“Why Should We Hire You?” and Other Common Interview Questions
Episode #4 of the course How to ace any professional job interview by Ken Liu
Welcome back!
Now that we’ve got you looking good, let’s go back to a few other common interview questions that you will encounter.
By no means is this a comprehensive list. Your goal here is to understand why your interviewer might ask these questions. Once you know the why, you’ll have a much easier time tackling them during the interview.
Let’s get started with a question that gets straight to the point.
Why Should We Hire You?
Don’t let this straightforward question scare you. Instead, you should use it to your advantage.
When an interviewer asks you why they should hire you, they’re likely thinking about a couple of things.
First of all, your interviewer is looking for a straightforward answer on how you could help the company. The position is open for a reason. If you can target the pain point of this position, your chance of moving forward increases dramatically.
In addition, they are looking for you to differentiate yourself from the other candidates. If you’re applying for a popular position, you will likely face stiff competition for the job. One way to make sure you stand out is to distinguish yourself from everyone else who goes through the interview process that day.
Your interviewer is looking to see if they should pay special attention to you or not. Here is a great opportunity to help yourself and give them a reason to remember you at the end of a long day.
Why Do You Want This Job?
Here’s another opportunity to tell your interviewer that you’d be a good fit for the job.
Start by talking about all the positive attributes you’ve learned about the job. It shows that you’ve done your research. You specifically targeted this position and aren’t just applying for any random job out there.
You can also talk about how this new opportunity fits into your career and how it can help you grow. No one wants to hear that you applied for this job because you thought it would be easy. You’ll be seen as a lazy person who is just looking for a chance to coast.
Why Are You Leaving Your Current Job?
Here is where it gets a little tricky. Even if you hate your current job, bashing it in front of your interviewer does not make you look good. After all, they wouldn’t want you to bash this job at another company.
Instead of speaking poorly about your current job, you can talk about how this new job is better.
Alternatively, if you found the job opening through a recruiter or friend, you can say that you weren’t actively looking to leave your current company, but you heard about this great new opportunity, and you just couldn’t pass it up.
Either way, you want to leave a positive taste in your interviewer’s mouth. You don’t want to be seen as the person who talked smack about your crappy boss.
Final Thoughts
As you can start to see, many questions are now starting to sound alike.
On a macro level, you are using every single question to tell the interviewer that you are awesome and the best fit for this job. You want them to know that they would be foolish not to hire you.
On a micro level, every little detail that makes you memorable can be an asset to you. So, start thinking about what makes you different from everyone else who is applying for the job.
We are our own worst critics. Even if you don’t think your accomplishments are extraordinary, they may be exactly what this job needs.
That’s it for today! Tomorrow, we’ll go over some questions you should ask the interviewer.
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