Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a cheat sheet of how to answer interview questions and land your dream job? Well, unfortunately there isn’t one. No need to worry though, instead look at it from this perspective, if you were the hiring manager what questions would you ask candidates to ensure that you get the ideal candidate, who is genuinely interested in working for the company? Once you understand that, you will be in a better position to determine what the interviewer wishes to know with every interview question they ask. As such, we’ve provided useful tips to answer ‘why are you the best candidate for this position’ to help you ace your interview and get the job.
Employers create a job opportunity or role within their company, to indicate that they are looking for someone who can solve a particular problem (as illustrated in the job description). As such, most hiring managers use a variety of questions to determine if a candidate is the best fit to solve that problem. How you answer these questions will determine whether you land the job or not.
Interviews are merely for information gathering, information about candidates. As such the interviewer may ask you the question, why are you the best candidate for this position? Phrased differently, why should we hire you? Or, why do you think you are the right fit for this role? Alternatively, what would you bring to this position?
Every new hire can pose a risk for the company and the hiring manager as well. Therefore, the hiring manager has to ensure that the candidate selected is not a liability but an asset for the company.
So, why do interviewers ask this question? Well, the main aim is to ensure that the company gets the best candidate for the job. Consider the fact that the majority of applicants that make it to the interview stage are all qualified. The company is looking for an above average candidate, the most qualified among all the applicants.
As the interviewee, you should expect this question or at least a variation of the question. As such, you should prepare adequately to refine your answer.
Therefore, the interviewer wants to know why it would be better (are you confident in your abilities to deliver and if so, are these abilities relevant to the job?) to hire you and not any other candidate, and assess that you as the candidate are aware of what the company is looking for.
Use the information on the job description to understand the role expectations, the skill sets, and how they align to your career goals.
As such, you must prove to the hiring manager that:
- You are fit for the job and capable of delivering excellent results.
- You possess skills that are unique, and likely unteachable, which makes you an above average candidate.
- You’ll be an asset to the company and a perfect fit for the team.
In such cases, your objective is to prove to the hiring manager why you are a valuable candidate for the job. Therefore, when making your pitch illustrate what you have to offer the company and how it will be relevant to the role.
Follow the simple guidelines below during your preparation period to know exactly what to say and what to avoid, as well as the essential aspects to include in your answer.
Table of contents
How to answer why are you the best candidate for this position?
Tips to answer why are you suitable for this job?
What to avoid: Mistakes candidates make when asked this question
How to answer why are you the best candidate for this position?
There are hundreds of ways to address this question, but you need to be smart about how you approach it. To start, thoroughly go through the job description to understand what the company is looking for, precisely. Re-examine your resume, your past experiences and your skills set. You can do this by asking yourself questions along this line of thought:
- How do I qualify for this position? What aspects of my prior experiences, skills, education is valuable for this job?
- What area am I likely to thrive in, based on my experience or skills?
- What accomplishments will make me stand out?
- Using my experience, accomplishments, education or skills, how can I add value to the company?
Once you are done answering the questions above, you can match your qualifications to the job requirements. The second step is to brainstorm how your these qualifications helped you achieve the expected outcome in the past, you can use the STAR technique (situation, task, action, results) to illustrate your answer. In the final step, review how your qualifications make you the best candidate for the role and tailor an answer that illustrates this aspect based on the steps above. The aim here is to help you formulate the right answer to this interview question. This should act as a basis to help you prepare for your interview.
Once you’ve completed the assessment, consider formulating your answer using the guidelines below. The guidelines are specifically tailored to ensure you know how to answer this question, and included are sample answers to give you a general feel of the expected answer.
1. Highlight specific traits in your personality or relevant skills that make you the best candidate for the role.
In most work environments, you’re expected to establish a certain relationship with your colleagues to facilitate the workflow, in this case, your education or experience don’t apply, your traits determine how you’ll interact with others and create an efficient working environment.
Personality plays a vital role in the job performance of everyone. However, not every personality trait is relevant to the job. Therefore, it’s important that you know the relevant personality type and how it will help you achieve the duties of the role. While it may be difficult to illustrate your personality traits, they may be crucial to getting you the job. Your personality is unique to you. If it can contribute to your success in the role, mention the specific traits and skills that are unique to you and will make you succeed.
Sample answer 1:
I am a highly motivated, result-oriented individual, willing to go an extra mile to reach goals and learn along the way. For example, my last job involved meeting specific targets on a daily basis, which I managed and sometimes surpassed while gaining better and effective means of improving the achievement of those goals. I’m confident that if given this opportunity, I will thrive and deliver quality work within stipulated deadlines. I look forward to contributing my skills and experiences to your organization if given the opportunity.
Sample answer 2:
I’m confident that I will thrive in this position, seeing that I have all the skills that you are looking for. Having worked as a sales and marketing agent, I’m well versed with the job requirements.
Apart from my impeccable track record as the leading sales and marketing agent in the district, my flawless communication and interpersonal skills are precisely what your company needs to achieve its marketing advantage. I will not only bring my skills and experience but also my return clients database that I’ve created over the years.
2. Highlight your accomplishments that are relevant to the job
Highlighting your accomplishments illustrates what you are bringing to the role and most importantly the company if hired. Your work is to find your proudest accomplishment and coming up with a concise answer that shows how it is relevant to the role.
If you have pertinent accomplishments that could make you stand out, share them and illustrate how these achievements make you the best candidate for this position. Accomplishments always succeed. If your accomplishments are quantifiable then the hiring manager will prefer you to a newbie, somebody straight out of college, since the risk is reduced.
Sample answer 3:
My background experience, as a sales and marketing representative, equipped me with the relevant skills for this role. I’m very ambitious and determined to achieve my goals, and my enthusiasm to get work done motivates my team members. In the past six months, my team and I were ranked among the top ten sales and marketing teams in the industry. It’s not just my background that makes me the ideal candidate, but also my excellent management and leadership skills, as well as my excellent communication skills.
Tips to answer ‘Why are you suitable for this job?
There are numerous approaches you can use to tackle this question. Sell yourself and convince the hiring manager why you are the best candidate for the position. Also, preparing in advance helps to avoid being caught off-guard with such questions.
To do this, consider standing in front of the mirror or better yet, practice with a friend, and refine your answer as you continue practicing.
To land this job, you need to come prepared with a well-summarized answer, which highlights your best traits, skills, relevant experience, accomplishments, and education. Therefore, practice! Refine your answer several times, until you craft the one that will land you the job.
1. Match your skills to the job requirements/description
Re-examine the job description against your resume and note any similar skills or roles. Compare the related skills to the job responsibilities, experience requirements or characteristics, and explain how they correspond to the job role.
Convince the hiring team that your industry experience, education or skills, as noted in your resume, make you the best candidate for the position.
2. Know what you bring to the position and how it helps the company
Avoid any statements that imply you are desperate for the job. Instead, focus on how your experiences, abilities, and skills will add value to the company. All this information is in the job description/requirements. Your work is to determine which of these requirements align with previous experience, your abilities, your skills and the information on your resume. The next step would be to determine how your qualifications are relevant to the role, and how to use them to make a killer pitch and land the job.
A general rule of thumb to prepare for these type of questions is to carry out an extensive background check of the company before the interview.
Concentrate on the company’s culture, mission, vision, projects, partnerships, among other things, to get a general feel of the working environment and also, determine if it’s somewhere you would want to work.
3. Confidence is key
Doing a background check of the company allows you to prepare in advance, which ensures that you state your answer confidently and clearly, from the choice of words to tone of your voice.
Prepare adequately in advance by making sure all the relevant materials are readily available and updated to fit the job you’re eying.
4. Stand-out: be unique!
Focus on your personality or personal traits that make you unique and the best fit for the job. Also, you can emphasize skills that are specific to you, because not many people possess them, and they are sure to make you the ideal candidate for the position.
Consider mentioning your great interpersonal skills or leadership skills, and your ability to resolve conflict amicably. Not everyone possesses these skills, therefore if you can use them to your advantage. But don’t exaggerate!
Although, the objective is to sell yourself and prove that you are the best candidate, don’t compare yourself to other candidates. Just emphasize your uniqueness positively and do not attack or demean other candidates. Understand that everyone who made it to the interview position is just as qualified as you are and deserve to be respected.
5. Be honest
Don’t exaggerate or lie. Mention any milestones, such as awards or accomplishments that you’ve received in the past, but do not exaggerate or lie about your accomplishments. Imagine a scenario where you lie about your accomplishment for you to get the job, only to fail to deliver when the same is expected of you? It’s not worth it, and worse still, your former colleagues or boss may be contacted to quantify your accomplishments. Always be truthful, the worst that can happen is you’ll not get the job but that’s okay.
6. Be convincing
To effectively sell and convince the hiring manager that you are the perfect fit for the position, you need to be convincing. Elaborate on past experiences that made you successful in your previous job and quantify them using examples.
Be truthful and ensure that the referees you’ve provided in your resume can quantify your qualifications.
What to avoid: Mistakes candidates make when asked this question
Landing a job after an interview is tough! Therefore, don’t sabotage the chance to get your dream job because of small, silly mistakes that you can easily avoid. This can’t be reiterated enough, Practice!
Rambling:
Relax! Don’t start talking about where you and your family went for a vacation. Focus on the compelling points that illustrate your suitability for the position. Keep your answer concise by limiting each question to at least 1-2 minutes. Also, practice in advance.
Don’t be modest:
This is your opportunity to sell yourself and convince the hiring manager why you’re the suitable candidate for the job, so don’t under-represent yourself.
Give general answers:
Don’t give vague answers. Include your personality in the solutions you provide. Think your answers through, try as much as possible to discuss traits, skills, and abilities that make you unique. Be as specific as possible, you don’t want your answers to sound rehearsed or memorized. Yes, use the information here as a guide, but don’t memorize it.
While this may be an essential interview question, not all hiring managers use it. Therefore, despite your preparation, you may have to look for opportunities during the interview to sell yourself using the mentioned key points.
When answering this question, remember that this is an opportunity to highlight your best skills and convince the interviewer that you are the ideal candidate for the job. Therefore, base your answer on prior industrial experience, hard and soft skills, accomplishments, accolades, and education.
Comment below and let us know how you have answered this question before (we’ve all had them!).
