Are You Willing to Travel? (With 10 Sample Interview Answers)

If you have applied for a job that involves any sort of travelling, the hiring manager will surely ask you questions like

1. Are you willing to travel?
2. How much are you willing to travel?
3. Will it be comfortable and feasible for you to travel for work?
4. What percentage of the time are you willing to travel for work?
5. Are you willing to relocate?

These are some common travel-related work questions that the employer can ask a candidate in an interview. In this article, we will take you through how you can go about answering such questions in an interview with some sample interview answers to give you an idea of framing answers to such questions. Preparing for such questions in advance will help give a better answer and so stick to this article till the end.

Reasons Why the Employer Asks This Question?

1. To see your willingness to travel.
2. Sometimes the hiring manager, while giving the job description, also mentions how much traveling is involved with the work that you will be doing, so to check if that is the acceptable amount of traveling for you, the employer asks this question.
3. To check if it is convenient for you to work at remote places as when it comes to traveling, most people like to travel for work.
4. They have a criterion to eliminate the candidates who are not willing to travel as the work description demands traveling, so this question can help them to shortlist the candidates on this basis.
5. To determine your ability to be flexible for the position in the company.

How to Answer This Question?

Research about the job description

To be prepared to answer a question like this in the interview, it will be best to research the job details by researching about the company and the position. By doing this, you will be able to determine whether or not the job involves traveling from one place to another for work.

Try to negotiate if the answer is ‘no’

It is completely okay, to be honest, and disagree if the traveling part is not suitable for you. Or there might be a case where you are willing to travel, but not as much as the employer has mentioned in the job description, so in that case, try to negotiate with the employer regarding the traveling percentage asking if can reduce it. You can even make a counteroffer regarding the job position as the employer will surely consider you as a good candidate for the job if your skills match the job requirements.

If the answer is yes, talk about travel experiences

If you are willing to travel, then show some excitement for the job and mention that it is okay for you to do as much as you can for the job, mention that you like traveling even if it’s work-related. Explain to the employer how traveling expands your opportunities and helps you grow your network, share your previous job travel experiences that helped you grow. Do not mention irrelevant travel details, stay within the professional boundaries while you give your answer. This will demonstrate your seriousness for the job and also how flexible and committed you are when it comes to your work.

Don’ts While Answering This Question

1. Avoid talking negatively or starting to complain about traveling.
2. Do not give a numerical value to mention the travel amount, as it is the employer’s job to tell you so.
3. Do not talk about unnecessary travel details from past job experiences.
4. Do not mention things like you like visiting places while you are doing your work, as you are not going for a vacation but a job-related trip.
5. Keep any travel policy-related questions for the end of the interview.

Sample Interview Answers

Sample Interview Answer 1

“Yes, absolutely, I am willing to travel anywhere related to this job. In my previous job, I had to travel a lot for remote meetings, as our several clients belonged to different states. Traveling has helped me a lot in building a professional network with various top industrialists and learn a lot about this industry and about the approaches that other people follow to work in this industry. So, I see it as one of the pros to be able to travel for work.”

Sample Interview Answer 2

“A 100% yes, definitely I am willing to relocate if the job demands me to do so. I do not have much of an interest in traveling, but if the job requires it I am up for it as it will be a part of responsibilities.”

Sample Interview Answer 3

“I am aware that this job requires a lot of traveling, and I am willing and able to travel as much as this job requires me to as I have recently moved here and as it is the initial stage of my career, I don’t have much of personal responsibilities to fulfill. I have traveled a lot in my past job and I have the experience to work remotely.”

Sample Interview Answer 4

“Yes, I am willing to travel, as I am aware that the clients that I have to deal with will mostly require me to travel for business meetings. My previous job required 10% travel time, I know this job requires 25% and I am ready to do so. I have a question that will the travel be every few weeks or monthly? Just to have more information on the travel requirement of this job.”

Sample Interview Answer 5

“Yes, I am willing to travel for this job, but not on the weekends as I have to visit my parents who live near the town during then. I am absolutely okay with traveling on the weekdays as I don’t have any sort of personal commitments from Monday to Friday. I am flexible enough to travel anywhere and communicate with any person for the work outdoors. I know it is an important part of my job to be able to establish relationships with clients and to make sure that our company receives every contract for which I am assigned to travel.”

Sample Interview Answer 6

“Traveling is the core part of my job role, and I am committed to meet any demands that the job requires. I have traveled for a specific amount [say 50%] in my previous job, this is why to be able to answer this question, may I know what percentage of my work will involve traveling and how do I have to travel for this job? Any additional details that can help me know about the requirements better would be helpful for me to set my timelines.”

Sample Interview Answer 7

“My previous job did not require me to travel at all, to answer the question I am willing to travel for work-related conferences and meetings if you let me know when to travel enough time before so that I can make necessary arrangements and accommodate accordingly. An idea of how do I have to travel for this job would be appreciated.”

Sample Interview Answer 8

“Actually, due to child care I could not be able to travel for the job for longer period of days, I will be more than happy to make arrangements and accommodate during the times I am free from the child care duty as my spouse takes weekends off to take care of them. So, I will be willing to travel on weekends if the job requires me to do so.”

Sample Interview Answer 9

“Data analysts’ jobs are adventurous and when I was working at my previous job as an intern, to gather the data from the primary sources, I traveled a lot to different places to collect reports and information, and I was more than happy to do so as it gave me an exposure of what my future work will look like, and that is why the answer to your question surely is yes, I am ready to give my all to this job and I am willing to travel for the work. I am looking forward to gaining new experiences and meet new people during the same.”

Sample Interview Answer 10

“Yes, I am willing to travel for this job, but do have some travel restrictions, as I am not allowed to travel a lot by my parents even if it is for work. But I am determined to work on weekdays and travel during the same as traveling is personally and even professionally very helpful for me to get exposure. I am flexible to go anywhere on the weekdays. I would like you to put some more light on how the travel will be scheduled and what other requirements will be associated with it so that I can have a clearer picture of the same.”

Conclusion

There are a lot of jobs that may require traveling, for example, if you are a teacher, you may have to travel for conferences, if you belong to the marketing industry, you may have to go places to meet your clients and grow your network, if you are from research industry, to collect the data to may need to involve in traveling. This is why it is important to prepare for researching about the job and its requirements so that you can answer such questions confidently when the employer asks. Remember that you don’t make false commitments, just to get hired for that role as it will be best for both you and the employer. I hope that this article helped you, review the article before you go for the interview.

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Thank you for reading!

References

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hrm.10062