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?

Depends on the job - and the experience of the candidate. If you have a very overqualified candidate but they have a thoughtful and reasoned explanation for why this is a good role for them at this point in their career it can help to allay fears that it's just a stopgap and they will be leaving at the first opportunity.

Of course they could be lying.

It also weeds out the people who have no idea what the role really entails and you'd be surprised how many of those actually get to the interview stage (in some industries).

All interview questions are designed to work out the following three key needs of the hiring person / team (whose reputations are on the line if they hire a dud):

• Can the person do the job? (Skills)
• Will they do the job? (Commitment)
• Will they fit in well with the current team and therefore keep the overall team functioning well? (Likeability/personality)

Questions like why do you want the job are used to judge the second two issues.

I interview for staff in a large special school, it is always our opening question and shows us if the candidate has an understanding of the type of school it is. Some candidates obviously have no idea.

Interviews work both ways - the candidate should also be using the interview to assess how suitable the employer is.

Anyone asking questions such as "If you were an animal, what would you be?" or "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" (for a job that realistically has no prospect for advancement) is also revealing something about the company - in my experience that they have read some American recruitment manual or have a Head Office memo that insists that they ask these questions, or simply cannot think of anything sensible to ask.

The answer from the candidate to "Why do you want to work here?" should be "Prospects, culture, blah blah ... (to show that they've 'done some research') followed by 'and why do you (the interviewer) work here?' " but I suspect that few people have ever turned the question around.

The honest answers is, in the vast, vast majority of cases "for the money". It's not like anyone is going to work at the place for free, regardess of what other bullshit most people come up with.

It's a shit question, even if you are using it as a "have you done your research" type thing as there are better ways to ascertain that.

As an employer its the most important question.

I want to know why you want to work here. It tells me about your level of enthusiasm, your motivation, your passion, how much thought you have put into your application, how much research you have done about the job and the organisation.

It won't be a question I will be dropping any time soon.

It also weeds out the people who have no idea what the role really entails

I’m not sure about the OP, but I think “why do you want this role specifically?” is a perfectly reasonable question. My dislike is when it’s followed by “why do you want to work here” because my honest answer would be “because you are offering the role that I’m really interested in for the reasons I’ve given.” I really like where I work, but I wouldn’t want to work for the company doing any job, it’s always the specific role that I’m more interested in than the company.

I quite like answering why I want to work there, however I am unable to ever really articulate what my “greatest weakness” is… mainly because the truth would end my interview (can be lazy, unreliable, bad timekeeping, frequent taker of breaks etc 😂)

It helps weed out the candidates that are generally interested from those who just need a job, any job.

I interviewed two people yesterday, one said he was really excited about the role and would feel proud to work for an organisation that has achieved x, y and z. Also he is aware that there are some great opportunities form learning and development and to progress his career.

The second said he was scoring to the end of his fixed term contact and so was starting to look around!

@MajorCarolDanvers

As an employer its the most important question.

I want to know why you want to work here. It tells me about your level of enthusiasm, your motivation, your passion, how much thought you have put into your application, how much research you have done about the job and the organisation.

It won't be a question I will be dropping any time soon.

Why is it the most important question when in reality the top answer is "because you are going to pay me?"

I don't really care if the people I work with etc have a passion for the job or have looked over the companies last 10 years accounts. If they are reliable and can do the work, that's more than enough. Let's be honest, none of your employees would stay if you stopped giving them money.

I think it’s not an unreasonable question.
It’s very rare that a job is literally the only job available in a whole town / area or that someone has genuinely applied to every vacancy in the region so there’s clearly some selection process in choosing where you are applying.

@MajorCarolDanvers

As an employer its the most important question.

I want to know why you want to work here. It tells me about your level of enthusiasm, your motivation, your passion, how much thought you have put into your application, how much research you have done about the job and the organisation.

It won't be a question I will be dropping any time soon.

So true. Because this tells an employer why, if they were offering the same money/benefits as a competitor, the candidate would pick them over the competitor. What made the candidate choose to apply there as opposed to somewhere else?

@StepAwayFromGoogling

With that attitude, I wouldn't want to employ you, OP.

I couldn't have said it better. Although I'm pretty sure the OP will say that they don't care. They don't seem to care much about anything related to their job besides the money.

The honest answer to that one is usually "because you are recruiting and competitor isn't" or "I've applied to both and I don't really care who I work for and I'm just going to go with whoever pays the most".

Most people are working solely to fund their lives outside of work. Let's not pretend otherwise.

"They don't seem to care much about anything related to their job besides the money."

... which is true for most people, and I fail to see why that is a problem as long as they show up on time and can perform their duties as required.

Nobody who works in a shop has a passion for selling you fruit, but as long as they do it, does it matter?

Because people who are passionate and enthusiastic about their jobs perform better.

If you aren't at least a little bit enthusiastic about the job/company then I don't want you working for me.

I don't think that's necessarily true at all, and it's very role dependent in any case.

And even if it's true, that doesn't stop the honest, most important answer being "for the money" - but we have to play this little game that we all are giving up 8 hours of our day because we can't think of anything better to do.

@PineappleWilson
But when job hunting, a candidate will likely have applied to lots of other companies, why would yours be any more special?

@FTEngineerM
I have never in my life had a company's best interests or goals at heart, only mine. Companies don't care about you, no matter what they say. Don't get me wrong, I turn up, do the job to the required standard, keep on good terms with my colleagues and boss. I care about doing the job to a good standard, because that's what they're paying me for and I do take pride in my work.
But if I didn't need the money I wouldn't be there. The exception would be if it was a charity whose cause I believed in.

I agree OP, it's a pointless question for most jobs, unless the job in question is a vocation, like nursing or teaching or a charity, and they want to know what attracted you to that field of work. But for a bog standard office job, not so much.

@KleineDracheKokosnuss But no one does give a damn about ESG credentials or "reputation for excellence". The training programme, maybe.

Most people pick companies because of pay and other factors like location...so actually the "bad" answer was the truthful one, that most candidates think but don't say, because they just tell the interviewer what they want to hear. This is probably why so many corporate places are toxic to work in, because the people who get hired are the ones who can bullshit the most, rather than the honest ones!

People who say the question is pointless are missing the point that the way a candidate answers a question is part of the assessment.

And of course there are some roles, jobs and companies that it would not be particularly necesssary. But for many roles it's a potential insight into how a candidate is planning their career progression, and what the mutual exchange of benefit is between the candidate and the company - and in some cases why this particular team within a company.

If you're hiring an office manager for your fashion design business and you have two candidate equally skilled, and equal experience in running an office, the one who has a long standing interest in fashion design and sales is going to be a more enthusiastic team member and better at interacting with clients and suppliers than the one who doesn't see it as any different than running the office at a building supplies company.

@ChocolateDigestivesMmmm my colleagues do actually care about the ESG and they take pride in the reputation for excellence. They’re forever going on about it. Ad nauseum.

And frankly, we have a website with about 100 pages on myriad issues, achievements and general news items. A candidate should be able to find something that piques their interest.

Having rediscovered the marvels of current recruitment practices and the multi-hoops a candidate has to jump through prior to even being invited to an Interview.

I am rather bemused by those many pps here claiming that asking this question because it 'weeds out' weak candidates.

Surely all those multi-hoops that HR/Recruitment 'professionals' require candidates to jump through prior to Interview should be enough?

Or, maybe the HR/Recruitment 'profession' is a big non-job for people that don't know what else to do.

@TheHateIsNotGood

Having rediscovered the marvels of current recruitment practices and the multi-hoops a candidate has to jump through prior to even being invited to an Interview.

I am rather bemused by those many pps here claiming that asking this question because it 'weeds out' weak candidates.

Surely all those multi-hoops that HR/Recruitment 'professionals' require candidates to jump through prior to Interview should be enough?

Or, maybe the HR/Recruitment 'profession' is a big non-job for people that don't know what else to do.

Well, the HR process should pick the candidates with the best skills and experience from the total applicants. If you consider that some jobs have hundreds of applications for one job, you need someone to reduce the pile to a more manageable number before the interviews. I've held interviews for a job which had over 500 applications - we interviewed 20.

By the time you get to the interview person or panel the candidates are usually fairly evenly matched in terms of what their skills and experience look like on paper. The interview is working out if this person in front of you will fit well within the team.

Questions like "why do you want this job" are also sometimes used as an easy starter question to break the ice, get someone talking, let them feel confident with a good start. Because it's such a common question it's an easy one to practice and think about.

How people react non-verbally to these common questions also tells you a lot about them. Looks of panic, sighs of boredom, eye rolling, open confident smile etc. Honestly, if you can't be bothered to make a little bit of effort for five minutes in an interview are you going to be rolling your eyes and huffing with boredom when the job gets a bit tedious every now and then, no one wants that on their team.

@KleineDracheKokosnuss Haha yeah sure they do. If you're the boss they're simply boot licking in the hope of a promotion/pay rise. I see this in my work and it's so transparent. No sane person truly cares about vague corporate bullshit.
You can definitely see the divide between employers and employees on this thread though, and how deluded/up their own arse employers are.

I’ve never asked that specifically but I have asked what interested them about the role and that’s definitely worthwhile because the number of times someone has described a completely different job and skill set needed is astounding. One woman said she wanted a change from her current role while involved xyz and apparently bored her to death, and had to explain the role she was interviewing for would involve much the same type of work. Her poor face but equally she was wasting everyone’s time and the following half hour was awkward as arse.