If you’ve been on countless job interviews over the course of your professional career, you may find that you keep visiting the same, redundant list of interview questions you could potentially ask the hiring managers: What is the workplace culture like? What are the opportunities for career advancement? What is the company’s bottom line? But a Forbes article points out that perhaps these questions aren’t the most important question that you should be asking. What you should be asking the hiring manager is, “Are you happy?”

While some people may consider this a trivial, meaningless question that may annoy the hiring manager, the response means everything. What difference does it make what the workplace culture is like, how far you can advance and what benefits you will receive if you can’t find contentment in what you do?

If happiness on the job isn’t as important as a steady paycheck, then this article may not be relevant to you. But for those who can’t stand the thought of waking up to another senseless 9-5 day at the office, the answer your potential employer gives to this question is critical to your future. And it’s not always the spoken words that matter, but what you believe was really said. Watch their faces. While they may tell you that they’re happy working at that particular organization, their immediate reaction—a distant stare, a slight frown or a stammered response will provide you with the truth.

Once you’ve been given the truth, it’s up to you to decide what you really want and if this job is really what you want. But chances are if they’re not happy on the job, you won’t be either.