When you are preparing for a job interview, it is so important to make sure you are ready to answer any questions that the prospective employers might have for you. There are a lot of things you are going to need to get right when you go to a job interview, and the impression you make here could well be the deciding factor in you getting offered a job.
With this in mind, you need to prepare carefully in order to give yourself the best possible chance of giving a great interview. Make sure you think about how you are going to answer specific questions, especially the question ‘Why are you interested in this position?’ These are some tips for tackling this generic question head-on and giving the best possible answer.
Show you understand the job role
The first thing you need to do is show you understand the job role you are applying for. Your answer should illustrate this and should be something that shows you connect with the work. You would be surprised how many people seem unable to articulate exactly why they want to do a particular job. Understand the job description beforehand, and be aware of what is expected of you.
Sound interested in doing the work
There is nothing more off-putting for an interviewer than a candidate who doesn’t seem interested in the work they are applying to do. You need to display that you have a keen interest in the job, even if that isn’t necessarily the case. The trick here is to make it clear that you want this job in particular, and not just any random job in general. It’s amazing the number of people who fall down on this very obvious part of the process.
Try to link it to the career path you’ve taken
A great way of answering this question is to show how the position links to the trajectory of your career. If you have had very different jobs in the past, this is a good technique to make you a leading candidate. You’ve got to do as much as possible to make sure you think about linking it to things you might have done in the past, as well as showing why you are at the perfect point in your life for this job.
Don’t make it seem like a stepping stone
Now, it might be true that you are looking to use this job as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, but the company doesn’t need to know that! You need to be careful about what you say and ensure that you don’t let on that you view the job as some sort of stop-gap or stepping stone. The interviewer wants to be sure they can rely on the fact that you’re going to be in your position for a while, and it’s your job to make them think that!
These are just a few of the ideas you can arm yourself with that are going to help you when it comes to answering this question in the best possible way. This is one of the key questions that you need to make sure you get right when it comes to improving your employment prospects. Look at what you can do to improve the way you answer this question, and ace your job interview as a result.
