So, right after the famous “Tell us about yourself?” question of an interview, here comes along its cousin question: “Why do you want to work here?”, or some variation of that. We have all gotten this question at one point or another.
The answer? It’s really simple: “Because you are hiring.”
Now, of course we can’t and don’t say that, no matter how true it is. While that answer is super simple and I would love to advise people that giving it is okay, I’m not sure the hiring community will ever be ready for that level of bluntness. So we have to cook up an even better one.
This does not have to be a difficult question to answer, nor is it a “trick” question. In my opinion, it is a softball question that everyone should be crushing when asked. This question gives you the ability to demonstrate several things:
- That you did research on the company
- Allows you to hint at your passion and experience
- Compliment what the company or organization is doing well
Now, how do we demonstrate these things through our answer? By doing some research on the company, you should be discovering what their mission statement and values are. This is the beginning part of constructing your answer.
Let’s use Google as an example. Their mission statement: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
And their values statement: “When communicating, follow the three Google values: respect the user, respect the opportunity, respect each other. Our values govern how we conduct ourselves in the pursuit of our mission.”
Now that we understand why Google does their work, we simply align our answer to those statements and values, then begin to weave in the other two pieces mentioned earlier. Here’s an example:
Google Senior Recruiter: “Dustin, why do you want to work at Google?”
Dustin: “I want to work at Google because you are always at the cutting edge of what’s next and providing creative solutions. I know you all strive to organize information that is accessible and useful. To me, knowledge and accessibility of information needs to be equitable for all people. I really feel that your values of respecting the user, the opportunity, and each other back up your mission statement and those are values I place high emphasis on in both my personal and professional life. As a Software Engineer with 7+ years of experience, I know I am not only a fit for this role, but I know I am a fit for Google, and would maintain and uplift these values that are critical to Google’s mission.”
We don’t want to script out an answer word for word, because we want to respond in a genuine and authentic way, but having familiarity with how you’d answer this question is necessary. Failure to prepare for it is a missed opportunity to get the interview started on the right foot.
Just focus on developing the framework, then allow your personality to come through in your answer. Set the tone early and answer this question with ease, but not quite the ease of saying, “Because you are hiring.”
