We ask clarifying questions during case interviews to get on the same page with the interviewer before we jump into the answer.

When you think about clarifying questions, if you are just going off a standard list of questions for the sake of showing you asked questions before diving in, you need to reframe your approach.

Start by seeing clarifying questions as part of the strategic setup.

What you want to do is

• Share your Assumption

• Provide Context

• Get Approval

With that approach, you will naturally avoid what I call fishing questions.

Test it out, next time someone asks you clarifying questions and you feel like they are asking you to hand them a key part of the answer, you will see what I am talking about.

The best interviewers share their assumptions with a little context to get the approval they need to move forward and better scope the problem themselves.