One of the most popular interview questions is "Why should we hire you?" Often, job seekers perceive it as a call to aggressively sell themselves to the employer. However, the purpose of the question is different: first of all, to understand the motivation of the candidate.
In answering this question, you need to avoid three mistakes: too stereotyped answer, arrogance and comparing yourself with other applicants. Natalya Valdaeva, partner of the recruiting company Marksman, recommends focusing the recruiter's attention on your strengths instead: “Try to answer this way:“ I can't say why I am better than others, but I will be happy to talk about my strengths and qualities that distinguish me from my colleagues ” ".
The main thing is not to overdo it with arrogance, warns Olga Nikitina, head of the personnel department of the agency "Biplan": "Speaking about the problems of the company, it is necessary to offer solutions, and not to criticize working specialists."
There are at least 5 possible answers to this question.
1. Talk about practical skills and results
This is banal, but it works, Natalya Valdaeva is sure: “Once we were looking for a specialist for the position of the head of the press service of a large bank, which receives more than a dozen journalistic inquiries every day. The employer selected a candidate who, in addition to the qualities required for the position (knowledge of banking, having contacts in the media, ability to work with content), had experience in daily multitasking. Answering a similar question, he gave specific figures: how many comments and other texts he prepared daily. This has become its key advantage ”.
2. Talk about motivation
“Tell us why you want to work in this particular company, why you are interested in this particular position. Study the company's website, read its history, so as not to get off with general phrases in a conversation, but argue your interest with facts, "advises Tatiana Lamekina from the Step Consulting Center. You will be remembered by the recruiter if you show your genuine interest and awareness.
3. Demonstrate competence
If you hear a trick in a recruiter's question, you may be unsure of yourself, warns Igor Korganov, senior trainer and consultant at CBSD / Thunderbird Russia. “The problem is that due to insecurity, great candidates may not know that they are perfect for the job,” says Korganov. - This happens because they do not know how to properly assess their experience and knowledge. Take an inventory of your accomplishments using STAR, a technique that HR managers use when recruiting. The letters STAR stand for situation - task - action - result (situation - task - action - result). Believe in your own abilities, then you will not need to convince anyone: at the interview you will speak confidently about yourself and with evidence. "
4. Make a joke
Use your sense of humor to be remembered by the recruiter. “Once I was interviewing a man who was applying for the position of chief accountant,” says Tatyana Yanina, head of the personnel department of the federal chain Hermes. “When asked why we should hire him, he replied:“ I'm pretty sure that many employers see only women in this role. I absolutely agree with them. The advantage of women in this position is obvious. But it so happened that I am a hereditary accountant in the third generation, so this is fate. "
“You can push off from the emotional component, focusing on the positive and the ability to energize the entire team,” recalls Olga Nikitina from Biplane. - Personally, I remember three answers to this question during interviews. The young man offered to regularly perform songs with a guitar, the girl promised to arrange feng shui furniture so that the business would go well, and another candidate boasted of his football skills, although we did not even ask him about it. By the way, the football lover has demonstrated not only his skills with the ball, but also extensive knowledge in the field of Internet marketing and became an excellent acquisition for the sales department. "
5. Summarize the meeting
Typically, this question is asked towards the end of the interview. So this is your chance to summarize everything that you and the recruiter talked about during the interview. “The answer to this question is a kind of summary of your conversation,” says Tatiana Yanina. - You have already received enough information to understand what the employer needs. Project this onto your capabilities and the results you have achieved in previous jobs. And if you still do not fully understand the employer's expectations, do not hesitate to ask additional questions. "
The answer can be formulated as follows: “As I understand it, these are the priority tasks that your new employee will face. I have professional skills that will enable me to cope with these tasks ”- and provide specific examples of skills and their benefits for the company's tasks.
Have you been asked this question during the interview?
The question "Why should we hire you?" sounds quite often in interviews, it is also a "stressful" version of the traditional "Tell me about your strengths." Thanks to the rather aggressive wording, the answer becomes a real test of the strength of the candidate's nerves. However, for the candidate, this question is a great opportunity to wrap up the interview and highlight his strengths again.
Similar questions are asked to find out:
how resistant the candidate is to stress and is able to answer “uncomfortable” questions;
how he knows how to present his dignity;
does the potential employee have a clear idea of \u200b\u200bwhat he will do in this position;
whether he is interested in the vacancy in principle.
As a rule, a sacramental question sounds towards the end of the interview, when you have finished answering the questions and seem to have already managed to introduce yourself as a candidate for this position. Quite often, such a question can be confusing: after a thoroughly prepared story, you will have to show remarkable ingenuity so as not to disappoint the HR officer with vague wording. Beware of the following in the answer:
platitudes;
excessive arrogance;
comparative characteristics with other candidates, if you know them personally.
In order not to get lost in this situation, be sure to prepare for such pressure... Knowing about the employing company and how it sees the “ideal candidate” should be your trump card.
No need to repeat your resume. Please note that the recruiter is now focused on you as a professional who will need to complete certain tasks. Avoid words that are commonly used to describe competencies generally. Describe your experience, if possible, evaluate the results of your work, giving examples and numbers.
Let's say you thoroughly studied requirements for the "ideal candidate"... Rely on this information when answering. For example, you need experience in managing a large number of subordinates. Do not hesitate to assess your achievements and actually support your speech: "For eight years I have been managing the staff of the legal department of 35 people, I have extensive experience in communicating with subordinates and resolving disputes, I can correctly set tasks and monitor their implementation."
If you need knowledge of certain programs, tell us what you do best: “I know all the necessary graphic editors, but my strong point is, of course, Photoshop, with which I have been working for five years every day”.
Nobody expects from you another long story about yourself, but if you can go through the list again job responsibilities vacancies, then the employer will see that you not only have the necessary qualities, but also clearly imagine what you will be doing.
Remember to highlight your personal interest in this vacancy and company generally. If you are one of the lucky ones who managed to combine work and life's work, for example, programming, guiding tours, interior design, then tell me about it! In principle, an optimistic attitude and confidence will always play into your hands, the main thing is not to overdo it.
Not only unobtrusive self-promotion will be appropriate, but also a little humor... “Believe it or not, your corporate color is my favorite! It's just a gift of fate! " But this, of course, should be said at the very end in order to end the story on a positive and less formal note.
The interview process is aimed at ensuring that both parties jointly decide whether the applicant is suitable for a particular job, whether he fits into the employer's worldview. This is the essence of the interview, its main task. But as soon as the applicant hears a direct question at the interview: “Why should we hire you for this job?” He gets lost, starts repeating himself, feels disoriented and cannot understand what is happening and what they want from him.
These kinds of questions are classics of the genre, and they did not appear in the arsenal of recruiters today, and not even yesterday. Job seekers might get used to it and see through this technique. After all, we give people the chance to shine, show themselves, dispel our doubts and earn extra points.
Do we want to knock the candidate out of the saddle? A little, just a little, solely for the purity of the experiment and the validity of the results. Is this the main goal? Not at all. True goals lie on a different plane.
goal
The issue under consideration requires no less skill from the recruiter than from the applicant. The goals may differ depending on the position in question.
For performerswe reveal the adequacy of a person's perception of what he has to do:
ü carefully read the requirements,
ü understood the terms of reference,
ü connected work with my experience,
ü ready to carry out in accordance with the standards,
ü agree to the proposed salary.
If we found all this in the candidate's answer, he is a fine fellow.
For managers of all levels, and especially for salespeople, we value:
- Motivation.
- Understanding the specifics of the company, its goals and values.
- Knowledge of the tasks ahead and ways to solve them.
- The ability to highlight the main thing.
- Presentation skills.
- Fast reaction and adaptability.
- Willingness to make non-standard decisions.
- Stress tolerance
We want to understand how this particular candidate differs from everyone else, why our preferences should be on his side, what he has such valuable that others do not. And all this is linked to our company. It doesn't make sense otherwise.
Limitations
For recruiter
Time... If we give the candidate time to “dissipate in thought,” we will lose, as the military say, the surprise factor. The person will begin to speak general phrases, calm down and sooner or later will taxi to the expected answers. And we will miss the opportunity to evaluate the entire second half of the above list.
To get around this limitation, you need to either set a time frame right away, or ask the candidate to be as specific as possible. We'll have to adjust the candidate along the way, preventing him from repeating himself and getting away from the point. For example, the following argument may help: "We are already close to ending the conversation, we have very little time left."
Hardness level.Everything is good in moderation. Don't put too much pressure on the candidate. Stress testing is just one of the tasks. Don't make it the main one. This can make it difficult to clarify the main points for which the question was asked.
For the applicant
Homemade preparations. This is the very case when you shouldn't fight them. Without good “homework”, a qualitative answer cannot be given in principle. In any case, the candidate knows less about the company than we do. He will have to supplement and correct the prepared answer, taking into account everything that he learned and understood during the interview. How he does it is an important signal for us about responsiveness, adaptability and the ability to quickly bring the template in line with the changed reality.
To whom, when and how do we ask a question?
The ideal situation is when such a question does not have to be asked at all. This is possible in two cases. The first is that the candidate has revealed himself so much in the course of the conversation that we are ready to grab him and lead him to the HR department to get formalized. The second - the candidate got ahead of us and independently made us a reasoned proposal. This is done either by experienced negotiators who have a keen sense of the right moment, or desperate daredevils in an attempt to stand out. Both those and others can be very interesting to us, they are worth paying attention to.
If the ideal situation did not happen and we still have doubts, we leave the question for dessert, ask it at the very end of the interview, when the candidate has already exhaled and relaxed a little.
Sales managers, tele-sales operators, business development managers, accounts should definitely not be released without self-presentation. So we will be able to see our future cash flow generators in conditions as close as possible to combat ones.
Management staff, project managers, marketers and all those involved with the need to negotiate with external and internal clients and make presentations are also the target audience of the issue in question.
Rules for evaluating responses received
The main feature of the key interview question "Why should we take you?" that there is no unambiguously correct answer to it. It all depends on the vacancy and the characteristics of the company.
Some certainty is possible when we evaluate line performers.
Good example for a performer:
“I have been working in the industry for 4 years in an equivalent position, I have performed similar tasks without any complaints. Awarded with certificates of management and an incentive trip to the sanatorium. The division in which I worked was recognized as the best in the company for 2 years in a row. My immediate supervisor has agreed to be my referrer. The stability and reliability of the employer are important to me. I am focused on work, executive, attentive to detail. Ready to start soon. I am a quick learner and, if necessary, will be able to master new skills in the shortest possible time. "
We won't be able to create a complete encyclopedia of examples of good and bad answers. Let us indicate the guidelines that can be used in the analysis of interviews.
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Deep freeze. “You don’t owe me anything, I leave the choice up to you.” |
Aggressive emotional reaction. Lack of desire to conduct a dialogue and notice opportunities for difficulties, disrespect for a future colleague performing his professional duties. Perhaps the candidate has exhausted his strength in the previous stages of the interview, and we brought him to white heat. But where is the guarantee that he will not meet a meticulous, corrosive, harmful counterpart on his way. Even if all other questions are adequately answered, there is a reason for refusing to cooperate |
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Employer blackmail. “If you don’t hire me, your competitors will get an excellent specialist.” |
Emotionally, this may sound quite neutral. Such a response should make us think about the candidate's motivation, reliability and loyalty. |
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Trying to shift the answer to the recruiter, refusing to answer “If I am not mistaken, the question is in the field of your professional competence. You will be better able to argue the decision to hire me in front of management. I consider it unethical for myself to interfere in this business process " |
Bad / ambiguous |
In most cases, such a refusal option will be regarded as negative. But there may well be a corporate culture that will need the ability to kick elegantly. Such an employee would be useful, for example, in the department of motivated refusals, which existed at the state organization, which was engaged in issuing permits for the installation of advertising signs on the walls of buildings. |
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Material problems “I want to work, I really need it. My current financial situation will be a good incentive for me " |
Ambiguous |
There is no link to either the vacancy or the company. This is a negative point. But there is an honestly expressed and very powerful incentive - the desire to get out of difficult material conditions. We look at the previous answers. If necessary, please clarify what exactly attracted the candidate's attention to the vacancy and to the company as a whole. |
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Experience in using a product or service, brand loyalty “My family and I adhere to a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, we have been using your non-stick cookware for many years and are satisfied with its quality. It is an honor and pleasure for me to become part of the team of such a respected manufacturer so that as many people as possible appreciate the merits of your products. " |
Acceptable |
The applicant demonstrates a high level of loyalty, shares the mission and values \u200b\u200bof the company, is a brand advocate. It was not difficult for him to find the answer to the provocative question. This is an obvious homework, but it was appropriately used. It seems that the applicant agrees to any job in the company. Clarification of functionality is required. |
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Overall goal + overall benefit + culture fit + enthusiasm “Your project is at the initial stage of active development. I have experience in startups and established contacts in the industry. I am interested in: the opportunity to gain entrepreneurial experience, the need to perform related functions and develop in a complex and “family” atmosphere, the opportunity to be heard and to influence the results of the company. Reward is important, but not the main point at this stage. It is much more important to be implemented in a project that meets my interests. If we do everything right, the material component will not go anywhere. " |
The candidate has prepared, collected information about the company. Highlighted the moments in which the interests of the company coincide with its goals. Has shown relevant experience and the benefits it can bring to the company. I did it positively, moderately emotionally, and focused on flexibility in the issue of wages. |
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Added value “My entire professional life has been associated with different positions in the industry. I was a developer of educational products, promoted a similar service to the market, sold it and was a regular user. I can make a project with my own hands from an idea to an "industrial design". But I'm more interested in putting together an effective team. The team I created at the last company is still working great. The ability to build such a team to create and develop products in a large educational company is both a challenge and a habitual task for me. This is what I can and love to do. I analyzed your product line. There is an unfilled niche in it - financial literacy. This is my strong point, together we can develop a complex of products that will organically fit into the current assortment " |
The candidate demonstrates interest in the vacancy, in-depth knowledge of the subject area and relevant experience, reveals his motivation, and makes a unique proposal. |
Additional questions
We want the candidate to reveal himself as much as possible and prove himself. This is his little "moment of glory". Here, either pan, or disappeared. The main thing is not to interfere. We already have enough information to know if the presentation is true. Additional questions can only blur the effect.
Today it is difficult for a buyer to choose from hundreds of offers of the same goods and services, similar sites, similar texts.
The same trips, the same furniture, legal services, manufactured goods as others.
Bring your site to the 1st place in Yandex so that a person sees your site first and opens it? Most companies see this as a way out.
But it doesn't work well. A person opens several sites at a time. Moves from one to another, looks at 3,5,10 sites.
Your success from being on the first page of search engines is only in the fact that you will be among these 3-10 sites.
How to stand out from the background of these competitors so that the client turns to you? There are many ways. I'll give you the easiest one to implement.
Do not force the person to puzzle over who to choose. Write clearly and understandably why it is worth choosing you. And an increase in the flow of orders, sales, calls is guaranteed to you!
More details with examples - in the video
Hello colleagues!
What's the situation today? A lot of companies offer the same product with approximately similar conditions and at approximately the same prices. Therefore, today it is especially important to stand out from the competitors.
Of course, there are a huge number of options to stand out against the background of competitors, but since we have chips for quick implementation, something that is implemented very easily and at the same time brings very high results in terms of efficiency and the number of calls, it is enough to say - why exactly you? Why should a client, a visitor of your site, apply now with his request, call and place an order with you?
In fact, when a client, your potential client, visits a site and searches the Internet for the desired product and service, then he perceives all sites, offers something like this:
The same product, the same type of sites, similar texts. Where to get the goods from? This one? Or this one? Unclear.
Against the background of the lack of information - why it is worth choosing from him - a potential client makes a choice in favor of a familiar instrument, whose name is price. Many sellers follow this, reduce the price, try to say that theirs is cheaper, thereby simply drive themselves into depression, into debt and even kill their future.
Therefore, in order not to slide into price dumping, in order to stand out against the background of competitors and give your potential client to make his choice, one of the tools is to give a list of reasons, reasons why it is worth contacting you.
How can this be done? Here's the simplest example:
Write "Why choose us?" and give several advantages, reasons, reasons to choose your company. The main thing is short, clear, to the point, structured. It is better not to paint a lot.
Here's an example when too much is scheduled:
But the main thesis, the main reason for choosing your company in the first place. If a person wants to read the justification in more detail - why exactly this is so or what gives a person this advantage of you, then he can already familiarize himself in more detail. But at least this list is already there, a person already understands more or less how you differ from the background of all other companies.
You can add the wording "Why do customers buy from us?"
And again the same arguments, the same reasons to appeal to you, are simply formulated differently. Thus, you also help the potential client in choosing.
You can choose, for example, in this format:
7 reasons to choose our company
And give these 7 reasons shortly - with theses or with confirmation, with a more detailed description of why this is exactly the case, with examples, arguments, reviews. You can hide such pop-up blocks that appear when you hover over a link or when you click on it, but nevertheless it is formulated, the main person sees, and in more detail if desired, if he is not convinced or if a person wants details, even more himself convince with facts, you can read more. But, again, the basic information is already there.
If your company offers the same product, which is offered by other companies in the same way, as we dealt with in our practice with a metal dealer - standard metal, according to GOST, prices are almost the same for everyone, then it is not enough to give reasons, the advantages of yours goods.
Here they are. It is necessary to give an advantage of both the product and the advantage of why this product is bought from you. In this case, the manufacturer's website, here we gave the benefits of the manufacturer's product, because the same product is produced by many other companies and factories. Everything is short: “convenient”, “economical”, “simple”, “reliable” with detailed explanations. And they gave a rationale why this product should be bought from this manufacturer.
By the way, here, in this case, we earned for the company, having invested literally fifteen thousand, earned about 700,000 rubles. So take note.
All these examples that I give are examples from practice, what really works and what really helps to increase the number of requests, requests and sales of the company.
You can issue "What do you get by working with us?"
Here, this is a page on our website, we gave the benefits that a person receives by contacting us. Again, thesis, but in more detail, each item is signed. To prevent all this from being a continuous list, we divided it into the following blocks:
Separate pictures of the justification for the text were given.
Take this chip into service. At least formulate a list of your client's benefits and a list of your advantages so that your website visitor can distinguish you from other companies, other offers and services.
Another thing is how to formulate these benefits? How not to slip into the banal phrases “we have been on the market for 10 years”, “the best staff”, which are usually used by companies, but tell something that can catch the attention of your target audience. I talk about this at my trainings, seminars and individual information products, individual lectures. If interested - contact!
Use this chip and make more money. Good luck in your business!