Hiring managers and recruiters are paid for an ability to uncover your strengths and weaknesses in an interview, to understand your personality and motivation, and to tell whether you are a good fit for the job. In my opinion, it doesn’t make much sense to ask similar questions in an interview. Or does it make sense?
What they ask about, and what they really try to find out while listening to your answer, is not always the same thing. They may ask you the question to make sure that you are aware of your weaknesses and strengths, or to see your level of confidence–whether you are humble, confident, or even over-confident. They may use also one of the following alternatives, always looking for the same thing:
- What makes you the ideal candidate for this position?
- What makes you a good fit for this job?
- In your opinion, what makes you the best choice for this project (job)?
Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to the question. You will find on my list some typical choices, but also a few unconventional answers. Go through the list, find an answer that resonates with you, write it down, and do not forget to read also my notes below the answers. They will help you understand some important nuances of this interview question.
7 sample answers to “What are you the best candidate for this position?” interview question
- I meet all job requirements, in terms of education, previous working experience, and skills. I’ve read the job description carefully, and can imagine my day in the workplace here. I honestly think that I will handle it well, after the initial training of course. What’s more, I like the list of duties, and think that I will enjoy my days in the office. That’s also important, because I believe that we should do jobs that we enjoy, at least somehow.
- More than anything else, my motivation makes me a good candidate for this position. I just love this brand, and your hotel has been my dream place of work for many years now. I’ve done what I could to get this interview, and you can be 100% sure that I will try my best in work, day in day out. I believe it makes me a good candidate, maybe even better than the rest of the applicants, who no doubt also meet the educational requirements.
- I’d say my creativity and my attitude to my work in marketing makes me an ideal candidate for this role. I have studied your advertising campaigns in detail. You always try to stand out, come up with something new, not copying concepts of other marketing agencies. That’s why I decided to apply with you, because I believe to be a great fit for your team. What’s more, I pay a lot of attention to detail, and one can read precision from all my works.
- Speaking honestly, it is the fact that I do not have many other options. Look, I am still studying, I raise a kid, and the only time of the day when I can work is between 6pm and 10pm. And obviously I cannot take on a mentally demanding job, considering everything that’s on my plate already… I know that the employee fluctuation is super high in this field, that people always look for a better paid job, or a better working environment. But with me you can be sure I will stay–of course as long as you are happy with my work, because I do not have a luxury of time to go to different interviews, and as I already said, the schedule and nature of the job is a perfect fit for my present life situation.
- If I should point out one thing only, I would go with my communication skills. Customer service is all about communication in this field. And you can be sure I can deliver an amazing customer service each and every time. What’s more, I have worked in a similar place before, so I should be able to deliver from day one in job. Everything considered, I think I am the right candidate for this job.
- My motivation, skills, experience. Having said that, I believe that all shortlisted candidate meet these criteria. And I am sure everyone of them has something great to offer. But we certainly differ when it comes to our personalities, and our attitude to different situations that can happen in the workplace. I think that I have the right attitude, but I honestly cannot say if I am better than the other candidates. Sure enough they also did their best to prepare for the meeting with you. No doubt I am a good fit for this job though… It is your task to decide whether I am the best person, or someone would be a better choice for the position. Not an easy task indeed…
- I would say that my achievements in the field make me not only a good one, but the best candidate for the job. Managing to improve the conversion rate by 40%, increasing the yearly sales volume by 100%, managing to improve the average customer rating from 3.5 stars to 4.2 stars on Google, getting new salesmen onboard when everyone else struggled with their hiring–these are just some of the results I achieved with my last employer. And I can assure you that I feel ready to replicate them–if not better them, in your company. Other candidates may talk about what they want to do for you. But have they already done it for someone else? That’s a question you should ask yourself when deciding who gets this job. They offer promises, I offer proven results.
Good and bad interviewers, skilled and unskilled
As I’ve already pointed out at the beginning of this post, hiring managers are paid for their ability to tell whether you are the right person for the job. But you should realize that not every interviewer knows what they are doing.
Just like in any other job, you have people who excel in recruitment and interviewing candidates, and you have people who do not really excel, or even do not really know what they are doing. Hence in some cases they may really ask you this question to find out what makes a good candidate for the position, and whether you, by a chance, meet the criteria. Keep this on your mind.
Something that would be obvious for you (if you were interviewing yourself for the job), may not be obvious for the people leading the interview with you. That’s why it is important to clearly explain what makes you a good candidate for the job, even though it may be obvious from your resume, or from the things you’ve already said during the hiring process.
* Special Tip: This isn’t the only difficult question you will face while interviewing for any decent job. You will face questions about prioritization, dealing with pressure, dealing with ambiguity, and other tricky scenarios that happen in the workplace. If you want to make sure that you stand out with your answers and outclass your competitors, have a look at our Interview Success Package. Up to 10 premium answers to 31 tricky scenario based questions (+ more) will make your life much easier in the interviews. Thank you for checking it out!
Try to find a good balance between confidence and humility
Unless you are confident of being a great candidate for the job, they will find it hard to think so. You should definitely express some confidence in your ability to handle the job, and to enjoy it.
At the same time, however, the best job candidates and employees always strive to improve on their skills. It is not a bad idea adding something to your answer. Sure, you feel ready to handle the job, and to do great, but you are also aware that there’s still some room for improvement when it comes to your time management, punctuality, attention to detail, or any other ability/skill important for the job. Overconfident candidates who consider themselves superior to the rest of the world are rarely hired. Keep it on your mind and ensure them that you are not done with improving yourself.
Unconventional answer can help you stand out as the best choice
Just like with any other interview question, you have a few “safe” answers. You will never really spoil anything saying that your experience, education, or your attitude to work and motivation, makes from you a good job candidate.
On the other hand, most job applicants competing with you will say the same thing. Hence in some cases (especially when we talk about popular jobs, and you may compete with dozens or even hundreds of candidates for the vacancy), it isn’t a bad idea trying an unconventional answer.
Check answer no. 6 in my list as such an example. The job candidate actually gives credit to other job seekers, saying that they also have something great to offer, and that the hiring manager will have to decide on their own who the best person for the job is.
It isn’t a typical attitude, and a typical answer, and you can be sure that every hiring manager will remember it at the end of the day. And sometimes that’s what matters the most at the end of the interviews. When you compete for the job with many other candidates, all of you sharing more or less the same education and experience, the most important thing is to stand out with your answers…
Ready to answer this one? I hope so! Check also 7 sample answers to other tricky interview questions:
- What does diversity mean to you?
- Why do you think you are qualified for this job?
- What makes you unique?
