How To Answer Interview Question: What Is Your Attitude To Work?
As the interview is going on smoothly, you are giving good answers to every question being thrown at you; everything is going on pretty well, then the interviewer asks you a big question. What is your attitude to work? How do you answer this question? What do you say? The answer you give will determine if the company will be able to work with you. A lot of candidates fail at this time by overdoing it or not even trying at all. There are different ways to answer these questions, things to include and exempt from your answers. To gain insight, you should stay glued to this page as we will be discussing how to answer this interview question.
Before we dive into answering the interview question: What is your attitude to work? Let’s quickly find out why interviewers ask this question.
Why ask the question?
Interviewers like to ask this question to get a sense of your fit and imagine how you’d be as an employer of that company. They want to find out if you are a clock-watcher that only does the minimum or the type that will go the extra mile to complete a task and stays behind until it’s complete. They want to understand if you are the type that builds good relations with co-workers or the kind that keeps to themselves.
How to answer the interview: What is your attitude to work?
Hiring managers tend to look for candidates who are hardworking and honest, and enthusiastic about work. So, in order to convey this message to them, you should be ready to give a good and passionate answer. That is the key. Your answer should portray how you will be willing to put in much effort even in a minor task, as you will do for significant assignments. The best trick to answer questions like this is to be specific about your answer, as this will make the interviewers get a sense of the kind of attitude you have towards work. Share a few important vital characteristics about your work ethics like how you are dependable, respectful, committed, dedicated, positive, and enthusiastic about your job. Here are a few points to note before you answer that question.
Be prepared
The first thing to do before going on that interview is to be prepared to be asked that question. Interviewers ask a whole lot of questions, and one of them is the candidate’s work ethic. You might not be asked directly like: What is your attitude to work? The question might come like “what is your work ethic? Or how would you describe how you like to work? Understanding that your behavior towards work might pop up is the first step towards answering the question as you tend to prepare yourself and give a suitable answer.
Give an honest answer that denotes a strong work ethic.
While giving your answers, you should select strong qualities that are true about you and present your attitude toward work in a good light. You might want to say that you try to approach every task with dedication because you believe in giving your best all the time, and when you give your best, you feel accomplished and fulfilled. You can also explain that you try to do your best to ensure you enjoy your remaining work, and this helps you complete any given task with zeal.
While giving these answers, ensure you stress that you see tasks as a learning process, which is why you love to train more to allow you further improve your skill and be able to contribute positively to the team. With this, you are telling the interviewer that you love to give in your best, and you are also open to new things. Hiring managers get impressed when they see candidates who are willing to advance their knowledge to improve their skills and ready to contribute innovative ideas to their team.
Give your answer with real-life examples.
While giving your answers, you should try to give real-life situations that you’ve been in that illustrate the attitude to work you claim to possess. For example, if you claim to be an honest person, then you should cite a real-life example where you had to show that honesty while you were faced with a difficult circumstance. Tell the interviewer how well you work with others while giving examples of a time you demonstrated teamwork and executed a problematic task effortlessly.
Talk about a challenging situation at your last job and how you put in your best to solve it.
It is also good that you talk about how you successfully worked with other team members and helped solved a complex problem. Use strong examples that depict a positive attitude toward work and, in the end, how it benefited the company.
Ask questions about the potential job.
Every employer wants to have an intelligent conversation with job applicants to know how well they think and how smart they would act when faced with complex problems. These employers get really interested when these candidates ask intelligent questions during an interview, questions about the company, the position, and the people who work in that company.
You could ask follow-up questions like “what are the required skills and experiences that make one ideal for the company?” With this question, you get the employer or job recruiter to lay all the cards on the table eventually tell you exactly what they are looking for. You could also ask if they offer professional training; this will be good to drop a hint that you are interested in sharpening your skills and learning new things.
Ask questions about the team.
Asking questions about the team environment shows that you are really interested in a big part of the team, and you are already of ways to contribute to the team with your skills. You can ask questions like “can you tell a thing about the team?” this question further indicate that you know you will be working with different people, which might lead you to explain how well you have worked with others before.
Avoid asking about pay and benefits.
It isn’t nice to ask interviewers about benefits, work schedules, personal questions, or even time off. Stick to asking specific questions about the company, team, position, and any general questions. You can ask about the salary or benefits attached to the job later as the hiring process continues.
What not to say during an interview
It’s no news that hiring managers are interested in candidates who treat every job they do with importance, and coming off as someone who only puts in their best when given big projects might make you look unreliable. They are looking for a good team player, and if your answers do not match the effort they require, then your authenticity might be questioned. So, here are a few things you should not say to your interviewer;
- Don’t mention a whole of qualities that do not apply to you. In as much as you are trying to impress, you should stick to the truth about the qualities you possess.
- By all means, you should try to avoid clichés. Hiring managers hear a whole lot of “I am a hard worker, I am self-motivated” all the time, which is why you shy to avoid these words by all means. We recommend that you use these words only when you have a good story to back them up.
- Dishonest is a really bad policy during interviews. Don’t be so focused on impressing the interviewers and become dishonest about your work ethic. They might eventually be revealed when you answer other interview questions, which will put you in a bad light.
What is Your Attitude to Work Sample Answer
As earlier stated, go for the interview with an already practiced response as interviewers will be expecting cultured answers that will reflect your claimed knowledge of your dedication to the job. Just like other interview answers, practice before going in so that you can make a strong impression. Here is a sample example for you to work with.
I’m pretty dedicated to working with any team I am assigned to and implementing a practical approach. At my previous job, we had to reduce spending in one cost center I share the problem with my team, and everyone brainstormed good ideas. We had a follow-up meeting a few days later, and one of my team members came up with a really great idea that we implemented to reduce the cost by 12%. After we solved that, she was appreciated and nominated as the worker for the month.
Bottom line
You should always try to focus on the job, understand what the company is looking for, and share examples that support the ethics you claimed to possess. However, you should ensure that you keep your answer brief while sharing and ensure not to give too much background. Give refined responses that will only highlight your attitude to work positively and leave a solid impression on the interviewers.