Career Questions to Ask Kids
These career questions to ask kids are for a parent, a teacher, a school counselor or a career-day visitor talking with children of about five to twelve. The 50 questions follow the way that talk tends to go: the jobs a child already sees, what they like, what they are good at, the jobs they dream up, the kind of work that would suit them and a few small things to try. None of it is meant to settle a future; at this age a good result is a child who knows more kinds of work exist and has been heard out on their own ideas.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Jobs around you
What do you think I do all day at work?
Why ask it
Plenty of children know where a parent goes and very little of what happens there, so expect 'you type and drink coffee'. Take the guess as it comes, then describe one real thing you did this morning in words a seven-year-old would use. A teacher or visitor can ask it about themselves, or about a grown-up at home.
Why do you think grown-ups go to work?
Why ask it
Money is the usual first answer, so ask 'what else?' and wait. Listen for whether work sounds like a punishment in the telling, because that part is a report on how the adults nearby talk about Monday mornings.
Who did you see working on the way here today?
Why ask it
Count them together: the bus driver, the crossing guard, somebody up on a roof. That starts the list with jobs the child has watched being done instead of the ones from television, and the total is usually higher than either of you expected.
Which grown-up you know has a job you would like to try?
Why ask it
Asking for a person gets a better answer than asking for a job title, because the child has seen that person come home tired or happy. Ask which part looks good, and if you can, arrange ten minutes for them to put their own questions to that grown-up.
Which job looks like the most fun, and what do you think the boring part of it is?
Why ask it
The second half does the teaching: every job has a dull stretch, and a child who works that out for a zookeeper has learned it without a lecture. If no boring part comes to mind, offer the one from your own job.
Who are all the people who work at your school besides the teachers?
Why ask it
The office, the kitchen and the bus tend to get left out until you prompt. A class can turn the finished list into thank-you notes; at home, ask which of those jobs looks best and what that person seems to do all day.
How many people do you think it took to get your lunch to you today?
Why ask it
Someone grew it, someone drove it, someone stocked the shelf and someone packed the bag. Draw the chain on paper or on the board and let the child add links. It suits a group, since each child tends to think of a different worker.
What jobs do people do at night while you are asleep?
Why ask it
A bedtime question that shows work going on where a child never sees it: the bakery, the hospital, the trucks on the highway, the people who keep the power on. With a child who worries at night, stick to the bakers.
What would happen in our town if nobody picked up the trash for a month?
Why ask it
A child's list of good jobs rarely includes this one until they picture the street. Let them describe the mess in full, then ask which other jobs everyone would miss within a week.
What is the strangest job you have ever heard of?
Why ask it
Useful for a career-day visitor whose own job needs explaining, and for a class that keeps naming the same six jobs. Have a few ready in case of silence: somebody designs playgrounds, somebody makes the sound effects in movies, somebody checks whether a bridge is safe. Then wonder aloud how a person ends up doing that.
Interests
What do you like doing so much that you forget what time it is?
Why ask it
Listen for the verb more than the subject: building, drawing, sorting, arguing, looking after something. Keep the verb to yourself for now. Naming a job at this point tends to end the conversation.
When you play pretend, who do you like to be?
Why ask it
A five-year-old who cannot tell you what they like will still show you in a game. Notice the part they take every time: the teacher running the class, the rescuer, the shopkeeper counting the money, the one who looks after the baby or the dog. For a ten-year-old, change it to which character they would be in a favorite story.
Which part of the school day do you wish lasted longer?
Why ask it
Recess and lunch are real answers, so ask what they do there. The one who organizes the game, the one who referees and the one who invents new rules are telling you three different things.
What could you talk about for an hour without getting bored?
Why ask it
Then let them, for five minutes at least. The subject will likely be gone in a year; what to notice is the appetite for knowing everything about one thing, and whether they got there through books, videos or doing it.
Would you rather make something, fix something or figure something out?
Why ask it
Three verbs, and most children choose quickly. Ask about the last time they did it, since a real example ('I fixed the chain on my bike') tells you more than the choice. Under seven, offer two of the three.
What do you like doing for other people?
Why ask it
This gets a different list from what they enjoy alone: making a little brother laugh, teaching a game, cooking with a grandparent. A lot of work comes down to doing something for somebody, so it helps to know which kind of helping they choose without being told to.
If school let you pick what to study for a whole week, what would you choose?
Why ask it
Teachers can build a project week out of the answers. At home, one library trip or one documentary on the sharks, the volcanoes or how video games get made shows the child you were listening.
Strengths
What do other kids ask you to help them with?
Why ask it
Evidence from outside is easier to give than a boast. A modest child who cannot answer 'what are you good at' can usually report that people ask them to draw the horse, spell the word or settle who was out.
What can you do now that you could not do a year ago?
Why ask it
Ask how they got there: practice, a teacher, a cousin, a video watched forty times. Keep that answer for later, when a job sounds impossible, because it is their own evidence that a skill can be built.
What would your best friend say you are great at?
Why ask it
Borrowing a friend's eyes gets around shyness. Afterwards add the thing you would have said, with the moment you saw it, since 'you were patient with your sister when she was learning to ride' lands better than 'you are so smart'.
What is something you have taught somebody else to do?
Why ask it
How they explained it matters more than what it was, shoelaces or a card trick. Find out what they did when the other person did not get it; that shows how much patience they have more honestly than a direct question would.
What are you good at that never gets a grade?
Why ask it
School grades a narrow strip of what a person can do. A child with ordinary grades may need to hear that noticing who is left out, making people laugh or knowing every bus route counts at work too, so if they get stuck, offer one you have seen in them.
When your group has a project, what part do you usually end up doing?
Why ask it
Follow with 'do you like that part, or did you get stuck with it?' The planner, the peacemaker and the one who quietly does all of it were not always asked, and the role a child is handed can be a long way from the one they want.
What do you do when something is too hard the first time you try it?
Why ask it
Quit, ask someone, get angry, come at it another way: all honest answers, so do not grade them. If the answer is 'I stop', ask about one time they kept going and what was different about it.
Dream jobs
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Why ask it
Take whatever comes, including dinosaur, YouTuber and 'I don't know', which is a perfectly good answer at nine. The one reply to avoid is 'do you know how hard that is?' Put the question again in six months and expect a different job.
What do you think someone with that job does all day?
Why ask it
Say the job they just named in place of 'that job'. A vet who 'pets dogs' is not a mistake to correct at seven; it tells you animals are the draw, and the surgery can wait a few years.
If you could try any job for just one day, which would you pick?
Why ask it
One day takes the weight off, so a child who froze on the grown-up question often answers this. Ask for a second and third choice as well. Three jobs side by side (pilot, zookeeper, firefighter) show what they have in common.
If your job came with a uniform or special gear, what would you want to wear?
Why ask it
Made for five- to seven-year-olds, who think about jobs through the helmet, the apron and the tool belt. Ask what each piece is for. Dress-up afterwards counts as research.
Which job from a book, a show or a game would you like to have in real life?
Why ask it
A good share of a child's job list comes from stories and screens, so it is worth knowing which ones stuck: the detective, the baker on the contest show, the person who makes the game itself. Talk about what that character is good at, and whether the real job would look like the one on screen.
If you could invent a job that does not exist yet, what would that person do?
Why ask it
Expect professional puppy cuddler and candy tester. Underneath the joke, ask who would pay for it and why, which is a seven-year-old's first look at the idea that a job solves something for someone.
If you opened a shop or started a business, what would it sell or do?
Why ask it
Ask its name, who the customers are and what it would charge. If the idea is small enough, such as bracelets or walking a neighbor's dog, help them try it for one weekend.
If you could have two jobs at the same time, which two would you put together?
Why ask it
The pairing lets a child keep everything they like, vet and baker or soccer player and scientist, without being made to choose. It is also a fair picture of adult life, where plenty of people change jobs or do more than one thing.
What problem in the world would you like to help fix?
Why ask it
Whatever they name, lost pets or litter or a grandparent who is ill, ask who works on that problem now, and one worry becomes four or five jobs. With an anxious child, shrink it to a problem on your street.
Which job would you never want, and what is it about that job?
Why ask it
A dislike is as useful as a wish. Blood, heights, sitting still and getting up early each rule out a different set of jobs, so write the reason down and resist defending the job, even if it is yours.
Would you rather be famous for your job, or love a job that hardly anyone knows about?
Why ask it
For nine and up, when being famous becomes a career plan of its own. Arguing gets nowhere. Ask what a famous person does on an ordinary Tuesday, and what they would want to be famous for.
If every job paid exactly the same, which one would you choose?
Why ask it
Worth putting to a ten- or eleven-year-old who has started saying 'whatever makes the most money'. Compare it with their usual answer, and when the two differ, ask what they would want the money for.
Kind of work
Would you rather work inside or outside?
Why ask it
Follow with 'even in the rain?' Outside sometimes turns out to mean 'not sitting at a desk', which is a different wish, so ask what they picture themselves doing out there.
Would you rather work by yourself, with one partner or on a big team?
Why ask it
Tie it to something recent: the last group project, the last thing they built alone. A child who says 'alone' after a bad group week may answer differently next month, which is one reason to ask again.
Would you rather spend your workday with animals, machines, plants or lots of people?
Why ask it
Four choices sort things quickly, and many children want two of them. Ask what they would do with the animals or the machines: looking after, training, taking apart and inventing are not the same job.
Would you like a job where every day is the same, or one where you never know what will happen?
Why ask it
Some children relax when they know the plan and some come alive when it changes, and neither is the better answer. You probably know which this child is already, so the interesting part is whether they do.
Would you rather be the boss, or have a boss who decides things for you?
Why ask it
Nearly everyone picks boss. Ask what a boss has to do that is no fun, such as telling a friend no, staying late or taking the blame, and see whether the choice holds.
Would you want a job close to home, or one that takes you far away?
Why ask it
A pilot, a ship's cook and a long-haul driver sleep away from home, while a shopkeeper may walk to work. Ask who they would miss and what they would want to see, and you learn how they weigh adventure against home.
What would your perfect place to work look like?
Why ask it
Hand over paper and let them draw it. Look at what is in the picture: other people or none, animals, screens, tools, windows, a slide. It works in a classroom and with a child who goes quiet when asked things directly.
Getting there
What do you think you would need to learn to do that job?
Why ask it
It links school to the job without the speech about homework. If the answer is 'nothing', ask what a vet has to know when the dog cannot say where it hurts. Training differs by job and by country, so look up together how it works where you live instead of guessing.
If you met someone who does that job, what would you ask them?
Why ask it
Write the questions down in the child's own words, then find the person: a neighbor, an aunt, a parent from the class, a career-day visitor. Three questions of their own give a child a reason to listen that a talk does not.
What could you try this month that is a tiny version of that job?
Why ask it
Bake for the baker, write a two-page story for the author, look after a neighbor's plants for the gardener. Twenty minutes of doing shows a child more than another conversation, and it is fine if the verdict is 'I did not like it'.
What did you want to be when you were little, and what changed your mind?
Why ask it
A ten-year-old already has a history here: garbage truck driver at four, mermaid at six. Hearing themselves tell it makes the point that changing your mind is normal, which takes pressure off the current answer.
What do you think I wanted to be when I was your age?
Why ask it
Let them guess three times before you say. Then tell the true story with its turns, including the jobs you tried and left, because children tend to assume adults always knew.
What is a job you could do at home or in class right now that would really help?
Why ask it
Give the job a name and let it run for a few weeks: feeding the cat, watering the classroom plants, checking the lights at the end of the day. Being counted on is the piece of working life a child can have today.
Is there anything about growing up and having a job that worries you?
Why ask it
For nine and up, asked once and lightly. Not being good at anything, having to move away and choosing wrong all come up. Hear it out before you reassure, and say plainly that nobody has to decide at their age.
Asking a child about jobs without turning it into a plan
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Setting up the conversation
Open with what they can see
Asked cold, 'what do you want to be?' gets the answer a child gave the last adult who asked. Begin in Jobs around you, where there is something to point at: the bus driver, the school cook, whatever you do yourself. By the time you reach Dream jobs the child has a longer list to choose from than doctor, teacher and firefighter.
Six questions, not fifty
One from each group makes six, which is a full conversation for a seven-year-old, and ten minutes is long enough. Stop while it is still fun. The list is for coming back to over months, in the car or at dinner, and the answers will have moved by then.
Fit the question to the age
Five to seven: keep it to things with a picture, such as the pretend question, the uniform question, the lunch chain and drawing the perfect place to work. Eight to ten: what they like, what friends ask them for, what they do in a group. Eleven and twelve can take the questions about money, fame and what worries them, and will notice if you are fishing for a particular answer.
Take your turn
Let the child put the same question back to you, and answer it honestly: what you wanted at their age, which part of your day drags, what you are still not good at. A conversation where both people answer does not feel like an interview, and children are curious about adults' work once it stops being a closed door.
Following an answer without steering it
Ask what the person does all day
Whatever job is named, the next question is the same: what would you be doing at ten in the morning? An astronaut who 'floats and eats space food' and a chef who 'gets to be the boss of the kitchen' have told you why they picked it. That reason will outlast the job title.
Say back the reason, not the title
'So you like the part where you look after animals' keeps the door open. 'So you want to be a vet' closes it around one job, and the child may feel held to it at the next family gathering. Reasons carry over to dozens of jobs the child has not heard of yet.
When the answer is YouTuber, pro athlete or nothing
Treat it like any other answer and ask what the day looks like: who films, who edits, who decides what the video is about. Often there is a real interest inside it, such as making people laugh, explaining a game or being on a team. 'Nothing' and 'I don't know' need no fixing either; try the one-day job question and move on.
Leave pay and training for when they ask
A child under ten rarely needs to hear what a job pays or how many years the training takes, and adults often quote both from memory and get them wrong. When an older child does ask, say you will find out together. Pay, routes in and what qualifications are called differ by country and change over time, so check a current source for where you live.
At home, in class and on career day
A parent or grandparent
Write down the answer and the date somewhere you will find it again, then ask the same three questions a year later. Keep the reason next to the job: 'marine biologist, because of the octopus video'. Read back at fourteen, the reasons show a thread that the job titles hide.
A teacher with a whole class
Choose one question and go round the circle, with 'pass' allowed. Put every job named on the board without comment, including the silly ones, and leave the list up for the week so children can add to it. The lunch question and the school staff question both turn into a drawing or a short writing task without much planning.
A career-day visitor
Before you describe your job, ask the room what they think you do all day and take four or five guesses. Then tell them about yesterday, hour by hour, and bring one object from work they can pass around. Leave time at the end for their questions, and expect 'do you like it?' and 'is it hard?' before anything else.
A school counselor with one child
Paper helps a quiet child: the perfect workplace drawing, or a page folded in two for 'like' and 'good at'. Note the verbs and the reasons, not a job to aim at. If your school keeps a record of career activities, ask how it is meant to be used before you add a child's answers to it.
What turns it into a lecture
Correcting the dream
'Hardly anyone makes it to the pros' may be true, and it ends the talk. An eight-year-old's dream job is a way of saying what looks exciting, and it will change several times without help. Ask what they love about it and leave the odds for a much later year.
Turning every interest into a job
A child who draws and hears 'you could be an architect' each time may start keeping the drawings to themselves. Some interests are for pleasure, and saying so is part of an honest picture of adult life. Offer a job link once, lightly, and then let the drawing be a drawing.
Ranking jobs out loud
Children pick up which jobs the adults around them respect from how those adults speak about the cashier, the cleaner and the delivery driver. If the trash question or the night jobs question lands well, build on it. A child who values the work around them has more options, not fewer.
Fishing for the answer you want
If one answer gets a bigger smile, a child learns to give it. That is how a ten-year-old ends up saying 'doctor' to relatives and something else to friends. Give the same interested follow-up to truck driver as to surgeon.
Letting 'that is a boy's job' pass, or pouncing on it
When a child says only boys build houses or only girls are nurses, a speech rarely helps. Ask where they got that idea and whether they have ever seen it otherwise. The next time you pass a woman on a building site or a man at the nurses' desk, point them out and leave it there.