Interview Questions: Why did you decide to become a teacher?

Teacher Interview QuestionTeaching is one of those professions which require a great deal of patience and hard work. Imagine a world without educators—learning is quite a hard thing to achieve. Both go hand in hand.

 

 

One of the first questions that you’ll be asked during an interview for a teaching job is: “Why did you decide to become a teacher?” Everyone will, of course, have a different answer to this question. There are many reasons why people choose to become teachers, but what is the reason why interviewers ask this?

First, they simply want to know “why.” They want to know the reason why you chose teaching out of all of the professions out there. Second, they want to know how passionate you are in your work, particularly teaching. They want to see if teaching is a job that you’d be willing to do even after so many years of work. Third, they want to know something about you—your personal goals, views, and perspectives. They want to understand the particular reasons why you chose teaching as your profession.

How do you answer this question?

  • Prepare yourself beforehand.

You can actually prepare your answers for this question in advance. Analyze yourself and give some thought to how you will answer. Take time to mentally and emotionally analyze and evaluate yourself to understand everything better. Think of all the possible reasons you decided to become a teacher.

  • Provide example of personal experiences.

Expand your explanation by providing some personal anecdotes. Share stories related to teaching and why it became your passion. Emphasize the things that made you love the profession, like how a student made an impact in your life or how a professor or a mentor inspired you to start sharing knowledge. Just don’t forget to make it brief but clear and substantial.

  • Be honest.

Don’t make up stories and reasons just to impress your potential boss. The best answers come from the heart and real experiences. If you spend enough time preparing your answer, then lies won’t be necessary. More importantly, you will actually be talking about your passion, so why hide the truth? Just be yourself and don’t add any embellishments.

  • Answer from the heart. 

The best answers are those that are genuine. Ask yourself what inspired you the most to choose this job as your profession. More often than not, your inspiration is the reason why you decided to take up the teaching profession. Find that certain thing that drives you; the interviewer really want to know about that.

Responding to this question is not that hard if you’re truly meant to be a teacher. After all, why would you apply for this job if you can’t find any reason why you like it? Stating the reasons you want to become a teacher (or any other profession) means talking about your passion. You don’t really have to construct a complicated answer; you just have to dig deep and get to the heart of the matter.

Read 132264 times Last modified on Thursday, 18 January 2018 11:03
Alan Carniol

Alan is the creator of Interview Success Formula, a training program that has helped more than 80,000 job seekers to ace their interviews and land the jobs they deserve. Interviewers love asking curveball questions to weed out job seekers. But the truth is, most of these questions are asking about a few key areas. Learn more about how to outsmart tough interviewers by watching this video.