A job interview can be an intimidating experience from beginning to end. While most of the questions you're likely to be asked are relatively straightforward, one that seems deceptively simple can be the hardest to answer. That question is "Why should I hire you?".
How you ought to approach this question is discussed in this article by Joe Turner on Careerbuilder.com.
According to Turner, this question often leads to comedic answers or answers that the interviewee thinks is clever. Nothing could be worse than trying to respond in either of those methods. The person doing the interview is taking this very seriously and if you don't, they will immediately dismiss you.
Turner suggests that there are only five things that the interviewer is interested in when asking this question:
- Your skills
- Your knowledge about the company
- Your manageability
- Your affordability
- Whether you can go above and beyond your job description.
Use this question to brag about yourself and don't be shy about it. If you worked long hours and set yourself apart at your previous job, now is the time to mention that. Don't suddenly be modest. You need to set yourself apart from the other candidates and this is the questions where you can really do that.
By keeping that in mind, and understanding the points they are interested in, you can achieve success in that interview. Therefore, that dream job you're applying for need not be as far out of reach as you think it might be.
