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60 free Career trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
What does an actuary actually do all day? Who is the best boy on a film set, and what makes a cordwainer different from a cobbler? This set of career trivia questions has 60 free questions with answers about jobs, trades and professions: the medieval crafts whose names survive as surnames, the medical specialties nobody can keep straight, the kitchen brigade, the film crew, the skilled trades, and the exams that stand between a student and a licence. It is written for career-day classes, work icebreakers and pub quiz rounds, and it mixes easy questions anyone can guess with harder ones about who studies what and how long qualifying takes. Every question names a real occupation and the explanation adds a detail worth remembering about it. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on the occupation or field, and each question links to the page that establishes it.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does a farrier do?
Trims horses' hooves and fits horseshoes
The trade combines a blacksmith's metalwork with a vet's knowledge of the lower leg.
Q 02What does a cooper make?
Wooden barrels and casks
The staves are heated or steamed to bend them; the workshop is called a cooperage, and the surname Cooper comes from the trade.
Q 03What did a fletcher traditionally do?
Attach feathers to arrows
The word comes from the French flèche, meaning arrow; the fins on an arrow are its fletching.
Q 04By British tradition, what separates the two shoe trades of the cordwainer and the cobbler?
One makes new shoes, the other only repairs them
British tradition restricted cobblers to repair work, and cordwainers, named for Cordoba leather, are often misidentified as cobblers.
Q 05What does a wheelwright build?
Wooden wheels
The suffix wright comes from the Old English for a worker, as in shipwright and playwright.
Q 06A milliner makes and sells what?
Hats
The trade is called millinery; a hatter is the same thing.
Q 07A chandler in a medieval household was responsible for what?
Wax and candles
Before electric light it was an important office; the word survives in ship's chandlers, who supply boats.
Q 08In British English, what does a haberdasher sell?
Buttons, ribbons, zips and sewing supplies
In the United States the same word means a men's clothing store, which is why the two nations argue about it.
Q 09A luthier builds or repairs what?
String instruments
The name comes from lute; guitar and violin makers are both luthiers.
Q 10What is a perfumer sometimes affectionately called?
A nose
The French is nez; the job is essentially that of an artist trained to convey moods with smells.
Q 11An actuary is a professional who does what?
Measures and manages risk using mathematics
Qualifying takes a series of professional exams over several years; most actuaries work for insurers and pension funds.
Q 12What is a horologist interested in?
Clocks, watches and timekeeping
Horology covers everything from sundials and hourglasses to marine chronometers and atomic clocks.
Q 13What is a lexicographer's job?
Compiling dictionaries
Q 21A podiatrist specializes in which part of the body?
The foot, ankle and lower limb
Podiatry has both medical and surgical sides.
Q 22Which eye-care professional is a medical doctor who can perform surgery?
An ophthalmologist
Optometrists examine eyes and prescribe lenses, holding a four-year Doctor of Optometry degree in the US; ophthalmologists diagnose and operate on eye disease.
Q 23An audiologist treats disorders of what?
Hearing and balance
The name comes from the Latin audire, to hear.
Practical lexicography is the writing and editing of dictionaries; the theoretical side studies how words and meanings are organized.
Q 14Which field is the study of insects, and is often confused with the study of word origins?
Entomology
Etymology is the study of the origin of words; entomology comes from the Greek for insect.
Q 15What does an ornithologist study?
Birds
It is a branch of zoology, and amateur birdwatchers have contributed to it more than to almost any other science.
Q 16A cartographer makes what?
Maps
Cartography combines science, aesthetics and technique to model reality so spatial information can be communicated.
Q 17A seismologist studies what?
Earthquakes
The word comes from the Greek seismos, earthquake; the field also covers tsunamis, glaciers and man-made explosions.
Q 18A meteorologist studies what?
The atmosphere and the weather
Its best-known application is forecasting, but it also serves aviation, agriculture, energy and the military.
Q 19What does an epidemiologist study?
Patterns and causes of disease in populations
It is a cornerstone of public health, identifying risk factors and targets for prevention.
Q 20What does a phlebotomist do?
Draws blood from veins
The puncture itself is called a venipuncture, the same technique used to start an IV.
Q 24A dermatologist is a doctor of what?
The skin
Like podiatry, it has both medical and surgical sides.
Q 25Geriatrics is the medical care of whom?
Older adults
It comes from the Greek geron, old man, and iatros, healer; pediatrics is the opposite end of life.
Q 26What does an oncologist treat?
Cancer
Oncology covers the study, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the disease.
Q 27Which specialty deals with the urinary system and the male reproductive organs?
Urology
Its organs include the kidneys, bladder and urethra; the name comes from the Greek for urine.
Q 28An anesthesiologist is responsible for what?
A patient's care before, during and after surgery
The specialty also encompasses intensive care, critical emergency medicine and pain medicine.
Q 29What is a doctor's period of postgraduate on-the-job training called?
Residency
Residents already hold a medical degree; veterinarians, dentists and pharmacists have residencies too.
Q 30"First, do no harm" is often attributed to which medical text, though it does not appear there?
The Hippocratic Oath
The original Greek text vows to abstain from intentional wrongdoing and harm, but the Latin primum non nocere is a later phrase.