Why do you want to work here?

[LottyD32]

AIBU to detest this question and find it completely pointless?

Why do they still ask it?
What do they hope to glean from your answer?

We all know the answer mostly is 'I couldn't care less, just give me the job and pay me' so why do they insist on making people jump through these ridiculous hoops?

We always ask that question in interviews, but then our company is quite unusual in its set up so it can be very illuminating to hear people's answers.

Has everyone forgotten that the corporate bollocks, psychologically manipulative, deliberately obscure, technically demanding, linguistically complex, impossible to answer truthfully question we are talking about is "Why do you want to work here

yes but it's masking other things that they want to know. For example, a more honest question might be "how do you deal with being micromanaged" or indeed "how do you feel about a flat structure with lots of individual responsibility".

Attitudes to this question depend on an individual's value on work and the workplace.
The utility of work. I think for some the workplace and work are part of their intrinsic identity, and employers asking this question need to know whether a potential employee's identity matches the company.

Personally, work for me, is where I earn money, outside interests that are separate from work, and the workplace fulfills my needs.
As long as the customers are happy and my invoices are paid, work has fulfilled its function.
One of the issues with the modern UNI-educated workforce is the lack of character, everyone sounds like an identikit homogenous mass-produced robot.
Corporate values certainly shape and socialize people.

I like my current job. I don't love it, but I like the people an d the role, and I'm lucky I only have to work part time at this stage of my life!I

I'm always on time. I do the work to the best of my ability. I get on well with my co worker's, but the best time of the day for me is when I walk out the door at home time.
That"s when my real life takes shape. I don't give work a second thought.
All this corporate bollox is just plain ludicrous. Those of us who have been in the workforce for years see straight through it and know it for what it is.!!

I got asked this over and over in an interview for a very junior events role. I kept replying showing my research of their website and showing how my skills were a fit for the role, etc. I could tell they hated my answer, but didn’t understand why.

Didn’t get it. Found out later that the team were heavily into the party scene - booze, drugs, casual sex etc - and wanted an answer that was less about the website and more “It looks loads of fun!”

They were quite right not to hire me I would have been a terrible fit. So, I do think it can be a useful question even at junior level. Even for check out supermarket in which case the question can check that the candidate isn’t over-ambitious and is looking for what the job offers.

(Agree it’s a hideous question to answer though.)

@MRex

Posters seem to be talking across each other in comparing professional role interviews with kids shelf stacking in one or another supermarket. I agree there is no point in the question for basic retail, admin or other low skill roles. It isn't surprising that people doing those roles think the only answer is "for the money".

In professional roles hoeever there's huge differences in motivation between people targeting a step up including training, extending skills in a particular industry, having old colleagues they want to rejoin in a different company, interest in a particular new code base, interest in the USP of that company's product, interest in travel to certain markets etc etc etc. It's relevant and interesting in those cases, and money is not the only motivator for people doing those jobs.

Posters seem to be talking across each other in comparing professional role interviews with kids shelf stacking in one or another supermarket

I agree - that is very apparent after reading the thread.

@Thewindwhispers

I got asked this over and over in an interview for a very junior events role. I kept replying showing my research of their website and showing how my skills were a fit for the role, etc. I could tell they hated my answer, but didn’t understand why.

Didn’t get it. Found out later that the team were heavily into the party scene - booze, drugs, casual sex etc - and wanted an answer that was less about the website and more “It looks loads of fun!”

They were quite right not to hire me I would have been a terrible fit. So, I do think it can be a useful question even at junior level. Even for check out supermarket in which case the question can check that the candidate isn’t over-ambitious and is looking for what the job offers.

Eww makes their question seem really groomy. Checking you out to see if you’d be into drugs and casual sex 🤢 You we’re best out of there!

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