Darrin Grella – Interview Guru

“Why should we hire you?”

This can be a tough question to answer as you do not want to come across over confident (or cocky) but you want to answer it with strong words to show confidence that you are the person for the position.

What is the motive of the interviewer? The interviewer wants to hear you answer the question in a way that leaves no doubt in their mind that you are the best candidate for the position.  This is when you can blow it by saying…”I am a really hard worker, a fast learner and will make the coffee for everyone.”  Please avoid ever saying that.  Confidence my friend.  Be confident in your ability to show what SEPARATES you from your fellow interviewees.  It is a more polished way of asking, “What do you bring to the table that will make my job easier and make me look good to my boss?”  So play with that motive.  Tell them directly why they should hire you.

Q: “Why should we hire you?”

A: “First and foremost, I am passionate about this industry. If I am not working for you I will more than likely be working for one of you competitors however I want to hang my hat here.  I developed a proprietary analytics tool that I can bring to our team making our paid media buys more targeted and with higher returns which will directly impact the bottom line.  I want to grow professionally and take on more responsibility and I feel working with you (or name of person you would report to) would help me get to the next intellectual level allowing me to be a bigger asset to you and your team and of course, the company.

P.S **Just a quick recap…You are showing the hiring authority that you will bring something quantifiable to the team to make the manager’s  job easier and to make them look good in front of their boss.  In this example, you covered briefly one thing to increase the bottom line (or increase revenue or decrease expenses or increase margins or, or, or) and you also stroked the ego of the person you would work for.

MUCH SUCCESS!