Why do you think you’re the best fit? or Why should we hire you? This is the common interview question you hear often at any interview, yet it’s very difficult to answer for most of us. The following are the 3 simple steps to keep in mind and follow. These steps will be helpful for any fresher or a person with little experience of one to one and a half years.
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1. Why do companies ask this common interview question?
Companies are looking for the value you’re going to bring to their firm. It’s easy for experienced professionals to create that value, considering the fact that they have all that industry, domain, and leadership experience and lots of other things that they can talk about from their field. But of course, that’s not the case for people freshly out of college. So in this situation, you should understand what the company is actually looking for, according to which you’ll be able to articulate your answer.
2. These are the points you must consider before crafting your answer for this common interview question!
Intent!
They are looking to understand your intent to explore and learn. They know that you’re just a rookie, fresh out of college, so they can mold you whichever way they want. So what you need to do is go back and review your contributions in your school or college, try to pick up 3 to 4 diverse experiences, and talk about them. These show your ability to learn and explore new things. This is how you showcase this part of your personality. Example – participation in debates, sporting events, internships, etc. can be talked about, and don’t forget to mention the awards or credits received.
Passion!
They want to see your positive attitude, interests, and passions, in general. Don’t make general statements in your answers. Be specific about your interests. Example – if you mention your passion for reading, but you haven’t read anything in the past few months or even a year, then it’s best to project this interest in a different manner. Try explaining the steps you’ve taken to hone your interests. Suppose you’ve learned to code or you’re passionate about coding or software development, you may mention that you’ve learned a couple of coding languages for starters during your college days and that you’re excited to pursue more languages. This shows that you’re actually planning or are already working on something, on your interests, which is what they are looking for.
Skills!
You must know the basic skill-set required for the job and you must show some excitement for the upcoming tasks. Skill-set and excitement are two different things so let’s break them down.
You don’t have any domain or industry experience but let’s say you’re applying for an analyst role in a high-ranking firm, if you have advanced Excel knowledge or even basic Excel knowledge, then that’s definitely a skill-set they are looking for and you should highlight that.
Another factor is your excitement or interest in the company that they want to see. So how will you show that? You can start with the industry trends, the company’s business model, talk about competitors, this is how they’ll understand that you’ve done your research and that you’re excited to work for them or with them.
3. How to design your answer to this common interview question?
So now that you’ve explored and reviewed your past performances as part of articulating your answer, thoroughly go through the JD (job description). Of course, since you can’t contribute in the sense of industry or domain experience, look carefully at the skill-sets required, and the personality aspects that they are looking for and try and map those with your skills. This is what we call ‘mapping’. It’s simply prioritizing your experiences with the job you’re applying for.
For example – if it’s a marketing role, you can always say you’ve done a couple of marketing internships, like XYZ digital marketing internship with some company. You should talk about these internships and work experiences during interviews. They reflect your interest as well as your skills for the role. As mentioned before, it’s important to prioritize your experiences and turn them into useful skills.
Sample Answer for this common interview question:
‘I understand that I might not have the experience you require in terms of the number of years but I have the qualities that can compensate for that. In addition, my previous digital marketing internship at XYZ company exposed me to social media marketing, SEO optimization, and a high-pressure environment. So I have learned how to tackle time-bound tasks and work effectively with people. I believe with the experiences I have had, I would contribute and add value to your team in a positive way.
We hope this is going to be helpful if you are preparing for any job or college interview and you will come across this common interview question. For more guidance, feel free to connect with us and provide your feedback as well, so that we can also improve in the future.
We have also answered a few more questions such as Why do you want to join our company? What is your weakness? What are your strengths? Interview tips etc. Feel free to go through them as well.
