How to Answer Interview Question: What Can You Bring To The Company?
The vision of every company is to add value to society, to themselves, and to their employees. So, it is a tradition for hiring managers or interviewers to ask, “What can you bring to the company?” This question is quite important to them and the response you give may determine your next status- employed or unemployed.
This interview question is actually quite tricky and can come in many variations including, “what contribution will you bring to the table?” “How will you be successful in this job role?” “What values will you bring to the organization?” I can keep going, whichever way the question is asked, and it’s all about understanding what the employer needs to hear.
As an applicant, this is the time to sell yourself, to show the employer what they will be missing out on if they do not put you on the job. It is an opportunity to show what you have to offer. Through this article, you will be able to produce the best and most appropriate response to the question-“what can you bring to the company?”
Why is this question asked during an interview?
It’s quite simple. When an interviewer asks, “what can you bring to the company?” all they want to know is how you fit into their company’s vision and mission. The employer wants to find out if you have the necessary skills to be successful in the job role.
In addition to being successful in the job role, your potential employer will like to know how you will bring positive change to the organization. Furthermore, this question is asked to see if you understand the perspective of the role, and what new concepts, you will bring to the development of the company.
Consequently, what they want to hear are skills, experience, accomplishments, and unique characters you may possess that will be profitable to them and their company’s growth.
What can you bring to the company? How to answer
Research the company
This is the first and the most important step to take while answering this question. While preparing for an interview, it is of essence that you know the company you want to go into well enough. This will help you to give the appropriate answer to this question
Do thorough research about their vision statement, mission statement, core values, their presence in the news and social media. If you are familiar with all of these, you will be sure to streamline your response according to the company’s values and you will be an asset to the employer.
Understand your Role
Discovering more about the obligations, duties, and abilities required for the work will be of incredible assistance. Audit the depiction for any necessities that relate to your experience. Try to incorporate instances of how you showed those abilities in past positions.
Match your goals
As soon as you have details about the company’s culture and values, it will be important for you to match them with your goals. It’s important to let the interviewer know that you have the skills necessary to do the job they are hiring for.
Likewise, it will tell the interviewer that you can address difficulties adequately and have the adaptability and discretion to function admirably with different employees, and the executives of the company.
Matching your goals with that of the company will make you respond most appropriately. You can even refer to the goal that matches yours while giving your response.
Talk about your accomplishments
When answering this question, your achievements and accomplishments are very vital. Sharing examples of the work you have done in your previous job and the approach used in reaching a positive result will show your potential employer the kind of work you can do and will project you as a successful person.
Use the STAR method
STAR is an acronym that stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It is a very effective method that can be used to describe many things including how you define success and how you overcome challenges at work.
All you do here is to first describe the situation, and then the activities involved in the situation. This is followed by the actions or approach used in handling the tasks and finally the result of the actions taken. It is important that the results are restricted to positive ones or the ones that made you better.
What can you bring to the company? What to avoid
Being overconfident
Confidence is a good characteristic for every applicant during an interview. Keep your head up, shoulders straight, and maintain eye contact. However, overconfidence makes you look bossy and attaches ego to your response. Being overconfident will depict you as a non-team player.
Talking about the company’s lack
Yeah, during your research about the company, you found some lapses that your skills can help work on. Nonetheless, do not bring that up in your response, it may sound like you are demeaning the company. So even if you are very good at what you do, just build your response around the company’s lack without talking about it.
Generic Responses
Keep your responses zeroed in on the work for which you’re applying. It’s significant that the models you share are adequately explicit to show the hiring manager or the employer that your accreditations are a solid fit.
Final thoughts
The goal of every company is to be successful. This can only be possible if they hire candidates who will add value to their company. Smart candidates who know these will prepare in advance to design their responses on “what will you bring to the company?” in the best way possible. So be that smart candidate.