When you consider interviews as a process to showcase your potential, it is quite normal to expect questions like, “why are the best person for this job?”
Here is the thing – You want to answer this type of self-explanatory interview question in a proper format.
In this article, we are going to discuss how to prepare for this question along with some practical sample answers.
You can think that after submitting a resume or giving a selection test, you may have given enough proof about why you’re the best candidate for your target job.
But, during the interviews, if you cannot present yourself in an impressive manner, your resume or other selection criteria will not do much for you. That is why, even if this looks like a simple question, handling it carefully is critical.
The main goal is to be confident while mentioning your relevant skills and deliver suitable references providing evidence of your skills and differentiation!
Both freshers and experienced candidates might face this interview question and there are different ways to prepare and answer.
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Why do interviewers ask ‘Why are you the best person for this job?’
Among multiple resumes mentioning more or less the same skills, the hiring manager needs to find the right employee for his company. They are trying to understand your potential, understanding of the job position, confidence, and ability to handle challenging situations.
This type of question generally comes after you describe yourself or mention your experience. It is their job to find the best candidate and your job is to stand out. So, first, understand what are the goals behind this interview question.
5 Big Reasons why Interviewers ask – Why are you best suited for this job?
1. The interviewers want to find out the unique qualification or differentiation, that gives you the highest chance to perform well for the job.
2. They want to examine whether you understood the exact job responsibilities. It may seem a very basic thing to do but most interviewees avoid putting effort to understand what the job entails.
3. They want to know if you’re able to sell yourself and convince the interviewers. Communication is one of the skills crucial for success at the workplace. And part of it is to be able to explain yourself clearly!
3. They also may ask this question to assess your confidence levels in terms of the job and how you encounter difficult situations.
4. It gives them insight into your self-awareness too. They can get a sneak peek at your strengths and weaknesses.
5. Last but not least, this makes you help them satisfy their most important quest rather quickly. You help them actually understand if you may be the best fit for the job, faster!
According to a recent article in Forbes, companies are putting diversity at the forefront. So, there are candidates from diverse backgrounds and offer more people from different communities. So, it is important to keep pace with your presentation.
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How to prepare for answering “Why are you the best person for this job?”
According to Naceweb, the current success rate to qualify for a job interview is around 42%. And, as you know, sales is a tough industry to get selected for a job. To make a top-notch preparation you need to note some key points.
1. Understand the job description
Almost everyone applies for a job after reading the job description but you need to find the minute details before preparing for an interview. As mentioned in the previous section, interviews would look for a candidate who can understand the responsibilities and act accordingly.
Try to find out the key requirements and then map them with your abilities. For example, if a company wants a front desk manager who has an understanding of basic technical components for computers to deal with regular queries from customers. As you noticed this requirement, you can now develop your skills accordingly.
2. Follow the organization’s work culture
The next important research aspect is about the overall company performance and their working methods. When you’re aware of the company’s mission you can mention that in your answer. It is a good way to impress your hiring manager. Also, it will let you showcase your research skills and your dedication.
To stand out in an interview round, these are the details you need to cover besides speaking about your skills and experiences.
3. Narrow down your relevant strengths
In sales, time management and speaking skills play a very important role. Likewise, in the interview, you need to be precise about your answer and while describing your abilities, you need to speak to the point.
You cannot take too much time and speak about 10 different skills. Following the previous two points, when you can find three to four reasons that cover your key strengths, talk about them in a crisp manner with some explanatory examples.
Here is one article which will help you understand – How to Identify your Strengths?
4. Practice the answer
Practice his pitch before a client meeting, you also practice your answer as you need to showcase yourself and convince the interviewers. You can also discuss your approach with your friends or someone who belongs to the sales field.
10 Types of Skills That Help You Position Well and Differentiate when Answering this Question
- Logical thinking and problem-solving
- Positive approach with a calm mind
- Active listening and communication
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Business intelligence
- Leadership
- Management
- Multitasking
- Behavioral and motivational
- Negotiation
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How to answer ‘Why are you the best person for this job?’
There are three important points you need to cover while answering why you are the best person for this job. Each of these sections will count your confidence, skill, and presentation.
1. Find out your Unique Education/ Experience
Talk about your educational background or job experience that made you exceptional in the sales field. Match the demographic of your experience with the job requirements.
For example, I noticed that you need an employee who can describe tour destinations with proper presentations. And, I have done a crash course on tourism management for a year. This is an additional skill that would help me to work as per the company’s demand.
2. Explore Particular Passion
Mention what makes you passionate about this particular job apart from taking why you want to work in sales. As you’ve researched the company’s mission, their work culture, you would find something that boosts your passion.
For example, I wanted to join a company that cares equally about its employees and customers. Recently, I saw a post on your Facebook page featuring free healthcare services for all employees. I talked to some of your existing employees as well to know more about it. And then I decided to apply for a job here.
3. Your Differential Value for the company
Before they ask, tell the interviewers the ways you can help the company. Only your research can help to find out where you can put extra effort to help the company. If you’re experienced, you can also mention how you help that company to achieve any ough target.
Also, share some hyper-relevant information with the interviewers to make them understand how passionate you are. Like you’re available immediately or you live near the office that cut down the transport stress.
There are multiple ways to answer this sales interview question. If you’re experienced, map your learnings with the requirements to make an ideal answer.
#Sample answer 1
In my last job as a sales representative, I had the responsibility to manage customer complaints and communicate with them with a solution. As I noticed in your job description, you mentioned that you need someone who has good communication skills. I think I can work most efficiently in this role as I can listen to the customer and solve their problem quickly as possible. It needs multitasking skills to talk to the customer, understand the root cause, think of the possible solution and make sure they are satisfied.
Why it works:
In this answer, you not only shared your skills but also mentioned that you’re aware of the core responsibilities in the target job.
Also, in your answer, you can emphasise your skills so that lack of experience doesn’t really matter. Companies are likely to hire freshers as they can be moulded according to the need and they have room to learn cope up with new approaches.
#Sample answer 2
Before applying for this job, I talked to some people in my network who are working in sales and realised I have potential. I can convince people with my interactive communication skills and offer something with a problem-solving approach Also, in my academic experience, I did a lot of teamwork, arranged workshops for 100-200 people single-handedly. These experiences would help me to work as per the company requirements.
Why it works:
These type of answers work better for freshers who don’t have professional experience but they are aware of the relevant skills. In this answer, more than one reason is covered that reflects your potential.
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Tips to impress the interviewer when they ask ‘Why are you the best person for this job?’
- It is better to keep your answer concise. Remember all the points and talk about them in a confident tone. Do not exaggerate it unnecessarily as they would make the interviews lose concentration and gradually your chance can be lost.
- As the question is about your match with the company, do not keep talking about your skills or why you want this job too much. Instead, say how your skills can help the company’s overall growth.
- Apart from the core skills, you can mention some extra qualifications or experience that you think can work in the target role.
- Only use relevant skills while answering this question. This is not the only question you need to answer. So, save your skills for the right answer. Talking too much won’t work to qualify you as a hired employee.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Do not try to memorise the answer. Sound natural and confident to make sure that you deserve the role in the company.
- Do not compare yourself with others while describing your strengths. It is good to be competitive but it is dangerous to sound rude or negative.
9 Similar Questions to Why are you the best person for this job?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why are you suitable for this job?
- How do you say you are the best person for the job?
- What makes you a good fit?
- Tell us about your sales skills that make you perfect for this role.
- According to you, what are the most important skills you need to have to be selected for this role?
- What makes you exceptional to get hired for this job?
- What sets you apart from other candidates for this role?
- Why do you want this job?
Summary
In such an explanatory interview question, all your situation response and behavioural skills are tested in one go.
As these types of questions cover a large area to answer, you need to plan it out properly. Generally, these questions are asked at the beginning of the interview round and multiple counter questions can be asked with reference to your answer.
So while choosing the skills or describing an example, it is better to choose the comfortable one as you need to talk further about them. Also, if you’re applying for a sales job from any other background, you have a chance to get hired only if you can sell yourself better.
