when you can insert inquiries about what you would like to know.

Instead of an interview, “think of this as a conversation,” says Escalera.

If you’ve reached the end of the interview, have asked everything you’d like to know and they still ask for your questions, Escalera suggests asking the following: “What are the next steps of the process and when are you hoping to fill this role?”

Want to land your dream job? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Ace Your Job Interview to learn what hiring managers really look for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.