How to Answer: “Why Should We Hire You?”
This is one question that will keep an interviewer up at night. Why should we hire you?
When they have a choice of multiple candidates, the candidate whose career story and future potential best fits this question will get the job, but not without hours of deliberation on the hiring manager’s part.
Although this is an overarching question for the entire recruitment process, every candidate needs to give a stellar answer when “why should we hire you?” comes along during an interview. Their response is crucial (and memorable during late-night musings).
Hiring managers will have their own criteria for hiring a new employee – dictated by the demands of the role, the culture of the company and the personal preferences of the manager themselves. The first two are easy to research, but the latter is often only possible to discern during an interview.
Think through a possible answer in advance but retain some flexibility to adapt your solution depending on the timing of the question in an interview and your own assessment of what is essential to a hiring manager. You might want to consider the following.
But why should we hire you?
Make it sound like you belong there. This is one of those questions that should be intimately linked to the role’s demands. Showcase the depth of your research and mention subtle aspects of the role that are not spelt out in the job description. Tell them that you feel connected to the company, its mission, and its employee culture.
Offer headlines and highlights. This question lies at the heart of the entire interview, so it is okay to offer a quick-fire summary of why you are best suited. Concoct the most impressive sentence possible, and don’t pause for breath – you need to hit them right between the eyes with a one-time snapshot of all your best bits. What value do you add?
Stick to objective facts. This is a question that every candidate will be asked, so make your answer memorable by including only objective facts and quantifiable achievements. Candidates who resort to subjective character assessments or cliched phrases will be quickly forgotten. Make sure that interviewers are dying to know more after you have finished.
Solve their specific problems. The employer is hiring you for many reasons. Whatever the role, you are coming in to improve outcomes and solve problems. Focus your answer on the most challenging aspects of the role and why you are the answer to their needs. Prove that when you receive a puzzle, you have the capacity to find the best possible solution.
Surprise with your why
Mention something new. This question can come at any point of the interview, so if it comes after you have made most of your arguments, make sure that you give it a novel “spin.” Mention at least one new aspect of your candidature and at least one new achievement. Otherwise, you may have limited things to say about yourself.
Sell yourself. Hard. This is not a place for false modesty. Stand up and fight for the role. Be confident in what you are saying. Make sure that your body language reflects your words. The hiring manager will sit up and take notice. What can you offer that other candidates can’t? Allow your passion for the job to bubble to the surface.
This is a gift of an interview question.
While other questions may not allow you to say precisely what you wish to, letting rip on exactly why you would be a fantastic candidate is a unique opportunity to sell yourself.
Your answer (and subsequent discussions) could prove to be the most important few minutes of the whole interview.
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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists.
Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).
