Q: How do I handle the question, “Aside from the steady paycheck, why do you want to work here?” in an interview?

A: My guess is that more job candidates sink themselves on this question than any other, so in honor of all those students interviewing for first jobs while counting down the days to graduation–as well as all the business owners, GMs, and HR personnel conducting interviews with them, I thought I’d take a quick crack at this one.We’ve all had this question asked of us, we’ve all spent hours planning for it, and we’ve all whiffed it at least once. This is one of those questions that has no one “right” answer, but lots and lots of wrong answers, including:

1. “To tell the truth, everyone else has turned me down.”
2. “Wow, that’s a good question. I really don’t know.”
3. “Initially I wasn’t sure, but when I started reading about the company on your website while preparing for this interview, I knew I’d found the place where I want to work for the rest of my life.”
4. “I think the experience I’ll gain here will be pivotal in helping me prepare for a ‘real’ job search two years from now.”
5. “Well, to reiterate, I have a degree in [insert specialty here] which makes me perfectly suited for a position such as this one, plus I am energetic, a real team player, and a great problem solver… I think these are areas where I can make a difference.”
6. ”I think any team would be lucky to have me.”

Employers generally can feel the difference more than they can articulate it, largely because what this question is attempting to “measure” has nothing whatsoever with why you the candidate might want to work at a particular company. (What are you going to do, tell the business owner that you are Passionate-with-a-capital-P about doing grunt work in the insurance/financial services/healthcare industry? Unless you’ve got an Alex P. Keaton personality and can show photographs of your childhood bedroom with premiums tacked to your walls, forget it, it doesn’t work.)The right answer to this question should meet the following criteria:

1. It should be sincere.
2. It should demonstrate passion. A successful answer will probably not include the phrase “I am passionate about your business,” but that sentiment will be clear from the answer.
3. It should come from the gut. This is not to say that you cannot or should not think through your answer. It is, however, to say that your answer should address the question at a fundamental level: no hype, no fancy language, no catchphrases such as “team player” or “add value.”
4. It should be revealing. Now is the time to take a risk and share something about yourself… specifically, what you hope to get out of the relationship.
5. It should indicate an appreciation for the interviewer’s point of view. The interviewer doesn’t really care how good you think you are; all she has to do is post an opening on CareerBuilder and 1,300 people with resumes just like yours and over-inflated senses of self just like yours will appear at her door. With this question, she wants to know that you are thoughtful enough to understand her perspective and politically savvy enough to articulate it appropriately.
6. It should reframe the question, thus demonstrating a willingness to be proactive in uncertain environments.

When I do executive interviews, people often ask me if books about interviewing present a problem to me, since–like this article–they tell candidates exactly how to game the system. My answer is always the same: “I expect people to try to game the interview… if they’re not savvy enough to do that to me at least once, they’re too naive to run a company. That said, it’s my job to know when they’re trying to pull a fast one. A candidate can know every question I am going to ask and the textbook answers to those questions, and none of that knowledge will help, because in the moment, he can’t stop himself from being himself.

It’s the way in which he approaches his answers, not what he actually says, that gives me the information I need.

I’m sharing this because I am about to provide an example of a good answer to the question, “Why do you want to work here?” and I want all you interviewers to know that I’m actually not giving anything away here. It’s surprisingly difficult to go from the general advice above to a situation-specific answer like this one, and very nearly impossible to deliver an answer like this with sincerity except when the answer truly is heartfelt and sincere:

“I want to work here because I want to work with you. I know some of the people on your team, and I’ve seen them over the past few years or so go from people who held jobs to people who have sparks in their eyes. That spark is something I have and that I want more of. Look, I’m interviewing for a grunt job, we both know what that means in terms of the work I’ll be doing. But the work doesn’t even really matter. What I’m really looking for is an opportunity to put my shoulder to the grindstone every day for a boss who will look at me and tell me exactly where I stand and what I need to do to be the best. At this stage of my career, I think that would be the ideal plan, and from what I see, that seems to be how you run your team. I have no problem working my tail off… I just need a manager who will help me excel.”

Is this a “perfect” answer? Certainly not. And if I heard this, I would have some pointed follow up questions to find out who your friends are, what your expectations for the work really are, what working hard means to you, and how career-minded and ambitious you’ll be once you get the job. Still, I think this answer fits the criteria above and is the kind of answer that would get you off to a good start.

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Tagged as: coaching, employee, interpersonal savvy, job interview, personal branding