During a job interview, the interviewer might ask you about a wide range of topics. Sometimes, they inquire about personal issues, such as your family and your experiences with them. To be fully prepared for an interview, it’s important to understand why such questions might arise and how you can respond. In this article, we discuss why interviewers might ask you about your family background, describe the steps you can take to formulate a strong answer and provide some examples to guide you.
family background in interview | tell me about your family background interview question
Upbringing and childhood
Upbringing refers to the training and instruction you received as a child and adolescent. Details about your upbringing can provide the interviewer with glimpses into the values imparted to you from a young age. It can also point to details concerning the degree of socialization and stability you enjoyed in your childhood. These factors can show how well your personality aligns with the principles of the organization with which youre interviewing.
Dependents
A dependent is any person who relies on another for financial support. If a job candidate has dependents, it might suggest that theyre a responsible individual whos willing to put in the time and effort to build a career for their familys sake. Such a characteristic may be desirable to hiring managers, who often seek candidates pursuing long-term employment.
Example 1
This interviewee uses their parents professions to transition into a mention of her professional qualities:
“My parents were both professors at a small university in northeast Georgia. I remember spending a lot of time hanging out in their offices, pulling down their books and meeting their TAs and colleagues. My mom taught English, and she had a TA named Christy who was my favorite. Christy once helped me write and illustrate a first-grade story assignment, which the teacher said was the best in the class. I think hanging out with all those older English majors all my life helped to develop my communication skills early on, not to mention my writing skills.”
Determine what you want to convey about yourself
Unless theyre purely icebreakers, questions about your family background are really about understanding you, your values and your attributes. To provide the most effective answer, its important to understand which of your qualities you want to highlight to the interviewer. Ideally, youd focus on skills or traits youve mentioned in your resume or cover letter, which can create a sense of continuity between your application documents and your interview.
For example, if you want to convey yourself as someone who values hard work, you might spend time discussing your admiration for a parents work ethic when you were growing up. By showing that you recognize and appreciate the labor put forth by a family member, you can communicate to the interviewer that you strive to contribute at least an equal amount of effort to your job.
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Questions provided by Lisa Louise Cook, Sunny Jane Morton, and Diane Haddad. Portions of this article appeared in the January 2012 and January/February 2013 issues of Family Tree Magazine.
Family history interview are a great way for kids to get involved in their family’s history, too. Check out our list of questions for kids to ask their grandparents—or any relative!
What is your experience with or opinion of computers? (Add or substitute other modern conveniences, such as television, microwaves and cell phones.)
Want to hear your relatives’ stories, but not sure where to start? The best tactics for family history interviews are to ask open-ended questions (rather than ones with yes or no answers), and to focus on people’s memories and experiences. It’s much more interesting—for you and the interviewee—to talk about the stories and emotions behind the events in your family’s past.
Choose a big event from the news that happened during the relative’s lifetime (such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the day President John F. Kennedy was shot), and use the following questions to spur your relative’s memory:
FAQ
What should I write in my family background?
What if interviewer asks about family background?
How do you explain family background?
- Who were the oldest members of your family that you knew personally?
- Do you know their whole names? …
- Did your parents talk about any of their ancestors when you were growing up?
- Did anyone who wasn’t related to you live with you when you were a child?
- Where did you grow up?
What are some interview questions for family?
- Who were the oldest members of your family that you knew personally?
- Do you know their whole names? …
- Did your parents talk about any of their ancestors when you were growing up?
- Did anyone who wasn’t related to you live with you when you were a child?
- Where did you grow up?
