How to answer: Why do you want to work here?
The key to this question is research. Know what you like about the company, what they support and how you could add value before you walk into the interview. This information could be found on their website, on their social media channels, their employees’ social media, or through word of mouth and Google searches. Here are our top ways to answer this often very difficult question!
Understand what they want to know
When an interviewer asks this question, they’re looking for a few things. They want to know:
- If you are sincerely interested
- What do you know about them (how prepared were you?)
- How they might fit into your career goals
- Your priorities when it comes to a job
Consider the key factors that make them unique
There are so many different things that make a company great. Different benefits will stand out to different people. It is up to you to decide what is most appealing. Some key factors could be:
- Their reputation as a company
- What difference they make in society
- Knowledge of their key leaders, their character and how they lead
- Their company culture and values
- The causes they support
- Their employee benefits such as training or community involvement
- Their stable and steady history of growth
- Their retention rate
How to frame your answer
There are only a few tips here when it comes to framing your answer. This is because our first tip is to keep it succinct. You don’t want to drag on and sound like a suck up. Secondly, be genuine, it’s important that you do actually want to work for them for the reason you are saying. This will only benefit you and the interviewer. The interviewer will recognise your sincerity, and if you do get the job you will have great motivation to work for them. Lastly, as a little trick, tie in your skills or experience into your reasoning. This will not only highlight yourself but also how you can add value into specific areas of their company. By placing yourself within aspects that make up the company the interviewer will have a visual or example of how you might fit in.
