Posted by This question, which seems simple, can be surprisingly hard to answer during an interview if you don’t think about who you’re talking to and what they want to know.
“Tell me about yourself” is a common way to start a job interview. “What is your weakness?” is also likely. And even if your employer doesn’t ask you directly why you want the job, you should still know the answer and let them know while answering other questions.
Here are 3 ways to answer “Why do you want this job?” during a job interview:
Lucky for us, there’s a pretty easy way to give a good answer to this question.
1. Show what you know about the company and why you want to work there.
You can talk about how excited you would be to join the team all day, but it will only sound natural if you know something about the company. So take some time to think about a few key reasons why you want this job that you can use in your pitch.
When applying to a small company, it’s particularly impressive when a candidate has done their research. The best part is that you only need to look at the company’s website or talk to a current or former employee for a few minutes to learn enough to sound like you’ve been watching the company for a while.
2. Link your skills and experiences to what the job is looking for.
Next, you must show why you’re the best person for the job. You can do this in two ways: Talk more about your experiences (what you’ve done before that got you to this point) or your skills, which is especially helpful if you switch jobs or industries.
Try to figure out what the job is about and a few of the “required skills” from the job posting, and then make sure you talk about those things. Keep it short. During the interview, you’ll have plenty of other chances to talk about how you got your skills and tell meaningful stories. For this question, show a few important skills or experiences for the job.
3. Talk about where this job fits in your career plan.
Lastly, you want to show that the job fits with where you want your business to go. You shouldn’t make it seem like you’re just using the job as a stepping stone to something else. If your interviewer thinks you’ll be around for a long time, they’ll be more likely to invest in you. You don’t have to say you plan to stay in the job for a long time, but that’s fine. Just show that you’ve thought about how the job makes sense for you now and how it will make sense for you soon.
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Anisa is a writer who focuses on career and lifestyle topics in an effort to motivate both job searchers and employers towards greater fulfillment in their professional lives.
Reach me at anisa@jobstore.com.