Knowing how to answer Why do you want to work for us? will make the difference between making it to the next round of the job interview process or not.
Many candidates make the big mistake of making it all about them, when in fact, the best answer to this question is to make it about the company and the role.
Why do you want to work for us? How to prepare your answer
In order to be able to do that, you need to make sure that you have prepared well and you know as much as possible about the company and the role.
First, read the job description several times and outline the most important requirements prior to your job interview.
See how your experience and skills align with those requirements and make sure to write down at least a few past professional experiences or situations that outline those skills to best answer “Why do you want to work here?”.
After you have thoroughly researched the company, you should have a clear picture of who they are, how do they operate and how you can fit in.
How can you know about their problems?
Most of the time, this information is available online and if you are lucky, you should be able to find at least one pain point that this company has and that you are able to solve.
For example, if you are interviewing for a Social Media Manager position, the first thing that you need to check in detail is their social media presence.
You need to look at things such as active channels, following, consistency in posting, quality of posts and engagement.
Most times, there is at least one area that needs improvement.
If you find that they are consistent, have a good following and good quality posts but the engagement rate is low, this is one of their pain points.
This is where you show added value.
Best answers to “Why do you want to work for us?”
Sample Answer 1
“According to the job ad, you are looking for someone with 2 years of social media experience, who knows how to create a strategy plan, monthly calendar, and can supervise the creation of visuals and content while growing your following.
When researching your social media presence, I have noticed that while your content is of great quality and you have a big following, the posting schedule is not consistent and also the engagement rate is low.
My 3 years of experience as a Social Media Executive with ABC Company, managing all 4 social media channels and bringing them from a couple of hundreds of followers to thousands of engaged followers while making sure that the visuals and content are up to standard, by collaborating on a daily basis with the Graphic Designer and Copywriter, would be of great value to your team.”
This is a great answer to Why do you want to work for us as you not only emphasize that your background matches their requirements, but also that you are smart by having identified their pain points, which you would be able to solve, having had to deal with this in your current or previous role.
Sample Answer 2
“You are looking for someone who has 1 year of retail sales experience and can deliver a great customer service experience.
During my 2 years as a Sales Assistant for ABC Clothing, I have managed to increase the number of returning customers from 30% to 40%.
This was due to creating a personal rapport with my customers and truly doing my best to help them find what they were looking for or helping them discover what suits them.
My passion for the fashion industry has helped me grow a loyal clientele and besides this, I always collaborate with other outlets in case we are missing a size or an item.
I make sure to arrange delivery to our store so that the customer can return to us, instead of going to our competitors.
My experience would bring added value to both your team and your customers.”
For some positions, for example in retail, it’s difficult to know the company’s pain points just by researching online.
Unless you go and visit one of their stores and see what would you improve, your best bet is to just align your skills and experience to their requirements in order to best structure your answer to “Why do you want to work for us?”.
When preparing this answer before the job interview, as mentioned above, outline 3 of the most important job requirements and think which professional experience best applies to those requirements.
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