ENGLISH: What/how does an average day look like?

[orpheus_samhain]

I'd like to ask what forme is correct:

(1) What does an average day look like?

or

(2) How does an average day look like?

or maybe simply:

(3) What is the average day like?

This is a question from a job interview.

Comments

[waitingman]

Definitely not #2... #1 is fine, as is #3, though it's a little less formal

#2 should be 'How does an average day look?'... though I still think the other 2 options are better...

[arashinoookami]

As the first commenter said, 1 and 3 are both fine, but 3 is less formal.

[yiskah]

"What does an average day look like" or "how does an average day look".

[5x6]

I do not think these two mean the same.
The former implies an answer “…like ”, the latter …

it looks like shit
it looks promising

[sideband]

How does the average day look?

[ami_ven]

(native English speaker, east coast USA)

I can't imagine a native speaker using # 2 the way it's written. They might say "How is an average day" - you can see how it would sound by turning the question the other way around. "What does an average day look like?" becomes "An average day looks like what?" (good sentence) "How does an average day look like?" becomes "An average day looks like how?" (awkward sentence).

In the context of a job interview, I would agree with previous replies that # 3 is less formal than # 1, but also that # 1 would invite a longer or more detailed answer. The "look" in # 1 suggests that the person answering should be specific and detailed, in the job case, describing the types of work or problems that happen in this job. # 3 would probably be answered more generally, saying the work is something like "busy" or the office is "friendly".