In part one of your IELTS Speaking test, you might be asked, “What is your ideal job?” or “What is your dream job?”
Let’s look at how you can give a really good answer to this question. In this post, you can also read 10 great example answers (go straight to the answers here).
What You Can Say
Simply talk about a job you would love to have, and then use one or two simple sentences to explain why.
Maybe you have your ideal job now! And that’s great. Just talk about that.
If you don’t have a ‘dream’ job, then don’t worry. Just think of any job you would enjoy. Any job at all.
You can even say, “Well, I don’t think I have a dream job exactly, but I would like to be a…”
When you’ve said a job you’d like to have, here are a few things you could talk about:
- Why you would enjoy this job
- If you’ve ever done this job before
- If you have your dream job now
- What you think that job would be like (what you would do every day)
- How you’re going to get that job
- Someone you know who has that job
- What you’ve heard about that job
- If you think it would be difficult, or easy, and why
- Anything else you can think of
Useful Phrases
For this sort of question, you might like to use these kinds of ‘thinking’ phrases…
‘Well, I suppose I’d like to be…’
‘I’ve always wanted to be…’
‘To be honest, I’m not sure. But if I had to choose one job, I’d be…’
Grammar Tip: Use ‘Would’
Any time you talk about something you would like to have or do, you can use the wonderful word ‘would.’
We usually use ‘would’ to talk about something hypothetical (not real, not a plan, you’re just imagining it).
This means using the Second Conditional, for example:
“I would love to be a travel writer. I think it would be wonderful. If I was a travel writer, I would travel all around the world.”
This is some very nice grammar to use in your IELTS exam. It will make the examiner happy.
However, don’t worry too much about your grammar in part one.
Focus on Fluency
In part one, the best thing to do is try to speak smoothly, without hesitation. Instead of worrying about your grammar, you should focus on fluency.
Part one is only to help you warm up. So just use simple English, which is fine in part one.
Just focus on warming up, and being fluent (speaking quickly and easily).
In parts two and three, you can focus more on vocabulary and grammar.
Use the Three-Step YES Method
For your part-one answers, you shouldn’t speak too much.
Keep your answers quite short and simple. You only need to speak for 10 to 20 seconds. Not more.
You can use the YES Method to help you give a good part-one answer. Just say:
- Your answer (say your dream job)
- Explain your answer (say why it’s your dream job)
- Stop talking (wait patiently for the next question)
Example Answers
Let’s take a look at 10 good answers to this question.
1. My ideal job is to be the boss of my own company, like Steve Jobs, because I’d love to be that successful and rich and famous. It would be amazing!
2. I suppose my dream job is to be a surgeon because it’s such a challenging and respected position. I’m training to become a doctor at the moment, so many I’ll specialize in surgery in future.
3. My dream job is to teach children. I really love being around children. They’re so energetic and full of life and fun. I think I’d really enjoy helping them to learn.
4. Well, I haven’t thought about that before. But I suppose I’d like to be a ship’s captain, or something like that. I’d love to sail around the world. I think it would be a feeling of complete freedom and adventure.
5. Actually, to be honest, I have my ideal job now. I own a little cafe in my hometown, Lublin, in Poland. It’s the perfect peaceful job and lifestyle for me.
6. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I’d love to sit around at home writing exciting fantasy novels. It would be so much fun.
7. I’ve always been quite sporty, and I’m an avid tennis player. So if I had the skill, I’d love to be a professional tennis player, like Nadal or Djokovic. But unfortunately, I’ll never be good enough at tennis for that.
8. I’m from Brazil and I think, like most young Brazilians, I’d love to be a football player, playing for my country. It would be fantastic, out of this world.
9. I’d really like to be a professional archeologist. I met an archeologist once, and he told me he travels a great deal to exotic places, discovering ancient things under the ground. That sound like a wonderful job to me.
10. I’m not really sure that I have a dream job. But I would like to become a manager in my company, so I can earn more money. Hopefully, I’ll be promoted in a year or two and I’ll achieve that goal.
You Give It a Try
Now that you have some ideas from these example answers, give this question a go yourself.
Set up the recorder on your phone and ask aloud, “What is your ideal job?”
Answer as clearly and as quickly as you can, using the three-step YES Method.
When you’ve finished, listen to the recording and write down what you say.
See if you made any mistakes.
Then, answer it again!
By repeating this process many times, you’ll soon be giving easy band-seven answers to your IELTS Speaking part-one questions.
