how to answer “why are you interested in this position?”

by Alison Green on February 7, 2023

Sit down for any job interview and one of the first questions you’re likely to be asked is, “Why are you interested in this position?”

For a lot of interviewers, this is a softball question: a way to ease into the interview without hitting you with high-pressure questions the minute you sit down. And to some extent, it is a softball question – but that doesn’t mean you should wing it. Sometimes candidates respond in a way that triggers concerns for their interviewer, like that you’re not actually that interested or that you’ve completely misunderstood what the job is. So while the question might sound straightforward, it has the potential to derail you if you don’t think through your answer ahead of time.

At New York Magazine today, I talked about how to answer it well. You can read it here.

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  1. NeedRain47*

    Last two interviews I had didn’t even ask this. I had a lovely and sincere answer prepared but they asked purely skills based questions. I wonder if they are saving it for the second interview or if they’re done pretending to care.

    1. I should really pick a name*

      Not everyone asks the question. That doesn’t mean they’re pretending to care.

    2. Boom! Roasted!*

      I really do want to know when I ask! Are you passionate about our industry? About the role? Are you excited to work with us or just trying to get out of a bad situation. You might be surprised at the candor this question often garners.

      1. ferrina*

        Ditto! It’s also a great opportunity to clear up any misconceptions- if they say that they are super excited to do X, but X is only 10% of the role, I want to clear that up right away so they have the right information to decide if this is the right role for them. (I’d rather have strong candidates opt out than opt in with incomplete information and become disgruntled or leave less than a year later)

      2. Decidedly Me*

        Same! I truly want to know when I ask this. It typically provides really useful information, allows you to clear up confusion, etc.

    3. Radioactive Cyborg Llama*

      The role I supervise is so specialized and niche that it takes 1.5-2 years just to get past being essentially a trainee. I don’t want to hire people who are going to leave in 3 years. At that point it’s a wasted investment. So, I very much care what attracts people to the job.

    4. Emily (she/hers)*

      I always ask this question! One, because I’m legitimately curious. Two, because it can get some surprising answers!

    5. Emmy Noether*

      I ask variations of this question (sometimes phrased more like “what made you pick this particular offer to apply”, because I’m perfectly aware that people are interested in the position because they’re looking for a job to pay the bills).

      The answers vary widely, but are most often informative about how people think and what they value. Some talk about their expectations of the role, which can clear up misconceptions early. Some show off that they read our website.

      One went completely off the rails talking about how he really just wants to follow his girlfriend to [our city] and he’s so jealeous of her awesome new interesting job in [not our field] and he applied to anything and everything in the region (it’s ok to have those reasons privately, but there’s such a thing as being too forthright, and there’s gotta be something else that’s both true and not shooting oneself in the foot ).

  2. DragoCucina*

    Love the library related answer in no. 4. It gets at the essence of what we do–connecting people and information. Lots of librarians are moving to knowledge or information management positions in corporations and this is short and translates well.

  3. Bookworm*

    All good points. Years ago I interviewed for an entry-level type job at a law school, trying to get work experience. I had said something super off-hand about maybe applying for law school in a few years and it was like I killed someone’s dog. To this day I’m not sure what set them off (I didn’t say I was looking to apply to that school specifically or even apply to any further educational program immediately) but TBF they were also in the midst of some chaotic administrative stuff.

    Didn’t get the job, not to my surprise. Which was fine, since I moved on to another part of the country within the year anyway.

    1. NotAnotherManager!*

      I worked in a DC law firm for years, and we (and most of our peers) had a program for people who were interested in going to law school. We anticipated people being with us for about 2 years, though there were opportunities for those who were interested in a paralegal or law firm administration career to find a place with us as well. We knew what the program was and why people were there, and expecting people to pretend they weren’t intending to leave for law school was silly. I used to acknowledge it up front so candidates didn’t feel like they had to hide their interest in law school.

      1. Bookmark*

        Not to mention, it’s an *extremely* good idea for someone interested in law school to spend some time in a law firm before going back to school. It can be a brutal career/lifestyle and it’s such a common TV/generic profession that lots of people interested in going to law school don’t really have a sense of what the day to day of a lawyer is likely to entail. My spouse saved tens of thousands of dollars and years of misery by taking the advice of a current lawyer to try working in a law firm first.

        1. NotAnotherManager!*

          Ha! I see you know my introductory speech, including the, “This is not Law & Order (or your favorite legal procedural)!” and “spend a year or two with me before you sign the loan paperwork”.

          When I did that, the worst-prepared associates tended to be the ones that had gone straight from undergrad to law school. Very smart people, totally unprepared for the workforce and the actual practice of law. I think law school is starting to incorporate more practical coursework, but it’s still very ivory-tower-academic – most of my second-year paralegals were more useful than a first-year associate.

          I would love to go to law school, but, alas, I was not born into a family that could afford the $100K tuition for me, and I’m not interested in practicing law, especially BigLaw. If I win the lottery, I’d totally go for fun.

          1. Bookmark*

            My own rude awakening to this was as an entry-level employee at a nonprofit just post-Great Recession, considering going to law school. Then I started getting dozens of applications for an intern position I would be managing from people who had passed the bar in multiple states. Agree that law school sounds kind of perversely fun, if it didn’t involve all the debt.

            1. Dragon*

              That sounds like the recession of the early 1990s, when law firms discovered they’re businesses like any other. I saw a federal government senior paralegal position draw applications from ten lawyers.

          2. Delta Delta*

            I’ve often thought about writing a procedural based on the life of a real lawyer, like me. It would be a lot of silence, returning emails, leaving phone messages, and being on hold with various government agencies. And then there’s a Very Special Episode that involves a trip to the office supply store to buy pens. That’s a big day, indeed.

          3. TomatoSoup*

            Even with some movement toward more practical skills, law school is still very academically/philosophically oriented. I had many professors, especially in 1L who had gone straight from federal clerkships to academia. One had even gotten a PhD in law (this is extremely unusual, even among law professors). I loathed this about law school and it made me miserable, then it turned out that different things made law *practice* a miserable experience.

        2. Trawna*

          That was very good advice. I was interested in going into law, so I worked as a researcher at a law firm for six months after my undergrad.

          It was an eye-opener. I knew there was no way I wanted to work in that stratified atmosphere, nor bill my one and only life in six-minute increments.

          I got well out before taking on the debt I would have incurred.

          No, thank you!

    2. Delta Delta*

      I wonder if they thought you were trying to circumvent the admissions process. Law school admissions is not fun and it’s serious business (and is undergoing a possible transformation which is also very difficult) and I can see how, if it was a very competitive school, they might have just about had it with people trying to get in the door by getting a job in the mail room or whatever.

  4. Emily*

    The first time I was recruited for a position, I talked to the recruiter and they thought I seemed like a good fit, so they passed me on to the hiring manager. The company I was recruited for was at the time making the news for being a highly toxic work environment, but the salary was good. So I was willing to keep talking, but not totally sold on the job. The hiring manager opened with “Why do you want to work at [Big Company]?” and my thinking brain turned off and I said, “Well, actually you guys called me.” The interview really went downhill from there but in the end I think it was for the best.

    2. A Penguin!*

      I’ve done that a couple times, though not quite that abrupt. Something like “Well I’m reasonably happy where I am now, but your recruiter made it sound interesting enough that it was worth a conversation.” Rarely ends well; In my experience it seems the hiring manager almost never realizes that their company is going out looking for people, and thinks all the candidates came to them.

      1. Pudding*

        I gave that answer to a recruiter friend in a mock interview, and she stopped me and told me to reframe it. She pointed out, in the limited time I was getting to share about myself in an interview, I was taking time making a point that boiled down to minimizing my interest in the job. “Actually, you contacted me” translates to “I’m not as interested in you as you are in me” or “I’m actually not that interested.” That’s not a useful tack to take…if you’re super disinterested, why are you there, and if you’re not, focus on explaining your interest.

      2. cosmicgorilla*

        The company may be out looking for people, but there’s a reason you decided to go check it out. A Penguin!, at least you acknowledged why you continued on. The “well, you called me” response (which I have received in an interview), shuts down the conversation. Why, yes, we called you, but YOU agreed to talk to us. YOU agreed to come in for an interview. Why? There’s more to it than “we called you.” If you weren’t at all interested, you wouldn’t be here. At the very least, make up some good-sounding BS. Tell us we’re pretty.

      3. allathian*

        It doesn’t really matter whether the recruiter called you or you replied to a job posting, something interested you enough to get you to that interview. Focus on that, the hiring manager isn’t really interested in how you got the interview, but rather why you’re there at all.

    3. Things are getting better*

      I just did that, but used a phrasing along this line “I like what I do and where I work, but I´m also aware that I´m at the top of how much I can grow here, and the way the position is described sounds like a good next step for me”.

      Since I’ve had three more interviews with them (and just scheduled one with the GM), I think of it as a good answer.

  5. Aggretsuko*

    I have applied for so many jobs where I just don’t care about the job AT ALL, it doesn’t sound interesting, I don’t really want to do it, I only want to do it because it’s not phones-and-front-counter and that’s the only selling point for me. Hard to fudge and lie about that, I guess.

    1. Helewise*

      I think you can parcel that in a way that works, because that really does matter. Since it’s NOT phones/counter work, it IS – more working with internal stakeholders, building ongoing supportive relationships with colleagues, focused on organizing or accuracy, etc. I don’t know if I’m saying this clearly, but not public-facing has a positive flip-side as well.

      1. Aggretsuko*

        Love these suggestions, I’m saving them in my files for the next time a job interview comes up :)

    2. hbc*

      I think you can still spin it positively. It sounds like you actually do care about the job a bit, in that it’s not as bad as your other options. So what’s the thing that makes it less bad? And is there anything that’s even possible to be a good thing on its own?

      “I’m looking to make a transition away from direct customer support, and…
      -I’m a fast typer and think I’d be able to do very well at data entry.”
      -I like being active so I think being a warehouse worker would be a good fit.”
      -this position seems to take advantage of my customer support skills while adding new skills.”

      Basically, figure out how this one ended up on the “not a definite no” list.

      1. Aggretsuko*

        Love these suggestions, I’m saving them in my files for the next time a job interview comes up :)

    3. GreenShoes*

      My advice is to figure out what you are running to and forget about what you are running away from. As a hiring manager, I’m good with honesty in answers “I’m looking for a change from X and your Y position appears to spend more time doing Z” But I don’t want candidates who are treating my job as a life raft that will be abandoned when the first rowboat comes by.

      If nothing else, what makes that particular ‘non phone/counter’ job more appealing than another? If you can’t answer that then you might need to do a little more research on the company or something in the job description/announcement that said.. hey this is worth my time.

      If you can’t do that, then I’d try to work on a way that will get you in a positive headspace, because interviewers will pick up on desperation and dejection.

      1. Aggretsuko*

        Hahahah, I don’t really have a “running to” because I don’t care about my career–I type for money so I have a home and car and my actual interests aren’t financially viable/doable as a career, I’m totally out of interest in any jobs I see.

        But yeah, agreed on focusing on the activities that sound at least less bad than what I’m doing. I don’t have options to jump ship anyway so if I get some other job, I’m probably in that one for life, even if it’s not something I love, because see above.

        Saving this on my list of suggestions too, thank you!

    4. Bridget*

      I went through a period where the only jobs I was getting responses to my resume were basic Admin jobs that I was over qualified for, but I had been self employed for a long time so I accepted that I would probably need to take a step back in order to go corporate again. I’m fine with doing admin work, but not particularly passionate about it, and so getting those questions from someone who clearly wanted a lot of enthusiasm was tough. Like, I don’t care all that much about ordering food for your weekly meetings, but I gotta work.

      BTW, never got one of those jobs, but did get recruited for something better with a more relaxed interview structure.

      1. Phryne*

        I once had an interview for a temp job filling in for 7 months for someone going on maternity leave. It was with a publisher and I guess they were very used to people jumping at the opportunity to work for them. I’d just gotten my MA in History and the position pretty much was sorting mail and filing stuff. They decided not to go with me because I lacked enthusiasm about the job.

        The temp agency told me I was the tenth or eleventh person they rejected on that ground, they had been looking for over 6 weeks, they only were interested in people with a degree and the mother-to-be was about to pop without a replacement. I hope they found someone with a masters who was chomping at the bit to sort their mail in time.

    5. Phryne*

      I’ve totally once said “you know how many people describe themselves as ‘I’m a people person?’… I’m not a people person”.
      (I did soften it down wit an explanation that I absolutely can work and enjoy working with other people, just that overall I’m more of a backoffice and independent worker than a front office or team worker, which was fine for that particular job. In the end I came second and I understood they pretty much had a 50-50 vote between me and another so I did not totally tank it)

  6. Lizzianna*

    I am always surprised at how many people don’t mention the job at all when I ask this question. I work for a government agency, so we’re often paying for moves. I get a lot of people who imply, or sometimes state, that they’re only applying because they want a paid move to my city, and any agency or job will do. I actually had one applicant tell me that he wanted to retire in my city, and my agency had a shorter period after a paid move that we required him to commit to before he could retire than the other agencies he was looking at.

    1. Aggretsuko*

      This is literally what people tell me about working for my state. “Just get a state job! ANY job!” Their website is a horror, their system is a horror, and you can’t just find a job you like and apply for it. It’s literally a ridiculous system to get eligible for anything in the first place so you can’t pick a job you like/care about, it’s jumping through weird hoops.

    2. Emily (she/hers)*

      I work for a university, and we once interviewed a candidate who said he was applying because he had kids in high school and wanted the tuition benefit. Then at the end of the interview, when we asked if he had questions for us, his only question was, “How long do you need to work here to be eligible for the tuition benefit?” It was not a good look.

      1. Em*

        I mean, if he has multiple kids who are not twins, that there is an employee who is willing to invest at least five years of his life working for you (assuming tuition benefit is only for the duration of employment). Financial gain is the main reason anyone’s going to want to work for you at all, assuming you’re not interviewing volunteers, and “I want to work for you for at least five years because I love my kids” is more solid than “I am passionate about (role)”,

        1. Em*

          (Not to say there aren’t other aspects that would be a red flag, and I’d want some other reasons TO hire him, but someone being honest isn’t a bad thing. The answer that he values the work your institution does and wants to commit for years so that people can benefit from it is, if not particularly well-phrased, a fairly positive one.)

    3. SciDiver*

      It’s kind of amazing how people do this! My industry tends to involve hiring short-term assistants that get to have hands-on experience for a few months at a time, sometimes in remote areas depending on the project. We have one big project based in another country and most people just say “It would be a dream to travel to Country A!”, but nothing about the actual job or responsibilities.

    4. June First*

      YES! I work at a nonprofit and am amazed how people applying to management-level positions will answer that question with, “I want to help people” or “I want to make a difference”. That is such a generic response.

  7. HMS Cupcake*

    I usually ask this question to help gauge whether the applicant actually read the job description and did basic research about our organization. It’s crazy to me how often I can tell that they just read the job title and nothing about the responsibilities.

    1. Alternative Person*

      This. People see the key points on the job ad and think they’ve hit the jackpot with us. As much as I get it when it comes to the question itself, we’re not expecting all singing, all dancing answers about why candidates want to work with us, we still need to see some level of motivation/engagement.

  8. Margeaux*

    I always start with this question, because one of the positions I regularly hire for is constantly misunderstood. I ended up completely rewriting the job description because people were so off-base with what they thought the job was. My predecessors had written the job description in a very elevated, pie-in-the-sky way that did not reflect the day-to-day aspects of the job.

  9. Khatul Madame*

    A slight variation: suppose the employer reaches out to the candidate and the candidate decides that they are interested enough to interview, but not quite starry-eyes enthusiastic.
    They will (trust me) still get asked why they are interested, so how would such a candidate convey their interest in the position?

    1. Sola Lingua Bona Lingua Mortua Est*

      Rectangular green sheets of paper that are printed by the government?

      I kid; I struggle with the same question. So your new role is a lateral move and a $0.02 raise, against the risk you’ll yank my work-from-anywhere chain next week. How do we get the conversation headed in a productive direction?

      1. NeedRain47*

        If it’s a lateral move and 2 cent raise, if I were hiring I’d be suspicious that something was Big Wrong in applicant’s current workplace.

        1. Sola Lingua Bona Lingua Mortua Est*

          You offered me a $0.02 raise. I asked for an extra $12M/y. So… Apparently my industry has salary bands and I’m at the top of one.

      2. goducks*

        People make lateral moves for similar pay all the time. They want to shorten a commute. They want better hours. They want to do more XXX or less YYY. They think the work the new company is doing is interesting/important/relevant to them.

        As an interviewer, I don’t find any of that problematic, it’s completely legit to have reasons for changing positions that don’t come with more money/bigger titles.

    2. I edit everything*

      I think it would be a matter of rewording the question in your brain. “Why are you interested enough in this job to spend time finding out more?” Presumably, you would have declined an invitation to interview if you weren’t at least a little bit interested.

      1. I am Emily's failing memory*

        +1

        Maybe you’ve been in X niche area for a while and think that adjacent Y niche area would be a welcome change of pace, or a chance to strengthen your skills and grow as a professional, so you were curious to learn more.

        Maybe the role is just like what you do currently, so you think you’d be able to excel in it, so you felt that it was worth exploring further whether it’s a good fit for you.

        Essentially, what was it about the job that made you answer the email instead of ignoring it? It’s a first interview, so you don’t have to feign like you’re already super committed to getting an offer in order to answer this question well. You can just tell them what has piqued your interest so far, enough that you still want to hear more.

      2. goducks*

        I generally ask this question, and you’ve nailed what I’m really asking. I assume that people are interested in getting a paycheck first and foremost, that’s why we all work. But what is it about this particular job that makes you feel like it might be a good way to exchange your time/energy for money?
        I’m not looking for a specific answer, I want to know what part of the job interests them most. Do they like the organization specifically? Do they want a role that does more XXX than their current role? Do they know people who work here who rave about it? What is it?

      3. ferrina*

        Exactly this! Why is it worth for you to even talk to the company? If there wasn’t something even vaguely appealing, surely you’d be spending your time doing something else.

    3. GreenShoes*

      “I have to admit I didn’t know a lot about ACME corp when I was contacted about applying, but after hearing a little more about the PaperClip sorting position you had I did some research. I really like how you are positioning your PaperClip sorters to be the face of the company. ”

      I like to work in my research on the company to answer this question if at all possible. Hit two softballs with one bat so to speak.

      It’s not always possible to tie the company and the role together, but if there’s way to do it, it’s a good opportunity. I think my most successful example of this was way early in my career and I was interviewing for a entry level marketing role at company that made (I’ll call it) sporting equipment. I was glancing through the paper in the lobby waiting for my interview and happened to catch a big story about their sponsorship of a big sporting event. I can’t remember exactly how I did it but I worked in the company, the role, and mentioned the big story in the newspaper.

      I didn’t get the job… I think they had an internal candidate, and if I’m honest I had no real experience in marketing, nor was my degree relevant to marketing so I wasn’t a stellar candidate. It didn’t help that the interviewer didn’t know the story had run that day so basically rushed me through the rest of the interview so he could go read the article.

      Oh well… I was still proud of myself for managing to tie together my new found knowledge of the company, what little I did know about the role, and the casual drop about the big story.

    4. NotAnotherManager!*

      I’d want to know what about the position made you willing to take the call and go through the interview process. What could we offer that your current job isn’t? More opportunities to work with a specific llama breed, more collaborative work place, opportunity for a higher-level position, better professional development… all things I’ve heard.

      I’m pretty happy in my current position but will occasionally take a recruiting call if I think the job would give me a chance to do more of the things I really like to do and fewer of the things that I’m less jazzed about. Nothing right has come up yet, but I know why I took the call.

    5. Curmudgeon in California (they/them)*

      For me it would be to focus on the things I would do that are different from my current gig “Your job description said you work primarily with Foo, and I want more in-depth experience with that technology. While I sometimes use Foo in my present job, it seems like the position uses more Foo than Bar.”

      Or, you could use a generic “Your job description matches well with my experience in Foo and Bar and the direction I want to take my career.”

      The reality is it’s all about the Benjamins.

  10. I edit everything*

    My answer for the job I have now (office manager/secretary at our municipal park) was a combo of “I need to get out of my basement, where my office is” and “I want to be part of our community network.” It seemed to work, because here I am, in the park office, reading AAM and working on my current freelance project while I wait for the community to call me or stop in.

    1. Riot Grrrl*

      I think a lot of people would advise against any sort of “I need X, Y, Z” type of answer because it doesn’t speak to what you can do for them.

      HOWEVER… one of my most successful job searches was one in which I decided to be radically honest. At the time, I was a practicing visual artist at the beginning of my career, and I made no secret of the fact that I needed a job that would be containable, not one that would eat up every waking hour or leave me totally sapped and uncreative.

      I ended up taking a management role at a firm where that was the overriding ethos of the whole place–they were very keen on making sure people got out on time if not early every day, and they were explicitly against all forms of overwork. Telling them that I wanted to contain my time was music to their ears because then they knew I’d fit into the existing culture and wouldn’t come in making excess time demands on my team.

      I am certain that this was an extremely rare event, but I’m grateful that it worked out that one time.

      1. Emily (she/hers)*

        Yes, I recently interviewed a candidate who focused *a lot* of why she was looking to leave her current job. I don’t think she even realized it, but it did turn me off.

  11. Nope*

    No 3. Totally resonates. Having recruited for a fairly prestigious arts organisation, applications or cover letters which spent more time talking about the org than the role almost never made it to interview. I want to know that you can fulfil the role and want to do the actual job you’re applying for! Applications which went on and on about the org did not make applicants stand out, if anything, they were more common that those which addressed the role requirements.

    1. Smithy*

      Yeah…I’m in fundraising….there are usually far more people who like the mission of the organization where I work than like fundraising. So I enter a lot of interviews with versions of that question to figure out “why fundraising”.

      I don’t know of anyone who grew up thinking this would be their dream job, so starting with a vibe of “I liked this field and discovered this was a job I didn’t hate” is really normal – but I also need to believe the answer. Because people who start in fundraising with a desire to transition into project management or other nonprofit roles is common enough and never my ideal candidate.

      1. Lily Rowan*

        I have worked for a few prestigious and/or glamorous nonprofits, and wow, people really will just tell me that they don’t care about the position they have applied for, they just want to get into the organization! Yeah, no thank you.

        1. Alternative Person*

          Yikes.

          We get the ‘looking for an easy, well paying weekend job’ variation every now and then. I get needing to make money, but damn, some of them get shocked once we get onto duties/workload.

  12. college librarian*

    One time I was interviewing students for a position in a college library that would be entirely in the backroom. One candidate talked about how excited she was to work with students. Was it criminal to have misunderstood the job posting? No, and because it was written in Government it might have been an easy mistake to make. Might she have been exaggerating because she misunderstood and really wanted a job, any job, in the field, and she might have been equally happy with the job as it was? Quite possibly.

    But when we stacked her up against someone who understood the nature of the job better and talked about why it interested her, and how her schoolwork had been planned to get her experience in that type of job, it was an easy decision. I hope (if she was telling the truth) the first candidate did get a student-facing job! The person we hired really thrived in the position so we feel we made a good choice and didn’t stick someone who wanted to work with the public in a dusty basement room.

  13. RagingADHD*

    When I want to say “I applied to this listing because you quoted a good salary,” without actually saying that, I say something like:

    “When I read the job listing and the way you described the duties, it looked like a good match for my strengths like X and Y, and that the company really values the skills I’m bringing to the table.”

    Never had a bad response with that.

    1. Bean Counter Extraordinaire*

      ^ I typically go with something like this. Duties, skill match, strength, yada yada.

      Generic corporate bean counting is bean counting, whether the company makes chocolate teapots, sells llama grooming services, or organizes duck club parties. I can rustle up excitement for any industry that’s going to pad my bank account!

      1. Curmudgeon in California (they/them)*

        Same for me. Back end server IT is pretty much the same whether it’s an e-tailer, a brick-and-mortar plus web place, a B2B software house, a health care company, or a university. While I will filter out certain companies based on their ethics, or rather, lack of same, the rest is immaterial to me.

      2. Reluctant Mezzo*

        “I’m one of those people who sees a spreadsheet and says, ‘Let’s party’.”

        When you divide up property tax for an entire resort consisting of different kinds of properties in different stages of construction, you have to kind of be like that.

    2. NotAnotherManager!*

      I think that’s perfect. Honestly, it’s a question I ask because most candidates have prepared for it and it’s an easy thing to get started with and settle them down a little – and it’s a fairly good gauge of whether or not they read the job description.

      I’m not a passion person. I don’t need boundless enthusiasm about a job (sounds exhausting), just someone that understands what’s required, gets stuff done, and doesn’t drive their teammates nuts. It’s a fee-for-service arrangement, at it’s core, but I also want someone who’s not going to hate what they do every day.

  14. No Longer Gig-less Data Analyst*

    When I was in one of my first jobs after graduating college nearly 30 years ago, I was temping at a different college campus doing admin for someone who had left. They let me interview for the permanent position, and when asked why I wanted the job, I blithely told them it was because I needed medical insurance and that I knew employees could get tuition reimbursement (I wanted to go to grad school at the time because my undergrad degree was pretty much worthless, hence the temping).

    I thought I was just being honest, but I’m sure I couldn’t have made it more clear that answering the phone and scheduling student meetings with their advisors was not what I wanted to really be doing. When I think about it now I just want to curl up and die, but I had no idea how to interview for a professional-level job, as all my family and friends were factory or retail workers. I unsurprisingly did not get the permanent position and was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you.

    24 year old me was a very naïve idiot, but at least I eventually learned from it and got myself an eventual career path despite that.

    1. ApparentlyHonest*

      Ok, I’ll admit my worst ever answer to this question here since you did (and I’m name changing for this) :)

      My sister actually sent my resume off for a job opening that I was called for interview. I had no idea what the job was for or what the company did. (Why yes this was really early in my career!)

      So I’m at the interview and was asked the dreaded question about why I applied for the position and I had nothing… So I went with honesty. I told the interviewer that I didn’t in fact apply but my sister had on my behalf. I went on to say that she was one of the people in this world who knew me best so if she thought it would be a good fit, who was I to disagree.

      Readers… after answering more questions in a similar truthful and somewhat odd way, I did, in fact, GET THE JOB! It honestly was a great job that I learned a lot in. It turned out to be a created position (which lacked any sort of coherent structure) that essentially had me jumping into all sorts of things and a I somehow turned a smart ass answer into a career.

    2. NotAnotherManager!*

      Solidarity. I did some truly cringeworthy things in my early career because I just didn’t know. I was so lucky to have a couple of key people who kindly but firmly gave me some much-needed pointers early in my career. I got better!

      And am now making my teenagers apply for volunteer positions and things that give them opportunities to interview so we can prep and they know better than I did. I don’t even need them to get the things, just practice.

    3. Modesty Poncho*

      Young mistakes are so terrible. I get to combine them with undiagnosed autism, which comes with an instinct to be honest before I can think that maybe I should have said something else.

      My very first job was at a supermarket during high school and *no one actually stopped to explain to me what a job interview was*. My mom set it all up and drove me there and I thought it was my first day. I didn’t know what was going on. I don’t know what the hell I said that made it ok to give me that job.

      1. Tom*

        For that? You probably gave off a vibe that you would show up when scheduled, would do the work you were assigned, and wouldn’t steal anything.

        For most low-paying jobs, that’s all they’re looking for, because even achieving that is not a guarantee.

        1. Burger Bob*

          ^One hundred percent this. I’m sort of a shift supervisor equivalent in a similar work environment. The very first and foremost thing our hiring manager is interested in when she interviews people is whether they have availability for the shifts she needs to cover and whether they seem likely to reliably show up for said shifts. That’s it. We need dependable above just about everything else.

      2. Reality Biting*

        LOL! That beats my first-day cringe:

        My first real job was as a dishwasher in a college campus dining hall. Back then I thought that having a “job” always meant you had to be dressy, so I showed up on the first day in a button-down long-sleeve shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. Needless to say that was… not appropriate attire for dishwashers. I quickly learned that jeans and a t-shirt were just fine.

      3. Giant Kitty*

        LOL, as someone who is AuDHD and has also been a manager with hiring power, I’d *want* to hear the honest answer rather than have someone make up some flowery sounding BS about how much they think they’d love the role itself.

        IMHO the vast majority of jobs are not things that people are going to love or be passionate about doing, but it doesn’t mean they will not make good, conscientious, hard working employees. We do people a huge disservice by making them put on a song & dance about why they are going to really be gung ho about doing whatever it is they need to do to pay their bills/survive.

        In my working life, my priorities have been things like, pay the bills

  15. VP of Monitoring Employees’ LinkedIn and Indeed Profiles*

    Are you saying that “Because I like to have a roof over my head” isn’t acceptable?

    1. Aggretsuko*

      Sometimes I’m all, not every job is special and interesting! Nor is the work special and interesting! The work is not the appeal!

    3. Riot Grrrl*

      Of course. Getting a job is about standing out from a crowded field of applicants. Enjoying having shelter does not differentiate you in any way from any other candidate. Everyone likes that. So if you do want the job, then yes, it makes sense to say something that will differentiate you.

    4. Wes*

      Yes but the employer wants to hear why you are choosing their position to get a roof over your head, as opposed to another role (e.g. if you’re interviewing for a minimum wage job at McDonalds, why would you rather be doing that than a minimum wage job in retail or as a cleaner? You can easily make up some crap about how you see yourself working as a chef someday and want experience in a kitchen/hospitality).

  16. L*

    I felt like I had fallen into the matrix for a second when I opened AAM and saw this post at the top. I spent the morning wrestling with how to answer exactly this question in a pre-screen. (Including a “real reasons” and “more acceptable answers” draft.)

      1. Warrior Princess Xena*

        real reason: you are the only company in my field that invited me to interview.

        acceptable reason: blah blah midsize firm, lots of variety of experience, eager to learn, blah blah blah

  17. BellyButton*

    When I was recently interviewing I was glad they asked me this question because the job description and the way it was presented by their recruiter was completely off base from what they were needing. I wasn’t interested in what the role actually was and we were able to save each other a bunch of time and end the interview.

  18. Friyay*

    “Employers appreciate when people are passionate about the company, but they generally want to hire people who are invested in and enthusiastic about the actual work they’ll be doing” – I wish more interviewers/hiring folks thought about this more. I’ve been on numerous hiring committees lately where passion for/experience in the industry or organization was put very high on the rubric and the hiring manager cared a lot about that when it didn’t relate to the actual duties of that position at all. For example, an HR assistant for a picture frame manufacturer and they wanted their answer to this question to ideally include experience with or passion for picture frames. Except imagine a more esoteric product or content area. It doesn’t matter! We want them to do good HR! The people who are amazing at picture frame stuff probably won’t actually be good HR people! It’s nice if you also like picture frames but… don’t make it such a high qualificatoin.

    1. NotAnotherManager!*

      I have had more than one candidate tell me that they just want to work for my company, and it’s a huge turn-off, especially since the ones that say this to me don’t always seem to be sure what the actual job is. The funny part is that we are a mid-sized, local organization that rarely makes the news locally (much less nationally). We’re not FAANG, entertainment industry, save-the-world, or glamorous.

      If someone ever tried to put passion or enthusiasm on a hiring rubric, I’d be calling the head of recruiting. That is not a job requirement, and certainly not worthy of a high-value ratings weight. I know my jobs, I know the key skills/experiences that make people successful in them, and neither enthusiasm nor passion appear in my very carefully crafted, oft-reviewed job descriptions for a reason.

    2. Eater of Hotdish*

      Ha, the most bee-filled place I ever worked churned through so many starry-eyed folks who Believed in the Mission and just wanted to work for our organization…and got disillusioned when they inevitably realized that we were a business trying to make money.

      Like, I get that you’re excited about, let’s say, community access to local, organic teas and teapots. Someone still has to put the teapots on the shelves and run the cash registers. We have to make enough money to keep the light on and the teapot kilns running. And we are likely going to stock tea you, personally, disapprove of, because this is a business and other people are buying the stuff.

  19. irene adler*

    My current job is a ‘jack of all trades’. When I apply to a position, it’s a subset of tasks I do now.

    So my response is that the position consists of tasks I wish to do more of, minus the tasks I wish to do less of. Which when I read the job description it made me very excited to apply!

    Then I talk a bit about those tasks that attracted me to the position.

    That usually garners a positive response from the interviewer.

    But still no job offers. Sigh.

    1. Be Gneiss*

      This was how I approached it when I moved from OldJob to NewJob. In a lot of ways, NewJob was a step down – but OldJob had me wearing so many hats and running in so many directions for way too many hours every week (and was toxic in so many other ways that I just wanted OUT).
      In my interview, I said something like “At OldJob, my responsibilities cover X, Y, and Z, but this job sounds like I would be able to use my knowledge of X and Y to really focus on doing an excellent job at Z.”

  20. Corrigan*

    I have an interview this week and this is helpful!

    I’ve been on the employer side on the interview before and I’ve definitely seen people mess up some of this stuff. I interviewed someone recently and it became clear to me rather quickly that he had no idea what the position actually was. Like the working title is “X” manager and they didn’t say the word “X” the entire time.

    I also had two people (in the same search) clearly describe the position as a stepping stone to something else. With the amount of training we have to do to get people up to speed at my job, anyone who seems like they’re really interested in doing something else is a pretty hard no.

  21. hbc*

    My favorite along these lines is when I was hiring and asked a similar question, and the candidate said, “I don’t even know why I’m here!” Our recruiter had apparently been insistent that it was a good fit without actually describing the job very well. If he hadn’t been honest, he would have turned down the offer (if I had still made it), and he wouldn’t have been one of my best hires.

    1. ThursdaysGeek*

      At my current job, which fits me well, I had applied for a different job opening, and was asked if I’d like to be considered for this position. I was unemployed, so I said yes, but I never knew what the job was, hadn’t seen a job description, and the only prep I could do before my interview was look at information on the company. I was trying hard to figure out what I was interviewing for, at the same time they were asking questions about why I wanted this particular job. Maybe it would have helped if I’d used a line like that.

  22. MR*

    I asked this last week in a phone interview. The interviewee currently lives halfway across the country and has never been to my state. They said “I got interested in moving to [city] because I watch [streaming show that is basically a version of COPS] with sheriff [county sheriff name] every week.” They said literally nothing about the job. I have so, so many questions.

    2. Aggretsuko*

      And this wasn’t applying to work at the police department?!

      I wonder how well this show uh, sells your location. And/or if this is one of the shows my friend’s husband watches :P

  23. ijustworkhere*

    I think you need to balance your response between why you want the job, and why you want the job at that company. Think about how doing that job at that company more interesting to you than doing that job at a different company to help you answer that question.

    I don’t need to hear ” this is my dream job” or “I’ve always been interested in teapot making” What I need to hear is something like
    ” I think my skills, interests, and experience fit nicely with what you want from this role (because XYZ specifics…..) AND I can do a good job for you and be part of helping you with where you want to be down the road. “

  24. Lacey*

    I think this question is hardest when you’re young and have limited job experience.
    Now that I’ve been in the workforce for a while I know what I like in a job and what appeals to me about a specific job and about my career in general.

    I do find it’s helpful, especially with businesses are either stodgy or kinda small to say something positive about how important they are to the community and how I would appreciate knowing I was a part of that. It is true for me, but I make sure to say it because the interviewer’s eyes always light up and I can feel them take me more seriously.

    I’ve never applied at an exciting company, but I can see how it would not hit at all the same way if I was applying at Disney or Penguin.

    1. Riot Grrrl*

      I think this question is hardest when you’re young and have limited job experience.

      So true. Looking back on my very first job interviews, I cringe when I think of how I answered that question. I remember being very confused by it and telling interviewers how much I needed money in a kind of “duh, of course…” tone of voice. Yikes!

    2. Princess Peach*

      This question definitely gets easier with experience. At this point in my life, I understand where my skill set fits, and I can be more deliberate about where to apply. That gives me a solid answer.

      When I just needed *any* paycheck though, what was I supposed to say? I didn’t actively want to be a barista or ring up groceries, but I could, and I was willing to trade my time and labor for money. That was really it. I lost out on many minimum wage jobs by either being too honest or awkwardly faking too much enthusiasm.

  25. OtterB*

    Some years ago I remember interviewing a candidate who talked at length about what the job would do for her career path, how it would position her, etc. But nothing at all about what she would do for us. I mean, it was an academic-adjacent position and we expected candidates to stay a few years, build their skills and knowledge, and then move on. So some amount of that was perfectly reasonable. But a more appealing answer from the hiring manager’s perspective would include a balance between the candidate’s interests and skills and the job/organization’s tasks and purpose.

  26. Mimmy*

    This was a very helpful article, thank you Alison! I am extremely selective in the jobs I apply for because I am not very good at feigning interest in a job that I wouldn’t be very interested in. Plus, my desired field is somewhat niche.

    I also have a question (if this is better for the Friday thread, let me know and I’ll post it then): I’m searching for jobs in higher education. If asked this question, should I demonstrate interest in just the unit I’m applying with, or should I also demonstrate interest in the college / university itself as well?

    1. Bookmark*

      I’m not currently in academia, but I’d say the order of priority for expressing interest would be the following (with only #1 being necessary, but the others being potential added bonuses):
      1. The actual job duties (which might or might not be related to the specialty of the unit. ex: a lab tech vs an admin assistant in a biology department)
      2. The academic setting (academia’s a weird beast, and if you have familiarity with its norms and quirks and can demonstrate a realistic view of the environment and why you like it, that’s a plus)
      3. Anything specific to the department not covered by #1 (ex: an interesting specialty, a particular reputation the department has for being collaborative or interdisciplinary, etc)
      4. Stuff about the overall academic institution. Again, I’d focus more on any particular reputation/specialization the institution has for how they do stuff, like a good relationship with the surrounding community. Nobody on the hiring committee is going to care if you’re a huge fan of the football team, with the possible exception of if you’re applying for the athletic department.

    2. Relentlessly Socratic*

      Bookmark has a good response, I’ll add that depending on the role and institution, it is good to have some handle on the overall mission and focus of the institution. It it a big STEM school? Is it a research institution or teaching institution? What is the student body like? Is it a smaller, liberal arts, private college, or a state university with a racially, culturally, and economically diverse student body?

    3. Princess Peach*

      From my experience, focus mostly on the specific job duties. When I applied & worked locally, no one really cared what I thought about the school as long as I could articulate why I wanted to work in higher ed and in that particular job. However, if you’re potentially moving for the job, they’ll likely want to make sure you won’t be unhappy there.

      All the final academic interviews I traveled for included a brief tour of the area and a couple questions about why I applied to that school, or was okay moving to that place. It was not the main focus, but it was a consideration. For COL reasons, I didn’t apply in any exciting, big cities, so the more obvious answers like, “I’d love to live in NYC!” or “there’s so much to do in Chicago!” were out. (That I was fine with the weather and prefer mid-sized cities was an apparently an adequate answer for my current job)

      At least when I was interviewing in the late 2010s, I don’t recall anyone caring about whether I was interested in things like the football team, famous alumni, or fancy architecture. The number one concern was the day-to-day of the job itself, and as a distant second when relevant, if I’d be okay with the move.

  27. WantonSeedStitch*

    I recently interviewed someone whose answer to this question was something along the lines of “well, I’ve been doing X for a long time, and I feel like I’m good at it, and your organization is really prestigious.” It didn’t wow me. (Not much about that interview did, TBH.) I wanted to hear something about why they loved the field they’d been in for so long, and what kinds of challenges and opportunities they saw in working in that kind of a role at our organization.

  28. Jess*

    I came to the comments hoping for more examples of where candidates have absolutely FLUBBED this question! X-D

    1. Relentlessly Socratic*

      Haha, I was on a hiring committee once, and in one interview a chap answered “well, I’ve made my fortune and now I want to give back by teaching….”

      That did not go over well with the faculty members who clearly had not had the foresight to make a ton of money before deciding that teaching would be a lark.

    2. anon for this*

      I was on a hiring committee once where an applicant said they were interested in getting away from their current K-12 teacher job because the school had recently been re-zoned and the new population of students included too many “section 8 people, you know what I mean,” which is just (extremely) thinly veiled racism. My org where they were applying has a reputation for being predominantly white/private/”elite,” so maybe they thought we shared those values but they were REALLY wrong. People still talk about it occasionally.

  29. myriad*

    This is all so, so true. I’ve taken on a role where I sit in on interviews for my team these days; in one round of hiring for an entry level position, we ended up with two candidates who were otherwise almost entirely matched. Their current positions were in the same role, they’d been in those positions for a similar amount of time, and had similar experience levels (which is to say, none to speak of) with our open position. The only real difference was that one answered that question (and others we asked to try to spark a deeper answer) with the equivalent of “I don’t know what I want, I just don’t want to do what I’m doing now.” The other had a fairly thoughtful answer that took some of the details of our open position into account. I sympathized with the first applicant, but in the end, the fact that the second had put some thought into this particular answer was what put them over the top, and we ended up hiring them.

  30. Sammmmmmmm*

    22 year old, post grad response to a CPA firm struggling to get associates: “ I’ve talked with a few of your associates and understand that your work load to pay ratio is a little off compared to other local firms, which was a turn off, BUT I’ve also heard about your great CPA training program and studying policies… so I want to come work here and endure the long hours, for less pay – but be supported as I take my CPA exam and get experience. In return you will have my consistency, hard work and great problem solving skills until I get my public experience to move into corporate.”

    The interviewer: “you are not wrong about any of that – I like your honesty.”

    ** gets the job, it was miserable. But I passed and got my experience and ran**

  31. AvonLady Barksdale*

    I’ve had a few conversations recently about open positions and no one has asked me this question. I just realized that. I’m going to take away that I’ve been targeting my search and focusing on the right companies if my resume and background make that much sense…

  32. Decidedly Me*

    It’s definitely important to at least appear interested when answering this question. I don’t want to hire people that will be miserable doing the job. Does it need to be their lifelong dream? No, but they are going to better (and happier) at the job if they have an interest in it.

    Thought much more common before COVID, I used to get “because I want a work from home job” a lot. While that’s fine (I want to WFH, too!), if that’s their only reason for wanting the job, they are unlikely to succeed. I’ve also found mismatches in expectations for asking this question – people thinking a role is more technical, more/less customer facing, etc.

  33. Sasha Blause*

    Hah, I once deliberately threw an interview by answering with, “because I need health insurance.”

    (The job/company was a bad fit, and I had never practiced/needed a script for ‘now that I’ve heard more, I can see this isn’t a good fit and I don’t want to waste your time.’ Cringe.)

  34. Betsy S.*

    Heh. Deep in the tech slump of 2002, after my third layoff in 12 months, I was brought in to interview with my potential team as a group. Someone asked this , and the other senior tech jumped in with “Because she needs a job!!” Everyone laughed, and we moved to other things (and I did get the job)

  35. Mark*

    We ask this question. The response I disliked the most was, “My husband recently lost his job, so until he gets a new one, we need insurance.” What that told me is that the interviewee didn’t care about the job or our business, and chances are that as soon as the husband got a job with insurance, she’d be gone.

  36. François Caron*

    I have an answer already prepared if I’m interviewed by Ford for one of their R&D technology positions in Ottawa, Ontario. I’ve even used it in my cover letters with them.

    A couple of years ago, I’ve rented a Ford Escape for a business trip, and the infotainment system kept freezing on me whenever I tried to change SiriusXM channels or switch to a different source. I’ve always wondered what went wrong with the infotainment system to the point I was attempting to debug the system code in my head despite having never seen the code before.

    Basically, I found a problem with one of their cars and I wanted to fix it.

    I’m going in with both barrels during the interview. If they’re serious about improving their offerings, they’ll need an individual like me who has been successfully stomping out digital gremlins in a wide range of solutions for a few decades. Based on the C++ coding test I took with Ford, the young people they’re hiring out of school are gonna need all the help they can get to break out of their rote learning mental restraints!

  37. sour*

    “why do you want to work here?”

    Because I’m trapped in a capitalistic hellscape and need to not die???

    1. Giant Kitty*

      Exactly.

      I’m severely AuDHD & was not diagnosed until my other disabilities ended my working life, so my reasons have always been:

      1. Because life is not free & I need to pay bills, even though in hindsight I should very obviously have been on disability my entire adult life

      2. The dress code is casual & I can either wear clothing I already own or pick it up cheaply enough from a thrift store that I won’t care if I leave this particular industry and end up donating them back.

      3. The business hours are reasonable ones, not crack of ass early, or are afternoons/evenings, that I probably won’t be that late to that often.

      4. The work seems like it will fit into my weirdly limited skill set, in which I lack (and cannot acquire) many of the most basic job skills that could have gotten me boring but steady/good wage/good benefits jobs but am fabulously talented in areas that are all but worthless for getting good jobs (except for people who are not AuDHD & are extremely driven/self-motivated)

      5. It seems interesting enough that I will not be bored enough to quit in a week/month.

      And sure, I’ve managed to spin that in ways that mean I’ve gotten most of the jobs I’ve applied for without problems, but I feel like I shouldn’t really have to.

  38. saminrva*

    This article is so useful and I will be sharing it with my mentees! I’ve been on a lot of hiring committees and I’m always surprised at how many candidates don’t know how to answer this question, or seem surprised that we’re asking. I think this question is a gift to candidates because it gives them the chance to set the tone for the interview and tell their narrative in their own words/connect their dots for us so we don’t have to work too hard to understand them and their candidacy.

  39. Aspiring Chicken Lady*

    “The thing that jumped out at me in the posting, and in my research for your company, was X. That’s what hooked me to apply. I’m interested to learn more about how that will play out in this role due to my skills/interest/experience in X.”

Comments are closed.