How to Answer “Why Should We Hire You?” in an Interview

What the interviewer is listening for, how to build your answer from the job description around three selling points with proof, what to avoid, and examples.

“Why should we hire you?” can sound like an invitation to boast, and many candidates either freeze or recite their CV. It is also a question you are very likely to hear: the University of Alabama’s career center lists it among the frequently asked interview questions, and Harvard’s career office goes further: it is what employers ultimately want to know during an interview.

This guide explains what the interviewer is listening for, the other forms the question takes, how to prepare from the job description, how to build an answer around three selling points with proof, how long to speak, what to avoid, and three example answers you can adapt. The candidates in the examples are hypothetical; your own answer must use only your own facts.

What the interviewer is listening for

MIT’s career advising office describes the purpose of an interview, from the employer’s side, as finding out a candidate’s knowledge and skills, their fit for the role, and their genuine interest in the position and the company. Prospects, the UK graduate careers service, says employers need to understand why you want the job, why you are the best person for the role and how well your personality will fit into the organisation. The University of Reading adds that questions like this one test whether you have really thought about the job, understood the opportunity and been motivated enough to research beyond the job description.

So one question checks three things at once:

1. You can do the job: your skills and experience match what the role needs.
2. You understand the job: you know what the employer is trying to achieve with this role.
3. You want this job: your interest is in this role and this organisation, not in any job at all.

All three are about the employer. As Harvard Business Review puts it, the question is less about what benefits you than about what benefits them.

The same question in other words

You may not hear these exact words. MIT’s sample questions include “What makes you the best person for this job?”, Reading’s include “What do you feel you could contribute to this role?”, and the list of typical questions from the University of Southampton’s careers service includes “Explain to me why I should hire you.” targetjobs notes that it can also come as “What value would you bring to our organisation?” or “How could you contribute to our company?”. The UK’s National Careers Service gives “why do you think you’re a good fit for our company?”, and Southern Utah University’s career center pairs the question with “What might set you apart from other candidates?”

The preparation is the same for every version: know what the job needs, and have the evidence that you can provide it.

Prepare from the job description

Seattle Central College’s career center suggests starting with the job description or posting, and asking what the employer emphasises as the requirements of the job. The National Careers Service, in its interview tips, advises reading the job description carefully to understand the skills and experience the employer is looking for, and preparing examples from your past experience to refer to. Prospects, in its guide to preparing for an interview, suggests reading the job description again and going back over your application form, to refresh your memory of how your skills and qualifications match the job.

Then look beyond the advert. MIT’s interview primer says that what matters is matching your background and abilities to the employer’s needs, and suggests reviewing the organisation’s website, checking what it has recently been in the news for, or talking with current or former employees.

A simple way to prepare is a two-column list: what the advert asks for, and your proof of each.

The rows where your proof is strongest become your selling points.

Build your answer around three selling points

Careers services agree on a small number of points, each with proof. Reading suggests summarising three to five key selling points, and making sure they include facts, not just assertions. San José State University’s School of Information describes a concise summary of your top three to five strengths or selling points, backed up with related examples, accomplishments or success stories. Prospects suggests picking three or four attributes the employer asks for in the person specification, and being able to evidence each one with examples. And in Harvard Business Review Arabia’s guide to this question (in Arabic), a job-search strategist suggests thinking in advance of three benefits of hiring you, and ending with your genuine interest in the job and the company.

Three is a practical number: enough to show range, few enough to remember under pressure. The answer then has three steps.

For each proof, a short version of the STAR method works well: the situation, the task, the action you took and the result. The National Careers Service says the STAR method helps you answer interview questions fully, and our guide to common interview questions shows how to build STAR examples.

The American University in Cairo’s career center calls relating your strengths to the required qualifications a key factor in gaining the interviewer’s attention, and advises supporting your answers with examples of your accomplishments. targetjobs, in its advice on why you will be successful in the job, makes the same point: highlight your strengths, but back them up with evidence and relate them to the role.

How you say it matters too. Prospects notes that confidence and enthusiasm are particularly important in the way you answer.

How long should the answer be?

The University of Alabama says the answer should be about two minutes, and suggests practising answering concisely; Seattle Central College says no more than two minutes. Prospects advises answering every question clearly and concisely, and its list of the top five interview mistakes includes waffling, which it says tends to come from nerves. Aim for one to two minutes: an opening sentence, three short proofs and a closing line.

What to avoid

• Talking about what you want. Seattle Central College is blunt: this is not the time to talk about what you want. A student writing for the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst recalls answering this question in an internship interview and realising they were more focused on what the company could do for their career than on how their skills and experience could be an asset to it. Leave pay and benefits out as well: Southern Utah University advises not asking about them unless you are offered the job, and the American University in Cairo says to discuss them only when the employer asks about your expectations or makes an offer. If they do ask, see our guide to the salary expectations question.
• Claims anyone could make. Seattle Central College calls “I’m a hard worker” a trite answer that almost anyone can give, and Alabama warns that answers to this question can often sound the same, so include specifics that make yours memorable.
• Overselling or underselling. targetjobs advises neither underselling nor overselling yourself, and warns against both self-deprecation and arrogance.
• Anything you cannot back up. Prospects, in its guide to writing a CV, warns against exaggerating your abilities, because you will need to back up your claims at interview, and Harvard’s career office advises being prepared to discuss everything on your CV.
• Running others down. Prospects lists complaining about colleagues or about your previous or current job among the mistakes likely to blow your chances. The question may invite a comparison with the other candidates, but you do not know who they are: describe what you bring, with your own evidence, and let the interviewer do the comparing.

If you have little work experience

The National Careers Service points out that an employer may not expect you to have done the job before, but will look for relevant experience or strengths. If you do not have much work history, it says, you can use examples from outside work, including volunteering, and Harvard’s career office notes that an example can come from work, school, extra-curricular activities or volunteering. The University of Manchester’s careers service counts part-time and vacation jobs, internships, volunteering and work in a family business as work experience, and tells students they probably have more transferable skills than they think. targetjobs, which writes for graduates, reminds them that they bring all of their skills, qualities, values, interests, academic knowledge, internships and life experience.

The first example below is built only from study, an internship and tutoring. For the CV side, see how to write a CV with no experience.

Example answers

Each example opens with the match, gives three proofs and closes with why this job. The people and their details are hypothetical; replace every one with your own.

A recent graduate applying for a junior data analyst role

Your advert asks for someone who can clean data, build reports and explain the results to people who are not analysts, and those are the three things I have done most. In my final-year project I cleaned two years of survey data for my university’s student services office and built a dashboard that the office now uses to plan its staffing. During a three-month internship at a logistics company I produced the weekly delivery report and presented it to the operations team every Monday. And for two semesters I tutored first-year students in statistics, which taught me to explain numbers in plain language. I want to start my career in a team that uses data to make decisions, and from what I have read about your planning team, that is exactly what this role does.

A customer service supervisor applying for an operations coordinator role

You are looking for someone to keep daily operations running smoothly and to improve how requests are handled. For the past four years I have supervised a team of eight customer service agents. When our backlog of open requests kept growing, I reorganised the shifts around our busiest hours and set up a daily review of overdue cases, and within three months the backlog was cleared. I also wrote the onboarding guide our new agents use, so I am used to turning a process into steps other people can follow. And I already work every day in the ticketing system your advert lists. I am looking for a role where I can improve processes across a whole operation, not only one team, which is what drew me to this position.

An experienced site engineer applying for a project manager role

This role needs someone who can deliver construction projects on time and within budget while keeping the site safe. In nine years as a site engineer I have run the day-to-day work on four residential projects, the last two as deputy to the project manager, coordinating up to six subcontractors at a time. On the most recent one, a supplier delay threatened the handover date; I rebuilt the weekly schedule with the subcontractors, and we handed over on the original date. Safety has been part of every one of those jobs, and on the last project I chaired the weekly site safety meeting. I have just completed a project management certificate, and I am ready to take full responsibility for a project, which is why I applied for this one.

Notice what all three do: the first sentence is about the employer’s needs, every claim comes with a concrete example, and the last sentence explains why this job, not just any job.

Answering in English when Arabic is your first language

If the interview is in English and Arabic is your first language, this is a question to prepare the words for in advance.

• Prepare points and examples, not a script. The British Council advises working out how you would answer common interview questions in English, with real-life examples from your job history, but not memorising your answers, so that you sound as natural as possible.
• Practise aloud. Prospects suggests practising your answers with someone you trust, possibly recording yourself and then reviewing your performance; MIT’s primer suggests recording yourself on your phone or webcam. Harvard Business Review Arabia advises practising the answers aloud, not only in your head.
• Ask when you are unsure. The British Council says not to be afraid to ask the interviewer to repeat or reword a question, and that an interviewer is unlikely to penalise you for pronouncing a word incorrectly. Prospects adds that it is acceptable to pause before a difficult question, or to ask for clarification.

For the written side, see writing an English CV when Arabic is your first language.

Let your CV tell the same story

Your answer and your CV should support each other. The National Careers Service advises tailoring your CV to the job you are applying for, starting from the job advert, and Prospects says to use the advert to target your CV to the role and the employer. MIT’s primer draws the link: the way you made your CV and cover letter relevant to their reader is the same idea you use to connect with your interviewer. Your three selling points should be easy to find on the page, with the same evidence. And keep both honest: Saudi Arabia’s Digital Attaa initiative, in its advice on CVs (in Arabic), puts it simply: mention what you know, and leave out what you do not.

How Tabhar can help

Tabhar’s CV builder lets you edit your CV on the page as it will be printed, so you can bring your strongest evidence for this job to the top, and our guide to skills for your CV shows how to prove each skill on the page.

Interview practice, available on the Pro and Elite plans, builds a set of questions from your CV and the job description you add, mixing behavioural, technical, company-fit and situational questions, so you rehearse for the job you actually applied to. You type your answers, and each one is scored from 0 to 100 on six criteria (relevance, STAR structure, specificity, impact, clarity and role fit), with the evidence behind each score, your strengths, what to improve and a model answer. Your own answer is never changed, and the scores are practice feedback, not a prediction of any hiring decision. Practice on Tabhar is typed, so say your answer out loud as well before the day.

Related reading

• How to answer “Tell me about yourself” in an interview
• How to answer “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
• Common interview questions and how to answer them (STAR)

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