The only question that students need to answer
A hiring manager once told me: “There is only one question that every company wants to ask college graduates: "Why should we hire you?" And if they can answer it correctly, they will get the job. Of course, no one will ask them “directly” but that is the “key question” behind all the interview questions. Students who are not prepared to answer this question will fail the interview.”
Many students would say “If you hire me, I will work hard." Of course the company expects you to work hard, else they fire you. But that is not the answer that the company wants. Others may say: "I want to work for your company.” That does not answer the question either because if you do not want to work for them then why apply. Some students say: “You hire me because I am a good student.” It does not answer the question that they want. Does anyone would say “I am a bad student?”
Few even make mistake by saying “I am the best person for the job.” That is a negative answer because it means you are arrogant and may not have good teamwork attitude. Never be arrogant by saying that you are the best in something or smarter than somebody. An arrogant attitude is a signal for NOT hiring you.
So do you answer this difficult question?
The answer is quite simple: “Refer to what the company needs and what you can offer.”
Before apply for any job, you must read the job description thoroughly to identify the skills and experiences that are listed. You must ask yourself whether you have the knowledge and skills to fulfill them then use that as the foundation for all of your answers. If the company is looking for software development skills then tell them about the programming courses or programming languages that you know, you can tell them about the development lifecycle, the methods and tools that you are familiar with. If the company needs project management skills then tell them about the project management course, the requirements engineering course, and the soft skills that you have etc.
Most successful students do not wait until graduate to read job descriptions when they look for job. They read position openings and jobs descriptions when they begin their career planning. As Computer Science, Software Engineering, or Information Technology Management students, they have to plan their career as early as possible. By knowing the job market demands and what skills are needed, they can put more efforts to develop the knowledge and skills that will help them to gain advantages over others. By aligning their learning goals with their future job requirements, they have a clear direction for all of their learning. By understand WHAT they must know, WHY they must learn something, they are much more motivated to study harder. By focus their answer on demonstrating that they can fulfil the “demand” of company, they always successfully get their desired job.
I always advise my students: “Focus on what you can do for the company, not what they can do for you. AND make sure to identify how your skills will benefit the company." Of course to avoid being arrogant, I advise students to provide evidence for each of their answers. For example students can tell hiring managers that they do very well in programming courses with a high grade or during the Capstone project, they are the project manager etc. Do not say that you are better or smarter than anyone but show them the evidence to verify your skills. You can say: "I think my software development skills will allow me to contribute to your company right away with minimum training.” Or “This is something that I have done during the class projects where I have written over several thousand lines of code with no error.” Or “I have completed three major functions within the Capstone Project. Here are some of my code and the final Capstone project documents."
By organize your thought based on the company's needs, you will answer the only question that company wants: "I think you may want to consider me because of my skills that I have demonstrated in these projects and I think by complete these projects on time, with high quality make me a great fit for your company."
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
