Welcome to CB’s work-advice column that includes Emily Durham, a Toronto-based senior recruiter at Intuit, public speaker and content material creator identified for her humorous and relatable TikToks about all issues work. Each month, Durham solutions reader questions on matters that have an effect on our potential to thrive in our jobs, and provides her real-world insights on the best way to deal with even essentially the most rock-and-a-hard-place conundrums. Have a work-related query? Send it to [email protected].
Q: I’m at the moment interviewing for a brand new function and battle at any time when the hiring supervisor asks me “why should we hire you?” I’ve no drawback promoting my abilities in different interview questions, however this one actually stumps me. I merely don’t know what to say and the best way to place a solution that isn’t clichéd and units me aside from different candidates. How can I reply so I impress the interviewer?
You’re not alone find this query powerful. It’s open-ended and it’s exhausting to know the best way to reply with out being obscure or come off as obsequious by merely gushing concerning the firm and the way a lot you wish to work there. But in any interview, it’s virtually assured that you may be requested “why should we hire you?” by the assessor. When answered properly, this query does have the potential to set you aside from the competitors and make it easier to safe your dream job. When answered poorly, it will possibly set the mistaken tone for the remainder of the hiring course of.
Understanding the best way to successfully reply “why should we hire you?” begins with reframing how you consider the query. The query is just not designed to make you stumble or slip up, relatively it’s designed to offer you one other alternative to promote your self for the function. While many widespread interview questions enable so that you can share your expertise and abilities, this one allows you to zero in on the {qualifications} that you just suppose are most spectacular and related for the actual job.
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Before you map out the construction of your reply, you will need to take into consideration what data you’ll embrace to focus on your match for the place. You can take into consideration your reply as structured into three elements: an outline of who you’re and what you do, some examples of your abilities and, lastly, some examples of your values.
Your reply ought to begin with that brief overview, about one to a few sentences (consider this as your LinkedIn profile headline). When I first interviewed with Intuit 4 years in the past, that is what I stated: “Hiring me means hiring a seasoned recruiter with seven-plus years of experience in talent programs, high-volume hiring and talent marketing.”
Next, name out how your abilities align to these listed within the job description. This portion of your reply is designed to reiterate your robust profile with a direct tie to the way it meets the wants of the corporate you’re making use of to. It’s helpful to focus on a number of the less-obvious or extra specialised abilities to be able to actually stand out from the competitors. For instance, saying you could have “strong communication skills” isn’t as impactful as saying that you’ve a observe document of speaking with of us who work in any respect completely different ranges and capabilities inside an organization. For my job, Intuit was searching for a recruiter to construct an early careers recruitment program throughout a number of markets, so I pressured that I’m each skilled in and obsessed with that facet of the function, citing particular examples.
Next up, examples of your values and the way they align with the job. Because your reply wants to focus on your curiosity in each the function and the group, I at all times advise job seekers to have a look at the corporate’s web site and careers web page prematurely of interviews to get a way of their values, merchandise or tradition and to be prepared to speak about these within the interview. As at all times, be trustworthy concerning the parts of the function and firm that stand out to you; recruiters wish to see your genuine curiosity. As a rule of thumb, if you happen to don’t have a selected instance or proof, don’t convey it up. Going again to my expertise, I stated one thing to the impact of: “I really align with the organization’s passion for solving customer problems with technology. Intuit’s value of ‘stronger together’ is something that I’ve personally embodied while building international recruiting programs in partnership with stakeholders.” I used the remainder of the interview—and the others questions requested—to offer examples of how I did this in earlier roles.
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It’s vital to keep in mind that interview ought to really feel like a dialog, so watch out to not over-prepare. Sometimes of us write out their interview solutions and ship them word-for-word like a monologue. Although being ready is a constructive factor, being too scripted can truly make your interview really feel robotic and never real. Instead, map out the tough factors you’ll cowl on this reply, and provides your self the area to ship your response in a manner that’s natural and off the cuff.
“Why should we hire you?” is a query that presents a tremendous alternative to market your self as the perfect candidate for the place. Using this framework, and avoiding writing a full script, can set you up for achievement in your subsequent huge interview.
Source: canadianbusiness.com