At the end of the day the entire interview process comes down to this simple question: Why should we hire you instead of one of the many qualified candidates to whom we’ve spoken? As a job applicant you need to be prepared to answer this question (either directly or indirectly) and show the recruiter why they should hire you. In order to fully answer this question you first need to have sold yourself in the interview afterwards you can then sum up your reasons as to why the hiring manager should give you the job. Below we run through the reasons why recruiters might ask this interview question and how you should answer it. Why do interviewers ask this question? Interviewers ask this question for the same reasons why they ask questions like what are your strengths or what makes you unique, they are trying to find out whether or not you are the ideal candidate for the job and for the company. Every question a hiring manager or interviewer might ask you is specifically designed to ascertain your suitability for the role. There’s also a little more to it than just your suitability. You have to remember the recruiter’s reputation is potentially on the line. If they hire someone who is: incompetent, a poor fit, or even someone who leaves too soon, their reputation might suffer. This is why they need to ask the hard hitting questions like this, a recruiter needs you to sell them on why you’re the best candidate for the job. Fantastic, how do I answer? Answering this questions will require your career “highlight reel.” Your CV was a little like the trailers or a warm up, now you need to close the sale with the highlights, you need to ensure your answer includes three or four key points. Before you can give those key points effectively, you first need to do a little homework and prepare for the question. Research It’s probably safe to say that you’re an outstanding individual with plenty of qualities you could highlight during an interview. But the trick to answering this interview question is to know which ones you should mention. To help you make your decision – rather than punching blindly in the dark, you need to put in the hard yards and do some research. Look through the job description and see what qualities the company expects in a successful applicant. This will give you insights about the job role, and where you should focus your skills. You also need to research the company. There are a number of ways of doing this, but one of the most effective is to follow the company on social media. Follow their updates and see what their posts say about the company culture. More often than not hiring managers will look for candidates who are a good cultural fit – if you know what culture that is and the type of people they tend to hire, you’ll give yourself an advantage. Tailor your answer This advice holds true when applying for a job and when interviewing for a job. When you sit down to write your cover letter or your CV you need to make sure you tailor both documents to the particular job. The same rule applies for the interview, when preparing your answers, you need to tailor them to the job and to the company. Each organisation is looking for different qualities, show the hiring manager that you posses the qualities they are looking for by including them in your answer. If you’ve done your research, tailoring your answer shouldn’t be too difficult. Provide a solution Why is this company advertising their job listing? The obvious answer is because they have a problem and need someone who can provide a solution. When you show the interviewer why they should hire you, you need to provide them with the solution they’re looking for. Solve one of their problems. Whatever the job listing is, whether they’re after a business analyst or systems administrator, if you’re applying for the job it should therefore follow that you have the skills to do the job. This means when answering the interview question why should we hire you? your answer will include a solution to one of their problems. Create your pitch and practice So you’ve collected all your information: you’ve researched the company and the job, you’ve tailored your responses, and you’re providing a solution, now you need to create your pitch and practice it. A key thing to remember is this interview question has a lot to do with confidence. If you want to answer this question successfully you should be able to do it in a casual conversational tone and with confidence. Know what you’re going to say and practice it over and over before you go to the interview. The better prepared you are, the better chance you’ll have of success and make yourself standout.