Why are you the best?
February 29, 2012 5:28 PM   Subscribe

I have a final interview for a Project Manager position. This job is awesome. One of the questions they would like me to answer is "Why are you the best candidate for this position?". How do I blow them away with my answer? The role requires someone who is passionate about work and life, can juggle multiple projects, and can managed a range of different stakeholders. I can do all of this like nobody's business. But I am sure a lot of the other candidates can as well. How do I approach answering this question and winning this position?
posted by trinigirl to Work & Money (5 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
"I don't know why I'm the best candidate for this position. I haven't met all the other ones. If you let me talk to them for a few minutes, I bet I could answer that question. In the absence of that, and based on what I know about me and what I know about this position: [INSERT ONE-MINUTE SPIEL ABOUT HOW AWESOME YOU ARE]."

That would tell me, were I the hiring manager, that you're willing to say "I don't know," you're willing to ask for resources you need, and you're willing to work with what resources you have to get the job done anyway. Those are three values I'd very much like to have in someone working for me, and they're impossible to tease out of a resume and virtually impossible to get someone to admit to in the interview atmosphere.
posted by Etrigan at 5:33 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Tell them a story.

There's a saying in politics that you don't answer a question. Instead, you give them the answer to a question you wish they'd asked.

So, rather than say, "here's why I'm the best," you say, "Let me tell you about this time when my last company's world was going straight to hell, and I stepped up to solve the problem. Here's how I noticed there was a problem. Here's what the risks were. Here's how I gathered evidence and communicated to others. Here's what the resolution was. Here's why I get my rocks off doing stuff just like that."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:36 PM on February 29, 2012


I interview for positions like this. I think what would set you apart would be to learn as much as you can about what the person in this position does (like the true details, not just what's in the job description) and explain why you would be really good at doing those things. i.e.

- "Your organization is planning to focus in the coming year on monitoring and evaluation for a widgets program. I have years of experience with widgets and I know them inside and out. I've even designed a widget M&E program from the ground up as part of a prior position. I have extensive and diverse experience with exactly what you are hoping to accomplish."
- "On your website/in your annual report/in a news article I saw that you are planning to branch out into widget holders. I excel at starting up new product lines and I started up a new product line last year that netted my company $1 million in sales."

I'm just making stuff up, but if you say things like that, you'll prove you did your homework on the job and the company, showing how much you want to work there, and giving them real-life examples of how you would be great at this job, rather than just throwing out some platitudes about how you're a good team player and you work hard.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 5:41 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Use the requirements you mention in your post and give short, concise examples of when you have needed to do those things and how well you did them.
posted by jontyjago at 6:16 PM on February 29, 2012


Project managers are the people that other people go to when they have questions. Demonstrate leadership, organization, and critical thinking. Anybody above a very entry level role should not position themselves as primarily being about "open to asking for help", as suggested above. (Resourcefulness and problem solving, yes; asking for help, no.)

Talk about adding value to the project as a whole - project managers often focus so much on process that they ignore the value they could be adding to projects as one of the few people who often has insight into every aspect of a project.

Also, keep in mind that they will almost for sure not make this question a make-or-break question. This tends to be more of a wind-down or warm-up question that simply demands you don't say something dumb.
posted by Kololo at 6:26 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


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