33 Interview Questions for Tour Guide (With Sample Answers)
People hire tour guides to show them around and tell them about the places, such as their history and customs. After you apply for a job as a tour guide, you should get ready for an interview. Reviewing common questions asked at interviews for tour guide jobs can help you feel more prepared and give you more confidence in your skills. This article has a list of general, background, and in-depth interview questions that you might be asked as a tour guide, as well as three sample answers to help you think of your own.
General tour guide interview questions
Usually, hiring managers start an interview by asking general questions. They can learn more about you, your personality, and why you want the job by asking you these questions. Here are some basic questions you might be asked at the start of an interview to become a tour guide:
- How would you describe yourself as a tour guide?
- Where do you see yourself in ten years?
- What do you want to do with your work?
- How can a tour guide do the best job?
- What do you think is your worst trait as a tour guide?
- Why did you decide to become a tour guide?
- How did you hear about this job opening at our company?
- What makes you want to work for us?
- How much money do you want?
- When can you get started?
Questions about work and history from the past
Hiring managers will often ask about your experience as a travel guide to see if you are right for the job. As you answer these questions, keep in mind how important it is to show how much you love to travel and how good a storyteller you are. Here are some questions about this job that a hiring manager might ask you:
- Tell me about your experience as a tour guide.
- What did you do at your last job as a tour guide?
- How did you learn to be a tour guide?
- Why should people choose you over another candidate?
- Have you worked in customer service or as a host before?
- Do you know any other languages besides English?
- What do most tour guides need to do?
- Tell me about a time when you spoke in front of people.
- What have you done in the past year to get better at being a tour guide?
- What is the most important thing you’ve done as a tour guide?
In-depth interview questions
Hiring managers also ask detailed questions, which are often about the role and the situation, to figure out if you are a good fit for the job. Even though it’s important to fit in with the company’s culture and have the right experience, these detailed questions help them figure out if you’re the right person for the job based on what you’d do on the job. Here are some detailed questions you might be asked at a tour guide interview:
- How do you go about making a plan?
- How can you make the most of a short vacation?
- As a tour guide, you get to know many different kinds of people. How do you catch their attention?
- What would you do if bad weather made your plans impossible?
- How do you make sure each tour is different?
- Tell me how you tell different tour groups about interesting places.
- What do you need to do to get ready for a tour?
- What do you bring with you every time?
- What is the hardest part of your job as a tour guide, in your opinion? How can you move on?
- How do you plan to make a difference as a tour guide?
Sample interview questions and how to answer them
Use these sample answers to interview questions about being a tour guide to help you come up with your own:
1.What do you think a tour guide needs to be good at the most?
Hiring managers ask this question to find out how well you understand the job and what you need to do to get it. Since tour guides need a lot of different skills, it can help to show hiring managers which ones are most important to your success. In your answer, please list the most important skills for this job. Think about what skills you have that could help you in this job.
Example: “For tour guides to share information well, they need to be good at talking to people and speaking in front of groups. Also, being able to actively listen means that tourists will have your full attention. You can also use this skill to figure out what people are asking you on a tour.”
2. What do you think has best prepared you for this job: your education, training, or work experience?
This is a question that hiring managers might ask to make sure you have the right skills for the job. This question also checks how well you know the job and how well you can use what you’ve learned. Reviewing the job posting will help you remember what skills and abilities the employer is looking for in a candidate. Think about the job’s daily tasks as well. Then, in your answer, list the skills you have that match the job description the best. Mention any that you learned in school, on the job, or elsewhere.
Example: “My English classes helped me understand how the English language is put together, and my public speaking classes helped me feel more comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people. It is important for any tour guide to know how to do this, but it is especially important for this job because the zoo sees large groups of people every day.”
3. Give an example of a time when you had to deal with a cranky tourist.
As a tour guide, you have to talk to many different kinds of people every day. If you want to be a good tour guide, you need to know how to deal with people. When hiring managers ask this question, they want to see how well you can keep your cool in bad situations. In your answer, tell us how you handle a tour with a cranky tourist and what you do to keep things from getting worse.
Example: “In my most recent job, a tourist who didn’t like where the tour was going made a scene. Before I went up to him, I kept my emotions in check and kept my cool. I told him that we offer a lot of other tours that he might like better. I also gave him a brochure with information about the other planned routes so he could choose the best one. After taking a look at the other tours and routes, he stayed with us and tried harder to be friendly.”
