All jobhunters are waiting for that call — the one that says they’ve landed the job. But as eager as you might be to escape either your current job or the unemployment ranks, don’t abdicate your power position once the offer comes in. Now it’s your turn to sit in the interviewer’s seat and ask the company and yourself some tough questions — the answers to which could mean the difference between career bliss and disaster.

Julie Jansen, author of I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This, says every job-seeker should get the answers to these five questions to make sure the job is a good fit all around.

Job satisfaction

This is often overlooked, because applicants get hung up on job titles, salary and benefits. Try to get a clear sense of what an actual day would be like. What would you spend the majority of your time doing? Is the work in line with your values? Would you learn the job fast and get bored and unchallenged?

Diane Speros, who works in publishing, wishes she had known how she would spend her days before she took one early-career job. “All of my time was spent on my boss’s personal errands,” she says. “This was the ‘administrative work’. I never asked how my time would really be split.”

Know the devil

This question could be tough to answer, and it’s best saved for after the job offer has been extended. You would want to get a good idea of your potential boss’s management style. Speak to your boss as much as possible to get a feel of his personality and what you could live with. Does he micromanage? Would you get consistent feedback and reviews? Does he make small talk, or is every conversation strictly business?

Weigh changes

Constant change at work can mean constant stress. Find out if there are any big changes coming, such as new processing systems or management, impending retirements or adoption of new procedures that still need to be ironed out. At the same time, remember that some of these transitions would have less effect on your position than others.

Apply skills

Make sure your unique skills and talents would be used and that training and promotion are open in the future. When you decide to move on, you would want to have a new crop of experiences to sell to your next employer. Your goal is to perform well at work while constantly growing and learning

Check attrition

Knowing how many people have been in your job and why they left could offer you great insights. You would want to know if they were promoted or quit altogether. A steady stream of resignations might be a sign you could be reentering the job market soon.

“Five people held that job in one year before I came along,” Speros says of her early-career job. “All the others quit within two weeks, as did my successor, whom I trained. I quit after two months and nearly had a nervous breakdown before I left.”

While many of the reasons why positions eventually become unfulfilling are unavoidable, such as as hitting a plateau, job-seekers should consider the ways a new position would advance them.