diff --git a/aiida_hyperqueue/scheduler.py b/aiida_hyperqueue/scheduler.py
index 5b31b2f..7ac08b4 100644
--- a/aiida_hyperqueue/scheduler.py
+++ b/aiida_hyperqueue/scheduler.py
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ def _get_submit_command(self, submit_script: str) -> str:
             submit_script: the path of the submit script relative to the working
                 directory.
         """
-        submit_command = f"hq submit {submit_script} --output-mode=json"
+        submit_command = f"hq submit --output-mode=json {submit_script}"
 
         self.logger.info(f"Submitting with: {submit_command}")
 
@@ -178,10 +178,10 @@ def _parse_submit_output(self, retval: int, stdout: str, stderr: str) -> str:
                 f"in _parse_submit_output{transport_string}: there was some text in stderr: {stderr}"
             )
 
-        hq_job_dict = json.loads(stdout)
         try:
+            hq_job_dict = json.loads(stdout)
             return str(hq_job_dict["id"])
-        except KeyError:
+        except Exception:
             # If no valid line is found, log and raise an error
             self.logger.error(
                 f"in _parse_submit_output{transport_string}: unable to find the job id: {stdout}"
diff --git a/tests/test_scheduler.py b/tests/test_scheduler.py
index e9e3e25..b5c47c2 100644
--- a/tests/test_scheduler.py
+++ b/tests/test_scheduler.py
@@ -69,7 +69,9 @@ def test_submit_command():
     """Test submit command"""
     scheduler = HyperQueueScheduler()
 
-    assert "hq submit job.sh" in scheduler._get_submit_command("job.sh")
+    assert "hq submit --output-mode=json job.sh" == scheduler._get_submit_command(
+        "job.sh"
+    )
 
 
 def test_parse_submit_command_output(hq_env: HqEnv, valid_submit_script):
@@ -78,8 +80,11 @@ def test_parse_submit_command_output(hq_env: HqEnv, valid_submit_script):
     hq_env.start_worker(cpus="1")
     Path("_aiidasubmit.sh").write_text(valid_submit_script)
 
+    scheduler = HyperQueueScheduler()
+    args = scheduler._get_submit_command("_aiidasubmit.sh")
+    args = args.split(" ")[1:]
     process = hq_env.command(
-        ["submit", "--output-mode=json", "_aiidasubmit.sh"],
+        args,
         wait=False,
         ignore_stderr=True,
     )