Questions to Ask Someone About Their Job

Press Next question for one open question about their work, and Show follow-up when the answer is short.

How many people do you work with on an ordinary day?

Show follow-upHide follow-up

Who do you see first each morning?

Ask the question. Short answer? Press Show follow-up, then Next question.

1 of 93

Next step Openers for a networking event Icebreakers for a work meeting

How it works

These 93 questions to ask someone about their job go past what do you do: a day in the job, how they got there, the words outsiders never understand, and their advice. None asks about pay or bosses.

Read the full guide

Small talk that people enjoy answering

Start with The short version: What do you do, in one sentence a ten-year-old would follow? Then pick Stories from the job once they relax. Questions to ask people about their job work best when the second one follows their answer, so press Show follow-up.

A career talk or a class interview

Thinking of joining their field? Use How they got there and Advice for someone starting out. A student with a homework interview can pick For a class career interview: 12 plain questions, such as Which school subjects do you use in your job?

Tips

Before a class interview, press the topic, then Copy the list from the end card into your notes.

Questions and answers

What are good questions to ask someone about their job?

Ones only they can answer: What skill does your job need that nobody would guess? Which part of your work do people outside it never see? What is the strangest request you have had at work?

What should I ask in a career interview for school?

Duties, training, the subjects they use, the best and hardest parts, and how they chose the career. For a class career interview holds all 12, each with a follow-up to ask when the answer is short.

Is it rude to ask how much someone earns?

Many people would rather not say, so none of these cards asks. Ask what they like about the work, or what training it takes, and let them bring up money if they want to.

All 93 questions

The short version 13

How many people do you work with on an ordinary day? Follow-up: Who do you see first each morning?
How would you describe your job in only three words? Follow-up: Which of the three matters most?
What do you do, in one sentence a ten-year-old would follow? Follow-up: What would the longer version add?
What do you make, fix, teach or look after? Follow-up: Which of those takes most of your time?
What does a good week at work look like for you? Follow-up: What usually makes the difference?
What does your workplace look, sound or smell like? Follow-up: What would a visitor notice first?
What is your job called, and what do people guess it means? Follow-up: What is the closest wrong guess you have heard?
What made you say yes to this job? Follow-up: How has that reason changed since?
What question do you get asked most about your job? Follow-up: What is your usual answer by now?
What would your job's uniform be if it had one? Follow-up: What would the pockets hold?
Where does your work happen: one place, many places or on the road? Follow-up: What is the best spot you have worked from?
Which part of your work do people outside it never see? Follow-up: Who would be most surprised to learn about it?
Who are the people your work is for? Follow-up: How do you know when they are pleased?

A day in the job 13

How do you know a working day went well? Follow-up: What is the first sign?
How do you wrap up a working day? Follow-up: What do you leave ready for tomorrow?
How has your day changed since you started this job? Follow-up: Was it one event or a slow drift, and why?
How is a busy day different from a quiet one in your job? Follow-up: Which of the two do you like better?
What happens at your work when something goes wrong? Follow-up: Who gets the first call?
What is on your desk, bench or cart right now? Follow-up: Which item would you miss most?
What is the first thing you do when you start work? Follow-up: Why does that come first?
What part of the working day goes fastest for you? Follow-up: What is usually happening then?
What time of year is busiest in your line of work? Follow-up: What do you do to get ready for the rush?
Which hour of your working day would make the best short film? Follow-up: Who would have to be in it?
Which interruption do you get most often? Follow-up: How do you handle it these days?
Which part of the job repeats every single day? Follow-up: How do you keep it from going stale?
Which task do you save for when your energy is highest? Follow-up: What happens when it gets pushed back?

How they got there 13

How did you first hear about this kind of work? Follow-up: Who told you, or where did you see it?
How did you land the job you have now? Follow-up: What tipped it your way?
How long did it take before you felt good at your job? Follow-up: What was the moment you knew?
What did you study or practise to get where you are? Follow-up: Which part turned out most useful?
What kind of person tends to stay in this line of work? Follow-up: What kind tends to leave?
What other path did you almost take instead? Follow-up: Where might it have led?
What was your first week in this job like? Follow-up: What would you tell that new starter now?
What was your very first job? Follow-up: What did it teach you that you still use?
What would you do differently in your first year? Follow-up: What stopped you at the time?
Which earlier job or hobby helps you most in this one? Follow-up: Where does it show up?
Which of your early guesses about this work turned out wrong? Follow-up: What surprised you instead?
Which year of your working life taught you the most? Follow-up: What happened that year?
Who helped you most on the way into this work? Follow-up: What did they do that mattered?

Skills, tools and words 14

How do you keep learning in your job? Follow-up: What did you learn most recently?
What do you check twice before you call something finished? Follow-up: What happened the time you did not?
What does your job ask of your hands, eyes or voice? Follow-up: Which one tires first?
What is the hardest part of your work to learn? Follow-up: How long did it take you?
What makes someone really good at your work, not just fine? Follow-up: Who is the best you have seen?
What mistake do beginners make in your work? Follow-up: How do you spot it?
What skill does your job need that nobody would guess? Follow-up: Who showed you how it is done?
What tool could you not do your job without? Follow-up: What did people use before it?
What would you teach a new person on their first day? Follow-up: What would you save for their thirtieth?
Which of your skills would carry into a completely different job? Follow-up: Which job would you pick?
Which part of the job still takes all your concentration? Follow-up: What helps you focus on it?
Which part of your work is changing because of new technology? Follow-up: What will it look like next?
Which rule of thumb do you use every week? Follow-up: Where did that rule first come from?
Which word from your job do outsiders never understand? Follow-up: How would you explain it to me?

Stories from the job 14

What have you made or done at work that is still out there? Follow-up: Where can people see it?
What is the best compliment you have had for your work? Follow-up: Who gave it to you?
What is the funniest thing that has happened at your work? Follow-up: Which coworker tells it best?
What is the most interesting place your job has taken you? Follow-up: What did you see there?
What is the strangest request you have had at work? Follow-up: What did you end up saying to them?
What moment made you sure you were in the right job? Follow-up: Where were you standing?
What tradition does your workplace have? Follow-up: Who keeps it going now?
What was the busiest day you have ever had at work? Follow-up: What kept you going until the end of it?
What went wrong once at work and turned out fine? Follow-up: What did it teach you?
What were you trusted with early on in your job? Follow-up: How did that feel?
Which day at work do you still tell people about? Follow-up: What makes it stick with you?
Which person you met through work do you think about most? Follow-up: What did they teach you?
Which problem at work were you proudest to solve? Follow-up: How long did it take?
Which work story do you tell at parties? Follow-up: Which part gets the biggest reaction?

Advice for someone starting out 14

How do you keep work from taking over the rest of your week? Follow-up: What helps most?
If you could change one thing about your line of work, what would it be? Follow-up: Who could make that change?
What do you wish someone had told you in your first month? Follow-up: Why do you think nobody said it?
What is the best way to try your kind of work for a day? Follow-up: Who would someone ask?
What kind of person would love your job? Follow-up: What kind would find it hard?
What part of your job is harder than it looks? Follow-up: Which part is easier than it looks?
What should people ask before taking a job like yours? Follow-up: Which answer would worry you?
What should someone read, watch or try before choosing your work? Follow-up: What would they learn from it?
What small thing can a beginner do in your field to stand out? Follow-up: Who noticed when you did it?
What would you do if you started over in the same field? Follow-up: Which choice would you make again without a doubt?
What would you tell a student who is curious about your field? Follow-up: What would you ask them back?
Where is your line of work heading in the next few years? Follow-up: Which skill will matter most then?
Which habit would help anyone in your line of work? Follow-up: When did you pick it up?
Who should someone talk to next to learn more about your work? Follow-up: What should they ask that person?

For a class career interview 12

How did you choose your career? Follow-up: What else did you think about doing?
How does your work help other people? Follow-up: Who benefits most from it?
What advice would you give someone my age? Follow-up: What would you do at my age now?
What are the best and the hardest parts of your job? Follow-up: How do you handle the hard part?
What are your main duties in a normal week? Follow-up: Which one takes the most time?
What changes have you seen in your job over the years? Follow-up: Which change helped the most?
What does a beginner in your field do on day one? Follow-up: How long until they do more?
What other jobs work closely with yours? Follow-up: How do you work together?
What qualities does someone need to do well in your job? Follow-up: Which one did you have to build?
What training or schooling does your job require? Follow-up: Which part was the hardest?
What would you like students to know about your job? Follow-up: What do they usually get wrong?
Which school subjects do you use in your job? Follow-up: How do you use them?

How this list was compiled

Written for this page by the Game Night Generator editors in September 2026; no question or follow-up is copied from another list. The questions are for anyone curious about another person's work: small talk at a table, a student's career interview, or a talk with someone in a field you are thinking of joining. Every card is an open question, so none can be answered with yes or no, and each has its own follow-up. Nothing asks about pay, bosses, health, family, politics or religion, and no card names an employer or a real person. Levels are an editor's judgment, not a measurement: easy is answered in a sentence, medium takes a short story, hard asks for an opinion or a look back. On 2026-09-24 the deck was compared by script with every other list on this site, and questions that repeated one elsewhere were rewritten. Licence: own work