You are one of many other candidates, so naturally, your goal is to shine more than the others, in order to impress the interviewer and be the first choice. There is a small challenging problem in this process: you don’t know who you are competing with. Hence, when the interviewer asks you “why we should hire you?” You better be prepared and present your USP in a confident and convincing way.
To do so, you have to organize your thoughts. It’s not enough to say you are smart and qualified and you want the job. That’s exactly the reason why you are being interviewed and what makes you similar to the other candidates. The goal here is to stand out. Take your strengths and explain why they are a good match for your team. And if you cannot change your experiences and qualifications, you can at least try to sell them in the best way possible. The question “why should we hire you?” is your pitch moment to show the interviewer that you are ready for the job.
How to get ready?
- Read the job description carefully: What kind of skills are they looking for? If you are qualified for the job, you probably have more than one of them.
- Tie your background to the job posting: Think about a specific example during your past job experiences where you performed an assignment with a positive outcome, demonstrating to possess one of the required skills. Explain the challenge, the action you took to deal with it, and the results you obtained with your strategy.
- Research the company: Figure out what they are doing and research their culture. In this way, you will be able to link your answer to their business and use the right tone.
- Quantify your accomplishments: Use numbers to show your achievement and to show that successful outcomes are your top priorities.
- Go above and beyond: Highlight experiences where you prove yourself in a similar company environment that make you stand out compared to others.
The aim should be to show the value you can bring to the company and what characteristic of yours will enhance their performance.
A very well known method of helping you answer interview questions is using the START method.
What should you avoid?
Don’t be generic: avoid saying you have relevant skills without mentioning when you prove those skills. Same about passion for the industry: always remember to mention WHY something is important for you and WHY you are good at something. That shows determination and preparation.
Don’t come in unprepared: first impressions are everything, you need to show that you are committed and organized. Have a good understanding and possible questions they can ask you in the interview, not just this one Imagine being the employer and being the person you would employ. For example another common question besides “why should we hire you” can possibly be “what do you look for in a job?”
Not asking questions after the interview: Employees love questions, it shows you have an interest. It also gives them a reason to hire you because it shows you have interest in the company and curiosity.
To give you a better understanding, here as some concrete examples.
Example answers for “Why should we hire you?”
Here are some samples answers to the why should we hire you best answer example. Another way employers ask this question is “why should we hire you over other candidates ” or ” why should we hire you with no experience? “
“Since you are looking for an experienced sales manager, I would like to point out my achievements in the previous company. Thanks to targeted social media advertising, in three months I increased online revenues by 18%. I will work hard to achieve even better results in your company and your success will be my priority.”
“Based on the job description, you are looking for someone who is capable of handling customers with patience and a proactive attitude. In this regard, I would like to bring your attention to a particular situation I went through during my previous job. My team and I didn’t manage to meet the deadline and the customer was trying to get a clear answer. However, nobody was able to deliver it and admit our delay. I decided to take the initiative, called him, apologized for the situation, and explained what went wrong and how we were currently trying to solve it.
The client really appreciated my straightforward answer, and he came back to us for other projects even though we delivered with a delay.”
another example can be:
“I noticed that in the job description, you highlight the need for a real team player. Hence, I would like to point out, that during my last job as a manager, I worked actively to create a peaceful environment between colleagues. I can manage conflicts and assured that the values of the company were interiorized by the whole team. To do so, I organized team events and made counseling sessions available for everyone in need. I held regular workshops to let employees interiorize the company culture and align the team towards a common goal.”
Need some more support to prepare for your interview? Check out the detailed answers we prepared for you to face the dreaded question “what are your weaknesses“!
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