What happened to the person that had this job before me?<p>It doesn't apply to all positions, but I've asked that a couple of times. When I've asked, it usually flusters the interviewer and they can't give a good answer. That's a bad sign. If it's a quick "his wife took a new job in <city> and he needed to move," that's batter. Today with LinkedIn, there's a good chance that you can find that person and ask them directly.