Professional Documents
Culture Documents
You may not be aware of this, but hiring managers are generally not trained on how to
interview candidates. It’s one of those quirks in the business world in which leadership
believes managers can conduct in-depth interviews without any formal training by the
company.
Since supervisors are not well-versed in interviewing, it’s natural that they often default
to innocuous, standard, basic questions. This strategy works to the advantage of
applicants, as they can brush up on the frequently asked interview questions. One of the
most commonly asked questions by a hiring manager is, “Why should we hire you?”
This question is designed to determine if the candidate truly desires the specific role and
wants to work at the company, or just wants any job they can get. Understandably,
managers want to hire people who are highly excited and passionate about the
opportunity and the chance to work at the company. For many, it's hard to feign
enthusiasm, as the interviewer will immediately pick up on the vibe and take a hard pass
on their candidacy.
With a trusted family member, friend or mentor, role-play answering commonly asked
interview questions, including “Why should we hire you?" Go over it aloud several
times so you’ll be comfortable, confident, and in the flow when you're interviewing.
Bosses want employees who are upbeat, motivated and passionate about their work.
You’ll need to practice sounding excited, but ensure it comes across as genuine and
natural.
You need to follow up with specific reasons why you want to work at the organization.
This will demonstrate that you’ve done your homework and possess much knowledge
about the company, its management team, financial situation, products, services and
rankings compared to other companies in the same space.
Provide details about why the job is important to you. Do this by making sure that your
experiences match up with the job description. Provide color on your current
responsibilities at your firm that will seamlessly transfer over. Share tasks, projects and
big wins from your job and prior roles.
Since you are seeking a new opportunity, you will understandably need room to grow
and develop. It's okay to say, “My experiences, responsibilities, talents and prior
background are tailor-made for the job. I am confident that I can hit the ground running,
add value to the organization and help you with the workload. The position is a perfect
fit. Additionally, according to the job advertisement, there are new things that I could be
involved with, which will help me get to the next level. Unfortunately, they are
downsizing at my firm, and there may not be a path forward.”