The answer to this week’s KIQ might be obvious, but the details matter.
Why can’t all hiring managers just be straightforward? It’s because they know most interviewees have rehearsed their responses to stock standard questions. They just want to make sure what they see is what they get. Asking tricky questions is their attempt at getting interviewees to reveal their true selves.
One of these questions is “If you could work for any company, where would you work?”
The reason why interviewers would ask this question is to suss out just how serious you are at working at their company compared to their competition. It’s a question to ascertain a candidate’s level of loyalty.
“It also helps them weed out candidates who may veer from the core career,” Lynn Taylor, a workplace expert and author, told Business Insider “You may have heard that Google is a great place to work, but that off-road strategy would spell doom, as you’re being given the opportunity to theoretically work at your ‘dream job.’ The interviewer isn’t making conversation here, so stay focused on the job at hand.”
So what’s the best way to answer the question? According to Taylor, the interviewer wants to know that you’re interviewing at your first company choice. One thing to keep in mind is that when you respond, you do need to sound sincere about it. Here’s one of her recommended answers:
“Actually, I’ve been heavily researching target firms and (your company) seems like the ideal fit for my credentials. It’s exciting to me that (your company) is doing XYX in the industry, for example, and I’d like to contribute my part.”
How would you tackle this question? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
4 responses to “Killer Interview Question: If You Could Work For Any Company, Where Would You Work?”
Some places, some companies – sure. I’ve sat on the other side of the desk for smaller Australian companies though, and the last thing I want to hear is how we’re the applicants dream employer – there’s no way to make that sound genuine. Plenty – most even – companies aspire to be more like other companies in their field. There’s nothing wrong, when applying for a small/medium IT firm for example, with suggesting you’d like to work for a Google or an Apple – the hiring manager probably would as well.
I work for a smallish IT company and we actually get a little concerned when people want to work for us after working for our largest competitors, particularly vendors!
Pick something everyone would want to do but no one really can – I.e NASA Astronaut.
Yeah, I’d go with Google myself. Some spiel about being so dynamic, encouraging out of the box thinking, that sort of thing, then tieing it back to the job you’re going for. A simple “I see similar things here with X” showing you did some research.
But same idea. Pick a hail mary job, then tie it back to them.