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Why Should I Hire You?

Written by Bernie

Bernie Frazier, SPHR is the Founder and President of CAREERCompass, LLC, a speaking and career coaching firm in St. Louis, MO. She also spent almost 25 years recruiting talent to six organizations across four industries and led the talent acquisition function for four of those organizations, including one global team.

Even though this is a basic interview question, I’ve always been amazed at how poor candidate responses are to it.  I’ve heard everything from, “I’m a very hard worker” to “I like people” to “I just love the products your company sells.”

Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly worse answers you can give, but there are much better ones too.  To help you understand, let me flip the above example.  If I were your interviewer and expressed to you that I really wanted to hire you for a position and you asked me, “Why should I work for your company?” what would you think if I responded in one of the following ways: 

  • “Because we have plenty of work you can do” or;
  • “We like people” or;
  • “We just love your suit”

Would any of these responses satisfy you?  Nothing in these responses tell you what the benefits are for you if you join my company.  When the “Why should I hire you?” question is directed your way, remember the adage, “WIIFM” – what’s in it for me?  Interviewers are looking for you to tell them the benefits they will derive if they hire you for the position.  Think about what you know about the duties and qualifications for the position and structure your responses around them.  Focus on how your background can help the company achieve its goals.

If you know that excellent customer service skills is a key requirement for the job, respond by highlighting some of your past customer service successes in working with complex or difficult situations.  If you know the company needs to hire someone quickly because of customer demand, explain how your relevant experience will allow you to ramp up quickly thereby cutting your training time and speeding up your ability to be productive faster.

Remember, we all “like people” and everyone is a “hard worker,” but only those who can demonstrate their ability to help a company achieve its goals will be offered a job.

Until next time….