WHY SHOULD WE HIRE YOU?

There are job interview questions that strike terror
into the hearts of job-seekers, and then there are
interview questions that are merely depressing.
Certain interview questions are depressing because
they cause a job-seeker to ask himself "The person
could have constructed any number of thoughtful
and provocative questions, and all s/he could come
up with was this lame-ass leftover from 1963?"

There are interview questions that convey so loudly
"The person who is interviewing you today has
neither intellectual curiosity nor spark" that a
switched-on job seeker, having heard the question,
may not even want the job anymore.

One of those done-to-death and pointless interview
questions is the one that goes "With all the talented
candidates around, why should we hire you?" It's a
horrible question, because well-brought-up people
don't praise themselves, and well-brought-up people
don't ask or expect other people to praise
themselves, either.

Now, we're not castigating everybody who still asks
this question, because some companies require it.
That's not anything they should be proud of, but old
traditions die hard. For some reason, the business
world, which should be all about innovation and
speed and experimentation, tends to develop a
protocol once (a set of interview questions, for
instance) and stick with it way past the point of
usefulness.

We can do so much better, so easily! Why not ask
an interview question like "From what you've learned
about our business so far, what do you think we
should be focusing our energy on, more than we
are?" That question requires a job-seeker to rise up
and see the business from altitude, and to show his
or her brain working. We need to ask more eyes-
open questions like this, and fewer boilerplate
questions borrowed from the Mad Men era.

If we can step out of the frame that has deluded us
for years into thinking "The employer is mighty, and
I, a poor ordinary job-seeker, am an ant" then we
can answer the interview question "Why should we
hire you?" as a human being rather than as a servile
drone.

Here's how.

MANAGER: So, that's interesting, you went directly
from the Navy Seals into the Rockettes chorus line.
Good, good. Apart from your Grammy and the
climbing Mount Everest thing, is there anything else
you want to tell me about your background?

JOB-SEEKER: Not really - I'm interested in what you
guys are doing, here at Acme Explosvies. I have a
lot of questions to ask you at the proper time about
the business, and about your marketing plans
specifically.

MANAGER: Sure, we'll get to that. But let me ask
you - with so many talented people on the job
market, why should we hire you?

JOB-SEEKER: ( Oh God, no - really? Oh well. ) That's
a great question. I'm glad you brought it up. That is
a big decision that you are going to make, and my
take is that I don't envy you that decision process,
and I'm not sure you should hire me.

MANAGER: Why not?

JOB-SEEKER: You know the company, and you know
the role. You know yourself and your management
style. I know me, but you know almost everything
about what's needed here given what you're facing
in the marketplace. And most importantly, you've
met all the candidates for the job. I've only met me.
So I don't know that you should hire me, but I know
one thing.

MANAGER: What's that?

JOB-SEEKER: I know that when I find the job that is
right for me and vice versa, I'll know it, and my
hiring manager will know it, and everything will work
out just the way it should. That could be this job, or
it could be a different one. I have total confidence in
me, you and the universe to get the right answer.

You don't have to grovel on a job interview, ever.
You don't have to be evasive. You can say flat out,
"I don't know that you should hire me - there may
be someone in your interview roster who's a better
fit for the job."

You can tell the truth, politely and forthrightly, on a
job interview, and I hope that you will start to do
that. Using our alternative answer to a job interview
question that should have been retired long ago is
one way to start reclaiming your power.
The more your mojo grows on your job search, the
more appealing you will be to employers -- the ones
who get you and therefore deserve you, which is to
say the only employers we care about -- and the
more you'll appreciate what you bring to the
conversation. If you're going to get all dressed up,
go on a job interview and spend time with people
you don't know who also aren't paying you, don't
you at least deserve to show up at the interview as
yourself?

Break a leg