This job interview question is a part of almost all the interview processes – Why do you want to join our company? The question looks pretty straight forward, but the answer decides your fate. Most of the candidates never give too much thought on these questions, as they are more excited about the technical and domain related questions, so they tend to ignore these critical questions.
It is always easy to answer technical questions, as you are an expert on something and you can share your knowledge anytime with little or no preparation. But the question like these requires a lot of thought and introspection. Then only you will be able to craft the real and genuine reasons.
There are 2 important aspects of this question:
- What not to do in this job interview question?
Don’t start your answer with generic statements such as ‘this is the most valued company, it has world-class leadership’ or ‘the market capitalization of the company is XYZ dollars’. This information is already available in the public domain and most of the candidates will say these things. This doesn’t mean that the above points aren’t important but it’s not the ideal way to start for this interview question.
So, how you are different? and how should you start?
Let’s understand what they are looking for so that we can craft our answer accordingly. They are looking for your motivation. Your motivation or excitement to be a part of this role or company, so it should be very close to you. Let’s see how we can find that motivation for this job interview question.
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- How to design the perfect answer for this job interview question?
We will mention a few of the important motivations for any new role or organization, but you can always differ and have something which suits your background.
- Domain exposure: There could always be an interesting learning opportunity in any domain and if you can highlight that, then you have hit the right chord. Let’s say you are a supply chain professional and you know that in the new company, there’s a robust supply chain. So you’ll have a lot of exposure and you’ll be learning quite a lot. So this could be your biggest motivation to join the new company.
- Expanded roles or bigger responsibilities. We all want to grow fast and in order to do that, we need to take more responsibilities. But sometimes, in your current role, you might nor foresee that and looking to change because of this reason. Let’s say, in the current company you’re leading two people, but in the new role, they might expect you to lead 5 or 8 people or they might expect you to lead two verticals or a different vertical altogether. So, these are a few examples and there can numerous cases of taking more responsibilities in different forms. This could be your biggest motivation, so talk about this and explain it with the logic and your passion to perform.
- Culture: It’s usually a tricky topic to discuss but it should not be left out. And again, using generic or cliche sentences will not give the best impression. The importance of culture is so much that it might lead you to leave jobs. Many people leave because of toxic work cultures. But it’s easy to say and difficult to judge when you haven’t even joined the firm. This can only be identified, when you will spend some time in the company. That is the reason, a lot more needs to be done here. Do your research, talk to the current employees of the organization, get first-hand information about the company’s exact culture such as the values of the company, work-life balance, hierarchy, et cetera. To understand the culture, you can only trust the first-hand information. Another good strategy is to talk to ex-employees, as they will give you the real picture. But the important part is to ask the right questions to them, else you might get confused. If in this process you find something that excites you, definitely bring that up in the interview. The interviewers will appreciate that, knowing that you have done your homework well.
- Career Progression: With your research, you already know that the company has potential, has space for you to grow career-wise. So mentioning your wish of career progression which you aren’t able to see in your current organization would be another motivation. But be specific here while talking about the career progression and understand their hierarchy or career growth prospects with timelines.
We specifically didn’t mention ‘money’ because that need not be discussed in this question. The money will, of course, be discussed separately when you’ll be negotiating your value. Additionally, we all know that there will be a raise, so it’s not a surprise to expect that. This is an underlying motivation for the majority of people and its fair as well. But it should not be your deciding factor for any job or role while considering new opportunities. In some cases, it might be, when the rest of the parameters are almost the same.
We hope this is going to be helpful if you are preparing for any job or college interview. 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 should we hire you? What is your weakness? What are your strengths? Interview tips etc. Feel free to go through them as well.
