I remember, back when I was doing my MBA at XLRI, Jamshedpur the placement season was the most dreaded time. And the one question I was most scared of was ‘Why should I hire you’. I used to think – what am I supposed to say? How can I sit there and just praise myself, like I am so great , it is so weird.
This is a very difficult question because –
1. It usually comes right at the end, when you have finished the technical parts of the interview and you think, ah! thank god it’s over and boom – why should we hire you
2. It also sometimes may mean that they have not been able to make up their minds about you. They may be confused and so they are giving you one last chance to sell yourself.
In this article we will cover –
1. Structure of the answer
2. Lots of sample answers and ideas for many different types of jobs like sales jobs, 3D animators, technical writers, BPO jobs, accountants and more .
3. Some Rules and common mistakes.
So, why should we hire you? This question can come in many different forms like
a) Why do you believe you are the best candidate for this position?
b) What makes you a good fit for the job
c) What sets you apart from the others or what is unique/ different about you
d) We have 500 applicants for this job, why should we choose you
or even e) why do you want the job
First let me tell you the three golden Rules – which I call TIP – Time Impact and Personal qualities
1. Time –
The perfect length of this answer is one minute. Some people will tell you to give a long answer summarizing all your achievements. But No, this is a trick question, and especially if it comes at the end of the interview where everything is already discussed, it should be short and crisp.
If in an exceptional case, they ask this question early, even before your resume has been discussed, then you can probably take them through your background.
But as a rule, one minute max.
2. Impact –
This is your last chance to create a good impression. The interviewers are bored of seeing so many candidates. Be confident, smile, look relaxed and natural and not as though you have memorized the entire answer. Sound enthusiastic about starting work, this is the time to impress them with your attitude.
3. Personal Qualities –
This is a behavioral question and not a technical question. So answering this question by saying – I think you should hire me because I have an engineering degree or because I have 2 years of experience is a common mistake. So what are personal qualities? We will understand this when we go through the sample answers later on in the video –
Let’s first talk about the Structure of this answer
There are two parts to this answer
a) Quality –
choose a quality that the job requires or the company values and
b) Example –
show how you have demonstrated this quality in your life
Choose a quality – give an example – in less than 1 minute – simple
How do we find out the Qualities –
1. Research the company website or
2. Read the job description and look for words that ask for personal qualities
3. Talk to others who do similar jobs either in this company or elsewhere
Sample Answers –
Sales Jobs –
The quality that they would be looking for would be building relationships, Solving Problems, Making Networks
Let’s say you are a fresher then you can take an example from your life – it could be from your college, community or family – one example that shows how you were able to build a network of relationships and solve a problem.
Example –
‘I understand that this job requires me to build relationships and solve problems. I think you should hire me because this is one of my strong points for example when I was in college I was in charge of the college festival and I built relationships with 3-4 new companies who donated generously to the festival and made it a huge success’ (give a few more details of the companies and the amounts)
OR
‘From what you have described to me, this job of a sales person requires networking skills and problem solving skills. You should hire be because this is an area I am very good at. Last year I volunteered for an NGO and I successfully ran a door to door sales campaign to raise a record amount of funds for their campaign to support disabled children’ (add details of the campaign, the amounts and duration etc)
If you have previous work experience then use that to substantiate your answer
In my previous job I delivered 20% more than my target by opening up a new market or a new micro market – and give a gist of exactly what you did with some numbers
Rules
1. Make sure the example is true. It can be something very small and simple but make it a real personal story. Interviewers can tell the difference. Also, they might probe you further on how you did that and what was the experience etc, so you want to be sure you sound authentic.
2. Give numbers, names, or some proof.
Technical Writer Jobs –
Essentially in this job you would need to create ‘how stuff works manuals’ or installation documents, and communicate effectively in technical language’
If you are a fresher, you can say something like
‘I believe that one of the key qualities of a technical writer is to be able to write technical documentation and communicate effectively while using technical language. You should choose me for this position since I have been developing this skill right since my school days. I regularly give answers to technical questions on quora and now I have a huge following and my answers are liked by many. (give numbers and details)
BPO – customer service jobs –
The key skill here is to able to listen to customers and have an attitude of helping people. A sample answer here with a very basic example could be
‘The reason you should hire me for the job of a customer service manager is because I am very fond of helping people while patiently listening to their problems. In my community, I have set up a lifelong learners club where I teach senior citizens how to use their smart phones, and how to conduct basic activities like bill payments and fixed deposit issuance etc. (give specific details of this to make sure it sounds genuine)
If you are experienced, give examples where you won accolades for customer service from your previous job, something new you tried, some statistics that can prove that you are indeed good at customer service.
Accountant Jobs –
the skill they are looking at is eye for detail and passion for accounting.
I believe I am a good fit for this job, because even though I have no experience I have a passion for accounting. My mother runs a tailoring unit in my hometown and I helped her set up a full accounting system to keep track of her receivables and costs. This improved her collections by … days and increased her working capital by … %.(give more details)
3D animator jobs
I have learnt through my research that the key soft skills required by a 3D animator are those of storytelling, understanding the story, character and context. I believe that I am a great fit for this job because of my love for storytelling. I have written several plays for the local theatre and have been on the committee of our local college theatre group. OR I have worked as an intern with a theatre company and learnt the nuances of storytelling and characterisation. (give details)
Once again if you have experience, give instances that show these qualities in a quantifiable manner.
Common Qualities
Here are some more qualities that you can choose for your answer – you are a life long learner, team player, flexible, open minded, you go the extra mile, you are very passionate about the industry in general, you deliver results on time always, you are driven to high quality work
And craft your own impactful answer with our simple technique of –
