Why should we hire you: Interview Question

How to answer : Why Should We Hire You?

Well, to start with; that’s the entire purpose of the interview, isn’t it? It is for you to give answers to why they should hire you.

If you do a great job in the interview, and implant your messages of why YOU are the best candidate, then there will not be a question of “why should we hire you” at the end of the interview. A hiring manager will not waste his time asking that question if you already made him feel that you are the right candidate,

Let’s say the hiring manager isn’t sure yet and he still asked.

What do we do? Well, that’s what I am going to share with you today.

Read until the end of this article to learn the best way to answer this interview question. Soon you will learn the best way to answer this question. But I just need you to be patient. Let’s first analyze the situation.

First things first. What are your main objectives? What do you need to accomplish with your answers?

Well, you need to convince them that;- You will fit in well with the organization culture- You possess all the skill sets and experience required- Hiring you will make them look smart - You can deliver great results Great! So far so good now, in order to give these impressions, you need to understand the requirements of the role.

So, think of about- What skills are required in the job description? - What experience are they looking for? These are different things. Now, I think we got the fundamentals out of the way. It’s about time we take it one level further.

I believe you probably fit one of the 2 categories; you are either an experienced hire with many years of experience or a fresh graduate with limited experience.

Let’s start with the

first one, shall we? If you have years of experience, then you need to know that you the time has long gone for you to “take more than you give”. You are not a fresh graduate; you have years of experience, so we expect hardcore results from you.

Right? You may even be joining the firm to solve a particular problem. Maybe increase the revenue if it’s a sales role, or whatever. It’s No big deal. You just have to prove in the interview that you can generate results. To do that, I suggest you use presentation.

When they ask you why should we hire you, then you should just take out your printed out presentation and demonstrate your abilities and past experiences. You can use these slides on the screen. I will be sure to put a download link in the description below as well.

Anyway, let’s continue, while crafting your slides, think about the examples from your own career. Example is the absolute proof that you could do it before, right? That means you can do it again. Each example should illustrate;- what was the problem - what did you do- and what was the result.

If you can, then also write down the methodology you applied while solving the problem. This is especially true if you are applying for a consulting role. We are really interested in application of methodologies. That’s it for the experienced hire.

Now, let’s talk about candidates with limited experience. If that’s the case, then your job will be bit different. And you will use different slides to impress them. Using the impact slides I showed earlier will not help you as much as it will hurt your chances.

They may consider you are simply fooling them. Because you really haven’t yet accumulated enough relevant experience. However, this is important; you have indeed developed certain skill sets that you can definitely leverage in the interview.

I suggest you develop a 1-slider, Because to develop skills, you don’t necessarily need to have decades of experience.

Alright, so we covered the basics. Now, let’s take it even further. More advanced stuff. Shall we? If you are saying that “Shivam, I need to go even extra mile.

I need to just freaking rock that interview. What can I do?” Well, I have an answer for that too for this questions Why we should hire you?.

This is important. Unwritten requirements are those that are too long to list down in a job post. But they exist. They exist in the mind of the hiring manager. He knows them inside out. After all, imagine all the things you will be doing in that job, all the tools and software you will be using. Would it be even remotely possible to list in a job post? Impossible.

Let’s look at the examples; for example, - You may talk about your ability to use Sales Force. This would be really suitable for a role that you know the company uses Sales Force. This is something again that will work great with Hiring Manager.

HR wouldn’t even know that the company uses Sales Force. But hiring manager will like the fact that you are great at Sales Force – again assuming that they are using Sales Force- Another one, for example, your expertise in using IFRS or local GAAP for an accounting role. - Another one, MS projects or Primate for project management roles. - Or, You’re knowledge in project management framework from PMI or a project management methodology like Prince

2. Once more, mentioning these unwritten requirements will really work wonders with your hiring manager interview. But be strategic about this. If they ask, why should we hire you? Don’t go about it and say you should hire me because I know how to use sales force… Just make sure you mention them in your pitch.

Remember it’s all about collecting points, and increasing the likelihood of them liking you for that role. You gain a few points from here a few points from there and that’s how you get the job.