Interview Question: Why this role?
Today we are starting off with the most frequently asked question in every interview. Literally, every interview that you have probably ever been in, you have been asked “Why this role?”.
Yes, this is a fluff question that is used to quickly vet candidates that have absolutely zero idea what they are signing up for and likely blindly applied online. But how do we answer this question in a way that is going to set us apart from every other candidate in the interview process? Do we just say, “I need money, you are hiring, and I think I can do this job?”.
No. Let’s break down this question a bit further and look at the opportunities that this very open ended question gives us.
This question gives us the opportunity to tell the interview everything that we know about this role. At this point, in your interview process the company has already shown some interest in you, otherwise you wouldn’t be here right? Which means you should have read the job description and researched the company.
Why does this role interest you? Do you enjoy working with clients? Do you enjoy building ground breaking technology? Do you just enjoy crunching numbers and the growth of this company is going to allow you to do this all day every day?
Take this opportunity to lightly touch on your previous experience and use that to explain WHY this role interests you and WHY you’re going to be successful in it.
Let’s not just stop here though, let’s use this as an opportunity to show off a bit and highlight the research we have done. Let’s get into more details for the interview because let’s be real, this is what they actually want to know:
“Why THIS role at THIS company?”
Take the question deeper than originally asked and provide facts about this company. Maybe they just recently had a round of funding and your skill set from previous roles allow you to make a direct impact on the team. You want to be part of this rocketship of a company because you’ve gone through a similar growth phase at a previous company and you can provide value in these 3 additional ways. Maybe, you want this role at this company because this product truly interests you because you have personal ties to what it is designed to solve for, maybe you have other connections at this company that can’t stop raving about it’s leadership team, their boss, their company culture, etc. Maybe, you just truly believe in the vision and see the company is poised to be a disruptor in their space because they are doing X differently than their competitors.
While this is a softball of a question, this is YOUR opportunity to shine. Highlight your previous experiences and why this role is a fit for you… “Why this role at this company”. Show off all the research you’ve done, how well you understand their product, and how you are going to provide value to their long term vision.
