Answering “What Are You Passionate About?” in This Year

There are plenty of job interview questions that are complicated and difficult to answer. The interview question “what are you passionate about?” seems misleadingly simple at first – after all, if you know you’re passionate, you should be able to answer this question, right? As with all interview questions, however, there’s an underlying meaning to this question that can make it more difficult to find a good answer.

Here’s what you need to know about coming up with a great answer to this interview question.

The first thing to learn is why recruiters ask this question in general. This can help you construct an effective answer.

A hiring manager is partially asking you this question to learn more about you on a personal level and to see what you’re like in your personal life. While it’s true that this isn’t the only reason, they do want to know a bit about who you are and what you enjoy. People’s lives impact how they perform at a job.

One of the biggest reasons that recruiters ask this question is to see what you’re like when you’re comfortable. When you’re talking about your true passion, you’re going to behave a little differently than you might in the rest of the interview. This question gives the interviewer an opportunity to see how you’ll behave in a more “normalised” context, which is mostly how you’ll be at the actual job.

Recruiters may also ask this to see if you’re a good culture fit with the company. The company culture at every location will be different, and, if you don’t fit in well, it might impact your ability to fit in with the team. A potential employer wants to know that you’re passionate about the same kinds of things that the rest of the company is.

An effective answer to this question showcases your personal passion in a way that connects to elements of the job at hand. You want to talk about a true passion, but you should do it in a way that showcases soft skills, self-improvement, and the type of job you’re looking for. Here are some example answers that you might use for different jobs.

• Career coach: “I’m passionate about health and fitness. I love helping people get their careers on the right track, and I think caring about my own well-being naturally connects to that.
• Software developer: “My personal passion is analysing film. I really love seeing how pieces of a puzzle fit together – seeing how one shot in a specific movie compares with a similar shot in another movie is really interesting to me.”
• Customer service representative: “I really love doing art. Customer service can be stressful from time to time; art has always helped me with work-related stress, so I can be on top of my game every day. It’s one of the things that’s always kept me going.”
• Accountant: “I have a personal interest in “fit-tech.”It used to be kind of a pain for me to get out and go to the gym or for a jog but I got a fitness tracking tool as a gift and being able to have an easy way to track my progress and know that I’ve improved makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.” A commitment to health is a great indicator that a person is in tune with the needs of their body and wants to do their best. The analytical portion of this candidate’s response shows that they are able to track and correct issues along with being able to commit.
• Registered nurse: “My favourite thing to do is baking. Not only is it relaxing for me but it also helps me when it comes to focus and accuracy. Baking is a science and involves a lot of careful measurements, close monitoring, practise, and sometimes failure. But the end results can be so rewarding that it makes up for the struggle.” The interviewee here wants to show that they can see the bigger picture of a situation and can do whatever the right thing is despite setbacks. These qualities would be an asset in the nursing space as not only is there a lot of multitasking but also emotional factors you have to consider.
• Elementary school teacher: “I’ve developed a renewed interest in meditation. Even Though I thrive on the energy of the classroom and enjoy leading groups, it’s nice to have a quiet minute to breathe and reflect. The energy I feel after meditating has actually made me more in tune with my students!” The response from this candidate shows that they care both about their students and themselves. They want to be focused and present for the needs that have to be met in the classroom but can also deal with any surprises that could occur.

Note that in all of these example answers, the answer connects to the new job in some way, but it’s also truthful.

Knowing how to pick out essentially the same question in different wordings can help streamline your interview answers. A recruiter may use any of these questions to ask essentially the same question:

• What do you do in your free time?
• What do you love to do?
• What are some of the things you’re most passionate about?
• Do you have a passion that drives you?
• Do you have any hobbies?
• What is your biggest passion?
• What makes you unique?
• What are your personal interests?
• Tell me about yourself.

In all of these situations, you should use the same approach as outlined above. Find something you’re passionate about, talk about why it’s important to you, and connect it to the job.