by Anup Jacob Varghese | Oct. 4, 2016
Over the last 6 months I have conducted more than 60 mock interviews to help my colleagues at the University of Oxford prepare for interviews with top firms. Over time, I started to notice trends that led me to believe that the biggest pitfall is when people fail to answer the precise question asked, and as the title suggests, I will shed some light on one particular question frequently asked by recruiters.
When asked "Why do you want to join our company?", what do you think of as an answer? Perhaps, "I want to join because the company has a challenging environment, a great learning curve and people with a great set of skills". You would probably add that you spoke to Mr. Whoever, an employee at the firm, and he told you that the company was a great place to work at.
Well, 90% of your competing applicants are going to say exactly this in some form or the other. So by having this as your answer, you not only join the herd, but all you end up doing is just praising the company. Trust me, the HR knows that the company is great, that's why he or she joined the firm in the first place. The question is why do YOU want to join this great firm? How does it make sense to you? Here is a sample response, "As my resume indicates, I am a person who likes challenges and a great learning curve (cite example), and this company provides a great learning curve with opportunities to take on impactful and challenging projects" (use Mr. Whoever that works there just to validate your claims made about the firms opportunities). By this, you communicate why you as a person are attracted to a such a company that provides such opportunities. This question is about you and not about the firm. Yes, you talk about the firms opportunities to make the dots connect, but by stopping at 'just praising the firm', you really don't answer the question at all, and you make it really boring and depersonalised for the interviewer as well.
Happy Interviewing!
