How to Answer ‘Why do you Want to Work here’?

The recruiter almost always ends the interview with this question. ‘Why do you want to work here’, or ‘why are you interested in this position?’, is a path every candidate has to take to land the job of his dreams. Let’s find out why the recruiter asks this question and how to answer it effectively.

Why does the recruiter ask this question?

The hiring manager asks this question—which is one of the toughest, one must
acknowledge—to gauge why you want to work for this company and why do you want this position you’ve applied for. He wants to know if you’re attending any other interviews. In a lot many cases, the recruiter will ask you up front if you have any offers in hand from other potential employers. The recruiter wants to assess how much are you really interested in the job role and also how well do you know about the company, its mission, vision and accomplishments.

Before you start reading further, Watch this video to get this question answered in a mock interview scenario.

How to prepare for the question "why do you want to work here?"

1. Be very thorough with your research. If you come off as being poorly prepared, it will not give you brownie points. This also means that you cannot have a standard
answer for this. This will keep changing with every organization you apply to. Where to focus the research on? Start to read the website of the company you’ve applied for, especially the ‘About Us’ section. It will tell you a lot about why the company was founded and why it does what it does. It may so happen, you could relate to something mentioned there which you can jot down and use to show your knowledge in the interview. Read about the basic offering of the company, what does it deal into? How does the offering appeal to you and what’s their tonality regarding the brand? You can also check their social media handles to see what people are talking about them currently or what are they promoting currently.

2. Be thorough with your job description. Pay close attention to the
responsibilities and duties mentioned. Think deeply about how you will perform those duties and what kind of skills would you require to carry it off.

3. Be enthusiastic when you’re answering this question. This question isn’t about you. It’s about them and the recruiter is checking on how you’re going to answer it. You need to take this chance to show off your knowledge about the company and tell them what inspired you from their mission and vision. You need to show enthusiasm for this so that the recruiter really feels you’re interested and you’re excited to be a part of the organization.

4. Employers want to know if you’re the perfect fit for the job role. You have to
state that your interests match what the company wants and the best way to do it is,
sticking to the job description. You need to convince them that this career move is an investment for you which is going to reap profitable returns for both of you.