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You will most likely be asked about your level of ambition as part of a strengths-based interview. The ‘strengths’ recruitment process is used by some graduate employers to assess what you are good at, how you prefer to work and (therefore) whether you are right for the role.
However, you may also be asked this question as part of a more general interview involving a combination of different types of questions, particularly if you are interviewing for a role that involves leadership (such as a trainee manager job or a position in a senior management development programme) or achieving goals (such as in a sales role).
Why do recruiters ask how ambitious you are?
The usual reason I ask you this is to see if your
common outlook and values
(what you want from your career and life) match those of the employer. All organizations are ambitious for their future success in the areas that matter most to them – profits, increased custom, sustainability goals, international expansion, delivering excellent service, etc.
By extension, they are looking to discover whether the role you are applying for fits your career ambitions. After all, you’re unlikely to stay working for an organization that doesn’t share your worldview or facilitate your career development – and employers want to keep good employees as long as possible.
You may also be asked this question if the interviewer wants to know how
driven
you will achieve goals. This is most likely to be the case if the role involves people or team management – they will need you to set goals, inspire and be ambitious for your team – or if it involves achieving set targets, such as revenue totals.
As such, this question
can
I will also implicitly ask you:
You’ll likely find yourself answering one or more of these questions in your answer to How Ambitious Are You? But don’t worry about it too much: if your interviewer specifically wants you to cover one of the topics above, they’ll ask you to as a follow-up.
Where interviewees can go wrong with the “how ambitious?” question
What can make this question difficult to answer is that “ambition” is interpreted very subjectively. The way you feel about the question may cause you to overcomplicate your answer or inadvertently imply something you didn’t mean. For example, that you are so ambitious to reach the top of the profession that you do not intend to stay with the company for very long. Or, conversely, if you want to avoid appearing boastful or self-aggrandizing about having none of the positive skills associated with ambition.
It can even make you feel like you have to say you’re “highly ambitious” when you’re not – and chances are, that answer will sound disingenuous and unconvincing to your interviewers.
How to answer a question about how ambitious you are
The key to an honest and good answer to this question is to be very clear about what ambition means to you.
Here it is useful to return to the dictionary definition of ‘ambition’. It is a strong desire to do, achieve or succeed in something. We would say that since everyone has something they care about and want to achieve, everyone is ambitious to a greater or lesser degree. It’s just that what each person aspires to will be different.
So what does ambition mean to you? In a work context, most people assume that ambition means having a huge drive to climb a certain career ladder or start your own business and be the next Steve Jobs. If these are the ways you define ambition and you share one or both aspirations, don’t just say something like, “I’m very ambitious.” Outline your goals. Just be careful to be realistic: show a proper understanding of the profession and the career ladder it offers. This may include mention of professional qualifications and membership of professional organisations. If you do want to add a schedule to your career plans (and you don’t have to), make sure they’re feasible. You can say that you hope to start your own business one day – many employers want graduates with an entrepreneurial spirit – but we advise that you also highlight what you hope to learn and contribute while working for the employer.
But what if your ambitions aren’t related to your career, or if you haven’t decided exactly what they are? It is important to note that your interviewers will not expect you to have a detailed career plan. It’s perfectly acceptable to talk about what’s important to you more generally. These conditions may include a desire to learn and progress, to be a valued member of a team, or to do something that gives you a sense of purpose.
You can also (or instead) point to a time in the past when you demonstrated ambitious thinking by setting a goal that was important to you and achieving it. Here’s an example of how you can do this (adapting it, of course, to your own circumstances):
“I’m very motivated when I set a goal. For example, when I wanted to save enough money to achieve my dream of visiting the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, I calculated how much I needed to save per month. I got a second part-time job to save the money and negotiated my broadband deal down to save the money. I made sure I saw my friends around our house instead of going out, which would have been more expensive. It took me nine months, but I was able to go.
By explaining how you achieved a goal, you will demonstrate that you possess the positive qualities associated with ambition. The example above demonstrates persistence and tenacity, planning and commercial thinking and negotiation skills. Highlighting these skills will help convince interviewers that you are a good fit for the role and the company.
Get help answering tougher interview questions with our article on the top nine tough interview questions and answers.
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