The company wants to hire a dementia care specialist who is responsible, dependable, and shows up to work when scheduled. The interviewer asks this question to evaluate your work attendance in the past year. If you called off work or school many times in the past year, they might hesitate to offer you the position unless your reasons were excusable.

Focus on giving the exact number of days you missed work and why. It will likely not be an issue if the interviewer deems your absences excused and unavoidable. If you have many unexcused absences, they may disqualify you as a viable candidate.