Part #1: Introspection
If you want to deliver a genuine answer, you need to talk about things you actually care about.
If you say, “I just love the company culture of going to Escape Rooms every Friday” but escape rooms are your actual nightmare, it’s not going to come off well.
Start by asking yourself questions like:
What do I love about this company?
What do I love about this role?
Is there a specific initiative that I’m highly interested in?
Is there a particular challenge that I’d love to help out with?
Am I excited about the culture/vision as a whole?
There are plenty of things to be excited about when it comes to a company, team, and role!
Are you amazed by their product? Are you inspired by their new initiatives or vision? Perhaps their culture resonates strongly with your values?
The important thing here is to be specific. Like we talked about earlier, generic responses are a sure-fire way to fall short on this question.
Part #2: Connection
Now that you know your “why,” the next step is to tie it into your values and experience.
There’s a term we use a lot in sales: WIIFM. That stands for What’s In It For Me?
It may seem like the interview is about you, but the opposite is actually true. The company and interview care about what you can do for them in terms of exceeding goals and expectations.
A strong answer to “why do you want to work here” illustrates your knowledge of the company’s needs and goals, then uses your experience and achievements as evidence for why you’re the best person to make those a reality.
Let’s look at a two examples, one bad, one good:
Bad: “I’m very intrigued by the [current initiative] Google is pursuing. The progress your team is making in that field is really impressive.”
Good: “I’m very intrigued by the [current initiative] Google is pursuing. I know competitors like Amazon are making big investments in the space as well. I listened to Larry’s keynote at I/O though and I love his strategy of rapid expansion through partnerships.
In my current role, our company ended up in a similar situation. Obviously on a smaller scale, but we were in a race against three competitors to capture a new market. Our goal, similar to Larry’s, was to leverage partnerships and existing platforms to expand instead of building proprietary workflows from scratch.
I was the lead for vetting and analyzing potential partnerships for that. We ended up bringing in 5 partners in 6 months per my recommendation. Those partnerships led to a 476% spike in new users and a 43% bump in customer retention.”
See the difference?
The first statement doesn’t address your experience/values at all. It feels one-sided and vague.
The second answer shows that you know where the company is going and uses your experience to show why you’re a fantastic person to get that job done!
Part #3: Storytelling
According to cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner, telling stories can make you 22x more memorable. Who doesn’t want that?
Wrapping your experience, your value, and your goal into a story is probably the most critical part of this answer.
The storylines don’t always have to be about you either. In fact, you’ll probably want to spend a little more time talk about the company.
When I was interviewing at Google, I referenced a story from an employee I spoke with (using the tactics from Step 2). He described a project with a goal of bringing WiFi to a rural town in South Carolina and I cited that as an example of the type of work I wanted to do.
Bringing that up in the interview accomplished two things at once:
1I enhanced my answer with an interesting story that aligned with my values.
I demonstrated how deeply I had been researching the company’s initiatives.
Two birds with one stone!
3+ Examples Answers For “Why Do You Want To Work Here?”
Now it’s time for the good stuff! We’re going to take all of the strategies and frameworks laid out above and turn them into example answers that you can leverage during your next interview.
Let’s kick things off with the exact answer I gave when I was interviewing at Google:
Example Answer #1: The Exact Answer I Used At Google
“I love that Google creates an environment which synonymously promotes individuality and collaboration as a means for innovation and growth.
Google has the best technology products available, and has been one of the most successful companies in the world because they approached things differently. They are open minded. Google had the first “startup culture” that is present in offices around the world today.
These two things are not a coincidence and they really resonate with me. The two most valuable factors for me are:
1. To always be learning
2. To be doing work that has a positive impact on people’s lives
For the former, I’ve found that the best way to learn is to surround myself with people who are a heck of a lot smarter than I am. I’ve asked every Googler what their favorite part of working at Google is, and the answer is always the people. Each person lit up when they answered, praising people’s willingness to learn, teach, and help.
In terms of impacting people’s lives, I wanted to recount a story from my referral, Tom. He’s in the education vertical and spends a significant amount of time at rural schools.
When he was down in South Carolina, a teacher asked him about the possibility of getting wifi for the town and its students. Tom said he would do his best and upon returning he asked around. He sent an email to Astro Teller who responded and they discussed the feasibility of implementing project Loon in the area. I don’t think it panned out but the fact that the communication took place over a tiny town in South Carolina sold me. That’s the kind of stuff I want to be doing.
I believe that Google offers an exceptional place for me to learn and gain experience while adding value to people’s lives each day.”
Notice how I tied my admiration for Google together with my deep-seated personal values. I identified specific qualities that impressed me, but I also provided context for why I feel that way. Then, I picked a compelling story from my conversations and used that to form a narrative.
Next, let’s look at an example that’s a focused on the specific aspects of a company’s culture of collaboration:
“Why Do You Want To Work Here?” – Example Answer #2
“I had the opportunity to speak with several employees here at [Company]. I asked all of them what they felt was the best part of working here. Across the board, the resounding answer was the collaborative culture.
Each person explained how everyone here is not only bright and passionate, but also eager to help other team members. I think [Company’s] culture is really evident in [CEO’s] new initiative to have weekly 1:1 meetings with every employee to talk about their goals and challenges. I applaud that.
In my last role, I really came to appreciate just how important communication and collaboration are. We had weekly lunch-and-learns with members from different departments to discuss challenges and share ideas. In one meeting, I explained how the sales team was being impeded by slow turnaround times on custom collateral. A member of the engineering team felt they could help, and we worked together to create a simple tool that cut turnaround times by 40%.
The fact that the CEO is so invested in the employees and willing to put aside time to form relationships with each one of them speaks volumes about this [Company]. I want to work here because I value meaningful connections, and that same value is clearly shared by the CEO and permeated throughout [Company]. I want to be surrounded by intelligent team members who feed off each other to achieve more than they could do alone.”
Comparing this example to my answer for Google, what do they have in common
For starters, both reference a specific initiative that was uncovered by the candidate’s extensive research. In the first example, it was the attempt to bring WiFi to a rural town in South Carolina. In this second example, it was the CEO’s 1:1 meetings.
Both examples then go on to connect those initiatives to the interviewee’s values/experience. Ultimately, this creates a well-balanced answer, highlighting the company, the candidate, and why they’re a good fit.
ashantie
commented
4 years ago
Part #1: Introspection If you want to deliver a genuine answer, you need to talk about things you actually care about.
If you say, “I just love the company culture of going to Escape Rooms every Friday” but escape rooms are your actual nightmare, it’s not going to come off well.
Start by asking yourself questions like:
There are plenty of things to be excited about when it comes to a company, team, and role!
Are you amazed by their product? Are you inspired by their new initiatives or vision? Perhaps their culture resonates strongly with your values?
The important thing here is to be specific. Like we talked about earlier, generic responses are a sure-fire way to fall short on this question.
Part #2: Connection Now that you know your “why,” the next step is to tie it into your values and experience.
There’s a term we use a lot in sales: WIIFM. That stands for What’s In It For Me?
It may seem like the interview is about you, but the opposite is actually true. The company and interview care about what you can do for them in terms of exceeding goals and expectations.
A strong answer to “why do you want to work here” illustrates your knowledge of the company’s needs and goals, then uses your experience and achievements as evidence for why you’re the best person to make those a reality.
Let’s look at a two examples, one bad, one good:
Bad: “I’m very intrigued by the [current initiative] Google is pursuing. The progress your team is making in that field is really impressive.”
Good: “I’m very intrigued by the [current initiative] Google is pursuing. I know competitors like Amazon are making big investments in the space as well. I listened to Larry’s keynote at I/O though and I love his strategy of rapid expansion through partnerships.
In my current role, our company ended up in a similar situation. Obviously on a smaller scale, but we were in a race against three competitors to capture a new market. Our goal, similar to Larry’s, was to leverage partnerships and existing platforms to expand instead of building proprietary workflows from scratch.
I was the lead for vetting and analyzing potential partnerships for that. We ended up bringing in 5 partners in 6 months per my recommendation. Those partnerships led to a 476% spike in new users and a 43% bump in customer retention.”
See the difference?
The first statement doesn’t address your experience/values at all. It feels one-sided and vague.
The second answer shows that you know where the company is going and uses your experience to show why you’re a fantastic person to get that job done!
Part #3: Storytelling
According to cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner, telling stories can make you 22x more memorable. Who doesn’t want that?
Wrapping your experience, your value, and your goal into a story is probably the most critical part of this answer.
The storylines don’t always have to be about you either. In fact, you’ll probably want to spend a little more time talk about the company.
When I was interviewing at Google, I referenced a story from an employee I spoke with (using the tactics from Step 2). He described a project with a goal of bringing WiFi to a rural town in South Carolina and I cited that as an example of the type of work I wanted to do.
Bringing that up in the interview accomplished two things at once:
Two birds with one stone! 3+ Examples Answers For “Why Do You Want To Work Here?”
Now it’s time for the good stuff! We’re going to take all of the strategies and frameworks laid out above and turn them into example answers that you can leverage during your next interview.
Let’s kick things off with the exact answer I gave when I was interviewing at Google:
Notice how I tied my admiration for Google together with my deep-seated personal values. I identified specific qualities that impressed me, but I also provided context for why I feel that way. Then, I picked a compelling story from my conversations and used that to form a narrative.
Next, let’s look at an example that’s a focused on the specific aspects of a company’s culture of collaboration:
Comparing this example to my answer for Google, what do they have in common
For starters, both reference a specific initiative that was uncovered by the candidate’s extensive research. In the first example, it was the attempt to bring WiFi to a rural town in South Carolina. In this second example, it was the CEO’s 1:1 meetings.
Both examples then go on to connect those initiatives to the interviewee’s values/experience. Ultimately, this creates a well-balanced answer, highlighting the company, the candidate, and why they’re a good fit.