Hiring managers are busy, and they also got a bit tired from reading lengthy job applications. Hence instead of simply asking you to “introduce yourself”, or to “tell them why you are a good match for the job”, they will ask you to “introduce yourself in 10 words (or in a tweet, one sentence, etc)”, and to “give them top 3 reasons why you are qualified for the job“. In my opinion, it isn’t necessarily the best strategy, since one cannot really tell a lot in 10 words. The same is true with the description of your qualification for the role: the three reasons alone won’t tell much to the employer. Or at least the message won’t necessarily be clear… Anyway, you will often face the question, and I will show you how to deal with it to the satisfaction of the hiring managers.

First of all, experience is your best bet. It beats education, always, even if you studied at some prestigious school. If you have relevant experience, you should always list it as no. 1 reason why you are qualified. Education goes second. But what to write next? And what if you do not have any relevant experience, or apply for a job where education matters a little? Things get a bit complicated, but you still have many other things to refer to.

Your personality traits for example, your soft and hard skills relevant for the job (for example ability to work with some computer software, language skills, interpersonal skills, etc), your motivation and attitude to work–in some cases it is the most important thing that qualifies you for the job, for example when the workload is heavy and the job is hard, but you will learn everything you need to know during the on-boarding process or training program. Last but not least, you can also try your luck with a philosophical answer, citing some reasons that will make the hiring managers think, and help you stand out from the rest of the job applicants.

Now that you know what you should focus on, depending on your situation and level of experience, let’s proceed to 7 sample answers. I tried to include on my list sample answers for a variety of scenarios (lot of experience, no experience, technical job, simple manual labor in a fast food restaurant, young person, old person, etc). I hope you can relate to at least one of them (in your present life situation), and it will help you to come up with your own perfect answer. Enjoy!

 

7 sample answers to “Top 3 reasons why you’re qualified for the job” interview question

  1. No. 1 is definitely my experience. I’ve been working in retail for the past four years, and I have dealt with every possible challenge one can experience in a store of this type. Hence I am ready to do the job well from day one. No. 2 is my attitude to customer service. Going above and beyond for people is a norm for me, and it gives me high level of satisfaction from the job. And no. 3. is my ability to work on weekends, and also my willingness to do so. I do not have a family yet and I do not mind the schedule you have here.
  2. No. 1 is my education. I’ve studied finance and banking, and we had several subjects related to financial analysis. My degree demonstrates that I have what it takes to do this job. No 2. are my technical skills, especially my proficiency with MS Excel. I just love the software and can perform all kinds of mathematical and statistical operations with it, including advanced operations for statistical analysis. And no 3. is my passion for the financial analysis and the markets. I’ve been an amateur trader for years, I just love this world of numbers, and it never gets boring to me. I believe it will help me to deal with the heavy workload and get over some difficult days that one experiences in any kind of a job.
  3. I have just one reason: my motivation. I’ve been unemployed for a long time, but I am not a lazy person. I am desperately motivated to start working again, to put my body and mind to the test, to feel useful again. This is a hard job, but cleaning dishes and taking care of basic tasks in the kitchen doesn’t require any special qualification in my view. All one needs is motivation and determination, and I can assure you I have a lot of it. Because in my present situation, getting this simple job would mean the world to me…
  4. No. 1 is my experience. I’ve led small teams before, in two different jobs. Achieved good results, and managed to deal with the crises we faced in one of the teams. Of course every job and team is different, but I still believe my experience will help me. Second reason are my communication skills. I know how to get a message over, even an unpleasant one. And I know how to motivate others, how to get the best out of them. On the top of that I am a good listener and receptive to the feedback of my subordinates, which helps me to become even better in my work. And no. 3 is perhaps my preference for your company and brand. I always wanted to work here, and not for one of your competitors. I believe it will give me that extra motivation and push me to achieve extraordinary results–if you hire me, of course.
  5. No 1. is determination to succeed. No. 2 is resilience. And no. 3 is passion for sales. I honestly believe that one needs all three of them to make a successful career as a salesman (of any kind of product or service). Education or previous working experience matters a little here. It is all about passion, hard work (which comes with determination to succeed) and resilience (to deal with rejection, hard days in the office, etc). At least that’s how I see it, and I feel perfectly qualified for this sales job.
  6. No. 1 is my ability to code in PHP and HTML. No. 2 is my eye for design, and for simple and intuitive user interface. And no. 3 is passion for optimization for conversions, which is something 90% of websites miss. I believe that with these three abilities, I will make a great addition to your web design studio, and will actually help you take it to the next level. Having said that, I am not complacent and in my free time I continue to work on my programming skills and marketing skills.
  7. Top 3 reasons? Hard to say. But I meet the requirements you specify in the job description, in terms of education and experience, and attitude to work. What else do I need? You have an excellent training program in place, and I am confident that with my intelligence and education, I won’t struggle to learn to deal with any tasks you typically deal with here.

So here you go. 7 sample answers, some food for thought, and I hope you know now how to deal with this question, either on your job application, or in the interviews. You can check also 7 sample answers to other tricky questions you may face in the hiring process below. In any case, I wish you best of luck in the interviews!

Matthew

Matthew Chulaw
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