10/4/15 - How To Answer The Question 'Why Should We Hire You?'

Liz Ryan
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2015/08/29/how-to-answer-the-question-why-should-we-hire-you/ 

If you’re job-hunting these days you’d better think about your answer to the question “Why should we hire you for this job?” because it is one of the staples of the traditional interview script.

I hate the question, because it commands a job-seeker to dance and prance for the king’s pleasure. It’s a stupid question.

You, Mr. or Ms. Interviewer, are going to meet the other job candidates — I won’t!

You know what the company needs. Your job ad didn’t convey much in the way of helpful information about what’s really going on in the department.

If it had, or if you had the confidence to talk frankly about your problems right now in the interview, I could tell you how I’ve solved similar problems before. But you’re not saying a word about your problems.

So how on earth could I tell you without having spent more than 45 minutes in your building, without ever having worked here and without meeting the other applicants, why you should hire me?

A lot of people in interviewing capacities don’t realize how obnoxious the traditional interview questions are. They don’t think about the fact that they’d be affronted if you turned around and asked them the same interview questions back.

They’ve been reading the same interview script for years without giving it much thought, if any.

You can shake your interviewer out of his or her stupor and make him think about your answer. You can step outside the standard Good Little Sheepie Job Seeker frame and give an honest answer to the question “Why should we hire you?”

Interviewer: Why should we hire you?

You: Honestly I can’t say that you should hire me — I haven’t met the other candidates and I won’t, while you’ve met them or will meet them and you know a lot about what the company needs — intangible elements that don’t translate well into a job ad. I can say that if you and I are meant to work together, we’ll both know it. What do you think?

Not every hiring manager will like your non-cookie-cutter answer to the question, but so what?

If they don’t like the way you answer the question, maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe you’d be miserable working for a person who can’t move an inch outside the lines.

What if you went to your next job interview as yourself, rather than a cartoon character who looks like you but says goofy kiss-ass things you’d never actually say? Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

Professionally and personally, it might be the best career move you ever made.