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Over the past week, I’ve been involved in the interview process for my replacement. Its a tough process - on one hand, I want my replacement to have different things to offer to my organization than I do. On the other hand, I want my replacement to be my mini-me.
I am very conflicted.
I’ve tried to keep my interviews interesting. Our interview process is fairly extensive and I don’t want to be remembered as the boring person. I want to have interesting questions and an enjoyable conversation.
My favorite interview question to ask is “If money was not an issue, what would you do with your life?”.
For me, this is the easiest question to answer. And a great opportunity to showcase my passions.
For my potential replacement, I was hoping to hear excitement and passion. I expected to hear about their hobbies or their dream job.
Instead, I heard confusion.
I heard an individual tell me that they only knew what they would want to do for about a week.
Another individual told me that they would travel. They knew the first two countries that they would go to but wasn’t sure after that.
Another individual told me they had no idea.
I know what I would do.
I would start a contracting business with my husband where I could make people’s lives better one house at a time. I would spend time recording all of my grandparents stories so I could share them with my children. And my children’s children. I would build a studio in my house and create beautiful things. And when I was too tired to do anything else, I would find a beautiful beach and an amazing book and I would be still.
Know what you would do in an ideal world. And be excited about it. If you would want to be a stay at home mom or dad, say so! But tell me why you would want to do that. Tell me about your excitement for your family, your fascination with small children, your desire to make the world a better place. If you would want to work at Disney as an actor, tell me. Tell me why you always dreamed of working in an amusement park or your secret love of a Disney cartoon. If you always dreamed of being a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher, speak up.
Have a passion. I don’t care if that passion has anything to do with the industry or the job or your past experience. I just want to see that you can be excited, that there is a spark in your life.
So let me throw the question out to you: If money was not an issue, what would you do with your life? And is that what you are doing now?
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8 RESPONSES TO "ONE INTERVIEW QUESTION YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO ANSWER"
The employer has a limited amount of time to learn about their candidates. I'm of a mind to get to know as much as I possibly can, and I think a few open questions just like this one do indeed tell you a lot about a person. I certainly learned a lot from reading these hostile reactions!
Agree with all of the above!
It is a double edged question.
No sane person will tell someone interviewing them that they want to be a stay at home mom, or donate all my time and money to charity... that doesn't make business sense.
Thanks for giving us another question to worry about on our next interview!
I'm guessing my response would be something like below. Now that I have had time to ponder the question without someone staring at me waiting for an answer.
"I don't work just to get money and more money. I do it to find fufuillment in my life and a to be part of a community of people working hard towards the same goal gives me satisfaction. If money was no object I could be less concerned about salary but would ultimately be doing what I am now, looking to work with a team of people focused on a meaningful goal."
Yuck!
Ask me about my skills. Give me a test. Even make me work for a day for free to see if I can do what I say I can do.
But for the love of god(s) and all that's holy, please don't ask me these ridiculous interview questions that have nothing to do with the job!
Part of why I worded the question this way was because I hate the question "Where do you see yourself in 10 years". Some of the people I interviewed appeared to be old enough to answer "retired" and I did not want to open that can of worms.
The only way, in my mind, that a candidate could hurt themselves with an answer was by telling me that they didn't know. I was looking for an ability to answer a difficult question with grace.
It's a horrible question to use to judge how someone's passion may transfer to the job they're interviewing for. I can imagine a lot of people will tend to fumble around in an attempt to give you an answer you want to hear rather than their honest feelings.
Dorie -
Thinking from this from the perspective as a career coach, that is a very tricky interview question! If showcasing passions or being passionate about one's own life is key to the job, the answer to this question can certainly tell you something about the person's ability to do the job.
If the job itself doesn't require or welcome that type of passion, it seems like an opportunity for the candidate to shoot him or herself in the foot. (If he or she indicates a passion unrelated to the job.) Most employers wouldn't want to hire someone who doesn't seem passionate about the job or the work, even if money is not an issue. I can tell you that I'd never advise an applicant to mention their desire to quit work and stay home with their children in an interview!
I've been writing about other tough interview questions on my blog this week:
Tell me about yourself. What's your weakness? Why should we hire you?
Interviews are tricky...You never really *know* what to say to get the job. Your desire to hear about an outside of work passion demonstrates that!
Miriam Salpeter
Keppie Careers
"If money was not an issue, what would you do with your life?”
In an interview, all the candidate aims to do is prove that she can do the job she's being interviewed for. I'm supposed to be passionate about what your company does.
Realistically, if I had unlimited funds to do whatever, I certainly wouldn't be interviewing for your job. I'd be puttering about with my own entrepreneurial pursuits, fundraising for charitable causes I care about, traveling, taking art classes etc. Nothing that had to do with the job I was interviewing.
So that question is horribly difficult in an interview because people's personal interests are frequently at odds with their professional trajectory. Paychecks not passion pays the bills.
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?