What is an interviewer asking when they pose the question, “Why should we hire you?” From my experience, this question can be asked several different ways and more than once during an interview.
For example:
- Why should we hire you?
- Tell me about yourself?
- What are your strengths?
- Tell me about your experience?
These questions are best answered in a format that allows you to either tell a story relating to your performance as a high functioning employee or describes a problem that you solved for your previous employer. This will be relevant to the person interviewing you.
I advise against giving one line answers like, “I am a hard worker.” That is a sure way to bore the interviewer and show that you absolutely did not prepare before the interview. You should take some time to prepare before any interview. How do you do this? Think about your accomplishments. How did you achieve these accomplishments? What was the process, starting point, problem and solution. Follow this format…
Create a few simple stories that illustrate the following;
- Problem, situation, or opportunity you faced
- Actions you took
- Results of the action you took to benefit your boss or company
Example:
- Department sales were down 5%
- Created a referral incentive program to reward referrals for new sales
- Increase sales by 15% within 30 days
Most likely, your story will have more details when you use it to answer questions like, “Why should we hire you?” The point here is to have some accomplishments in story format that you can recall during an interview to illustrate success and value as a possible new hire.
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