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How To Answer “What Is Your Dream Job?” (Samples Inside)

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'œWhat is your dream job?' is a question that gets asked in job interviews often, so you need to be ready to answer it.

But coming up with a great response is not as easy as it seems.

How To Answer “What Is Your Dream Job?” (Samples Inside)

This guide will help you come up with a great answer that connects your dream job to the position you''re applying for, all while impressing your interviewer.

Why This Interview Question Gets Asked

There are a few reasons why 'œWhat is your dream job?' comes up often during interviews. Contrary to what you might initially think, interviewers don’t expect to hear that the position you’re applying to now is your dream job. That’s not what this question is about.

They want to hear about your motivations, passions and values.

A person’s dream job says a lot about who they will be as an employee. Your response gives interviewers and hiring managers insight into the type of worker you’d be and how you’d fit into the company.

It’s alright if the job you’re applying to isn’t your end-all-be-all career aspiration. That’s rarely the case when interviewers ask this question. The goal is to learn about where you see your career going and better understand how this job fits into your larger plans.

It’s about seeing if you’ll have the natural motivation to succeed in this role while being satisfied with what you do. Motivated employees typically have a better chance of succeeding and performing well. Plus, they stick with companies longer due to better job satisfaction. Those are all things hiring managers want to see.

Interview questions like this go beyond your basic qualifications, focusing instead on what this job means to you. All the while, interviewers learn more about who you are and the skills you bring to the position.

How to Answer “What is Your Dream Job?”

Many applicants hear questions like 'œWhat is your dream job?' and assume they’re nothing more than icebreakers. While they are more conversational, interviewers hope to learn more than most realize. Therefore, the quality of your answer matters.

Follow these tips to develop an impactful response that works in your favor.

1. Brainstorm Before the Interview

Preparing for this question should start long before you set foot into the interview room.

Sharing your dream job is something that deserves considerable thought. Interviewers will know if you deliver an off-the-cuff response, so you want to sound confident and prepared.

Start brainstorming before your interview. You’ve likely thought about your dream job before, but now is the time to hone in on where you see yourself going.

Think about your passions and skills. Then, do some research into relevant careers that genuinely interest you. 

Focus on what you want out of a job. Is it the ability to apply your skills or to do something that aligns with your values? Steer clear of monetary motivations and stick to things that will satisfy and fulfill you.

Consider the type of work you want to do and what environment you want to be in. Take your time to brainstorm and research possible career paths. You don’t have to make any concrete decisions or take steps to make your dream job a reality at this point. After all, this is only an interview question!

Keep in mind that the company you are targeting may have many of the attributes and career opportunities you are looking for. When researching the company before the interview, look at potential roles you may be interested in. 

However, you want to have something clear in mind that you can talk about confidently. That’s what’s important. Think about what you want to do in the future and why your dream job is your ultimate goal. Then you can pursue it in the future!

2. Explain What Makes Your Dream Job Appealing

During your interview, emphasize what you find the most appealing about your dream career scenario. You don’t want to deliver a one-word answer. This is a discussion-based question, so keep the conversation going by detailing what it is about that job you find so appealing.

Give the interviewer all the information they want. Talk about how this job supports your passions and why it’s important. Focus on the things you love about the job, how it first got onto your radar and why you believe you’re destined to get it one day.

Explaining what you like about the job is where the meat of your answer lies. Your explanation provides more insight into your values, motivations and passions. So, give this detail ample thought to ensure you can deliver a confident response.

3. Keep It High Level

Our tip is an important one: Keep your response fairly general. Instead of discussing specific roles or titles, focus on the job description. You should avoid mentioning any companies or job titles at all.

Why is this?

The point of 'œWhat is your dream job?' is to learn about who you are and what you can bring to the position you’re applying for. If you get too specific about a job title you want, interviewers may think that you’re only there to “fill the gap” until you get to your dream job. They may conclude from your response that you’d much rather be at a different job than this one, which could raise a few red flags for hiring managers.

The best way to answer this question is to talk about responsibilities or the overall job experience. For example, you might want to be a human resources team lead one day at a Fortune 500 company. Instead of saying that, you can focus on the fact that you want to help people reach their full potential in the workplace.

Focus on the general duties of your dream job and why you like them. Keeping things high level provides all the information interviewers need without getting too specific.

4. Highlight Any Common Ground with the Job You’re Applying For

Here’s how you knock your answer to this question out of the park.

Explaining what your dream job is covers the bare minimum. But if you want to go above and beyond, find ways to connect your dream job to the position you’re applying for.

Remember: Interviewers use your response to learn about your motivations, what skills you’ll bring and how satisfied you’ll be in the role. Ultimately, they’re trying to connect the dots to envision you in the position to see if you’d be a good fit.

And do include the reasons the company aligns with your career goals as well. 

What better way to leave a positive impression than by highlighting that common ground yourself?

When preparing for your interview, consider how your dream job compares to this one. Are there any similarities? Do any aspects of this job compare to your dream role? What about this position helps you eventually get the dream job you want later?

Answering those questions will make it easier for you to find common ground. Emphasize the similarities so interviewers and hiring managers see you’re dedicated to succeeding in this role. It’s not about “settling” with something other than your dream job.

Hiring managers don’t expect you to stay in this role forever. However, showing that you’ve applied for this job because it’s similar to your dream job can greatly improve your chances of getting further in the hiring process.

5. Show That You’re Excited for the Opportunity

Our final tip is to reiterate your interest in the job.

There’s always a risk that you leave the wrong impression behind with your response. If you speak too highly or specifically about what your dream job is, interviewers might feel you wouldn’t be happy “settling” for this position. Take the opportunity to combat that narrative with your answer.

Show the interviewer that you’re genuinely interested and excited about this position. You can highlight the connections between this role and your dream job. Talk about how your experience with this role fulfills what you’d get out of your dream job.

You can also mention how this opportunity might help you get to where you want to be someday. Whatever you do, don’t imply that you wish you were interviewing for your dream job instead. Let the interviewer know you’re excited about the opportunity and intend to be a great employee.

Sample Answers

Everyone’s response to questions like this will be different. Unlike other questions, you can’t have a cliche answer here! You must give it the thought it deserves to form an impactful response.

However, we have some sample answers to point you in the right direction.

Sample 1

Our first sample is from a candidate who hopes to one day work in marketing. They’re currently interviewing for a retail position. They use their marketing knowledge to show interviewers they would be a true asset in this role.

It works on all fronts, and their response has everything it needs to leave a great impression on hiring managers.

“My dream job would be to create marketing materials for retailers like your company. While I enjoy the sales aspect of working in retail, it’s the marketing that excites me most. I enjoy coming up with advertising ideas that stick with shoppers.

I believe that marketing is integral to the success of any sales-based company. The right marketing campaign can make a big difference. It’s all about presentation, and I hope to be part of that process one day.

One of the reasons why I’m so excited for the opportunity to work here at [COMPANY] is because your marketing is so top-notch. It’s high-impact and does a lot to sell the brand. By working here and directly implementing your marketing strategies, I hope to learn as much as possible about successful marketing before one day stepping into that field myself.”

Sample 2

In our second example, the job-seeker is interviewing for a sales position. Their dream job doesn’t necessarily tie into sales at face value. However, the candidate found a way to make that connection.

Their response works well because it provides more insight into your passions and motivations while proving they can succeed in this sales role.

“I hope to one day be in a position where I can help others and positively impact people’s lives every day. I’m a people person. I enjoy speaking with others, learning more about them and having empathy to connect on a much deeper level.

I do that with strangers sometimes! It’s part of who I am, and my dream job would involve making a difference in the lives of others.

Working for a company like yours is a great natural step for someone like me. Your company sells products that enrich customers’ lives in many ways. Several of your company’s items are well-known for being game-changers for older people and those with disabilities.

I believe that working in sales is a great way to make a difference and help people. I’m excited to speak with customers and help them find the solutions they need with your products.”

Sample 3

Our last example comes from someone applying for a junior developer role. Their dream job is to lead development projects for cutting-edge technology and apps. They use their response to show the hiring manager why they are the perfect person for the job.

They express their excitement for the opportunity while fully displaying their motivations.

“My dream job is to become a lead software developer and work on projects that millions use. I’m a huge tech nerd, and it’s always been my dream to put something out into the world that people love.

Your company is already publishing apps that push the boundaries of technology. I’m such a fan of your existing apps, and I’m eager to be a part of the development process in some way as a junior developer.

I know that it’ll take some time to improve my skills and work my way up to being able to lead projects. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to get my foot in the door at a development company I respect so much. This job would be the first step in getting to my dream job.

Not only do I get to be part of creating amazing software, but I’m eager to learn and hone my skills as a developer.”

Conclusion

It''s important to be ready to answer 'œWhat is your dream job?' if you have an interview coming up. And fortunately, coming up with a solid response is straightforward with the right approach.

The post How To Answer “What Is Your Dream Job?” (Samples Inside) appeared first on Career Sherpa.

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“What’s The Most Significant/Positive Thing That’s Happened To You At This Company?”

When you get to the end of the interview and the hiring manager asks you if you have any questions, look them in the eye, smile, and say, “Tell me about the most significant or positive thing that’s happened to you here at the company in the last year.”

The reason why you’re asking them about the most significant or positive or exciting thing that’s happened to them in the last year is that any time we get to talk to somebody and share a positive experience, we tend to associate them with being positive as well. We end up liking them more and feeling more connected to them. So, this is a way for you to achieve this with the person who’s interviewing you.

But if you ask them this question and they can’t quickly answer, or if they hesitate, or if they struggle to think of something, what does that tell you about the company? Why is this person not thinking of something positive? It makes you wonder.

Asking this question in a job interview is a way to look under the hood and find out if the company might be a fit for you. It will tell you a lot about the organization’s values, goals, and workplace culture.

Now, in order to have the opportunity to ask these great questions, you need to nail the job interview, and that means getting the behavioral questions right. If you want to know how to answer the 18 hardest behavioral questions, sign up for a Work It DAILY membership today. It’ll be the best money you’ve ever spent on your job search.

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4 Steps To Solving Problems

I used to work with a rapidly expanding start-up.

Rapidly expanding businesses are like bubbles. The only thing that keeps them together is a very thin skin.

As the headcount grew, so did the number of people running into problems and needing answers. They looked to their leaders to answer their questions and solve their problems. Their leaders were overwhelmed with more questions and problems than they could possibly handle.

The answer was to devolve problem-solving and decision-making lower down the chain of command. The staff needed training to think about and solve problems independently. Problem-solving is rarely taught as a skill in itself.

The 4-Step Coaching/Thinking Approach

Coworkers in meeting work to solve a problem

The basic principle of coaching is helping people solve their own problems by asking questions. I revisited my coaching training and identified four basic questions that could be a simple problem-solving framework.

I trained the lowest level of team leaders to ask their staff these questions when they encountered problems so that later, team members would ask themselves the same questions and work independently and effectively. Here are the questions.

1. What are you trying to do?

This is better than “What’s the problem?” because it focuses on the goal. When asking someone, “What’s the problem?” you often find that you have to ask more questions to get the full picture. This tells you where they want to go. You can follow up with other questions:

  • What makes this so important? The initial or “surface” problem often hides something a lot more important. Sometimes an individual may confuse the method of achieving the goal with the goal itself.
  • What will success look like? / How will you know if you have succeeded? When doing something for the first time, people do not always consider what the final result will look like. As a result, they may over-complicate their solution.

2. What’s stopping you?

This is what most people think is the “problem.” Sometimes it helps to be like Columbo, the TV detective, and play “dumb.” This gets the other person to explain the challenge in more detail, and as she explains it, she starts to understand it better by thinking aloud.

Here are some follow-up questions:

  • What’s the situation now? You can use this where someone tells you about a series of events. It helps them concentrate on the current situation instead of “historic” causes that are no longer relevant.
  • What makes this a problem? Frustrated people don’t always think clearly. Asking this helps them to put things in perspective. They may either realize that the obstacle isn’t so massive, or they may stop, think, and understand what makes the problem such a massive obstacle. This may lead to a solution.
  • What do you need? The obstacle may be lack of time, effort, or resources. When they answer, follow up with “How will this help?” This makes them validate their answer and reduce/remove wishful thinking.

3. What are your options?

This gets us into brainstorming mode. Brainstorming comes in two stages: idea generation, where there is no such thing as a stupid idea, and idea filtration where we filter the ideas to find what is practical.

  • What other options do you have? Tell me more! Assume you need at least five ideas to get one feasible idea. Inject some urgency to get ideas flowing. Activate your colleague’s unconscious creativity.
  • Now rank these options in order of practicality. Ask this to sort the ideas you can use from the ones you can’t.
  • Why did you reject this one? Most people think conventionally and may reject good ideas because they seem too strange. Take a look at a suitcase from the 1960s. Why did it take someone so long to put wheels on luggage?

4. What’s your plan?

Ideas are worth nothing unless they are translated into a concrete plan. Good plans have a start and end date, a concrete objective, and some sort of contingency in case things go wrong. Follow-up questions here include:

  • When are you going to start?
  • When are you going to finish?
  • What are the deliverables?
  • What could go wrong?
  • How are you going to take this into account?

Ask these, and you will get your plan.

How Can You Use These Questions?

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​Here are three ways to use these questions. I recommend using them in the order presented to introduce these questions as a framework for thinking.

1. Coaching-based leadership

Ask your team members these questions to lead them through the thought process. At first, you may need to tell them answers in the “options” and “plan” phases. Later, they will answer themselves.

2. Peer coaching

When your team gets comfortable with these questions, get them to ask each other. At first, you should make it a structured activity. Later, they will start doing it with your prompting them.

3. Self-coaching

Encourage your staff to ask themselves these questions when they hit a problem. You can put the questions on the wall as a reminder. When they come to you with a problem, ask them, “Have you asked yourself these questions?”

If you have the budget, why not put these four questions on posters, mouse pads, coffee mugs, or T-shirts?

Does this work for you?

Are you trying to empower your team to work more independently? Try using this method! Let me know how you get on! I’d love to hear about it!

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When you look at your team, do you see diverse skills and perspectives, shared vision, and adaptability? If so, you have the key components that can turn a good team into a great team achieving higher levels of performance, productivity, and impact. Then you need to have a positive and supportive environment to cultivate a high-performing team (whether they be onsite, hybrid, or remote) including:

1. Clear goals – provide clear communication about the organization’s plans and goals. Ensure the team understands how their work contributes towards those goals. Then give them the latitude to do their jobs leveraging their strengths and interests. Have periodic check-ins to see if they need anything.

2. Open communications – the team must have meaningful conversations and feel safe expressing their ideas, opinions, and concerns to the rest of the team. Communication needs to be respectful, constructive, and solutions focused.

3. Collaborative spirit – the team works together to achieve its goals. Each team member is unique and brings something different to the table, so leverage their distinctive strengths. In the end, the team will have more innovative discussions and develop well-thought-out solutions.

4. Continuous improvement – the team needs to have a curious mindset enabling them to identify and address inefficiencies. Having a culture of continuous improvement will lead to improved efficiencies and better outcomes.

How To Support The Team

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Be intentional in your efforts to support the team by taking the time to understand their needs and preferences. How can you tell if the team dynamic needs to be improved? One way is to observe their performance. Is the team not embracing new initiatives, or is there higher-than-normal turnover? If you notice these types of symptoms, you may not be providing the support that the team needs to be successful.

Ask the team what type of support they need. Have you empowered the team to take ownership of their work and given them the autonomy to succeed? Nobody wants to be micromanaged! Or does the team need additional training or development opportunities to grow their skills? When you support employees’ personal development, they’re more likely to be and stay excited for what’s next (and potentially stay longer with the organization).

You may want to periodically have some fun team-building activities, which can be done either in-person or virtually. Organize a virtual coffee break or a volunteering event at a local charity or non-profit. If you have added some new team members, make the extra effort to welcome them into the team. For example, go to an escape room, which requires the team to work together to solve puzzles and escape a room within a certain time frame. The key is to choose activities that are fun and engaging that promote positive communication and collaboration among the team members.

Appreciate The Team

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And last but definitely not least, take the time to acknowledge and show your gratitude, and celebrate significant achievements that the team has accomplished. The key is to be sincere even simply saying thank you or handwriting a note (because to me handwritten = personal). This will make the team feel valued and appreciated.

You must be employee focused, and genuinely support and take care of your team! For more information on the importance of a high-performing team, follow me on LinkedIn!