I would much prefer that candidates keep things that I am not
supposed to consider in the hiring process out of their interview. For
instance rather than being specific, you might indicate that for personal
reasons or perhaps health reasons you foresee needing a chunk of
time off. Explain that you understand this is important for your potential
employer to know. If you are moving to be nearer family members, that's one
thing. If you are going to grill an employer on how much time they allow
you to take off for family matters in an initial interview you will come
across as someone less interested in what they can contribute to the
organization and more interested in what they can get from it.
Many employers are up front about benefits and when they
are I often feel it is premature. To me it gets the interview rather off
track of the position itself and my qualifications for it. Too, I am focused
enough about the latter two points that I do not retain much of what they have
to say about the benefits. Benefit information is available outside the
interview in most organizations. If it is important to a candidate (someone
in this thread said that they didn't have time to waste waiting until the
negotiations phase to discover them) it is probably something the
candidate should consider screening positions for this before making application
to them.
If you want to know about the flexibility of hours,
ask about the flexibility of hours. Don't elaborate as to why. Sometimes I need
to deal with a service person, sometimes I need to take an animal to the vet.
Perhaps I want an afternoon off for a dog show. You may need to take a child to
the doctor. You may want to go to a school program. I might need dialysis.