How to answer “Why do you want to work here?” (with sample answers)

Behind the question are three checks:

• Did you do your homework? Can you say something about the company that isn’t on the first line of its homepage?
• Will you stay? Someone whose reasons match what the job actually offers is less likely to leave in six months.
• Do your motives fit the role? If you say you love building new things and the job is maintaining a legacy system, that’s a mismatch they’ll notice.

So the best answers are specific, honest and connected to the actual job. They don’t need to be passionate speeches; calm and concrete beats enthusiastic and vague.

A strong answer takes 45 to 90 seconds and covers three things in this order:

1. Them: one specific thing about the company that you genuinely find interesting.
   "I've used [product] for two years / I read your post about [X] / your move into [market]..."

2. The role: why this job, at this point in your career.
   "The role is focused on [the part of the work you want more of], which is what I've enjoyed most in [current job]."

3. You: what you'd bring, with one piece of evidence.
   "At [Company] I [result that matches their biggest need], and I'd like to do that at your scale / for your customers."

The order matters. Starting with the company shows you’re talking about them; ending with your evidence leaves the interviewer with a reason to hire you, not just a reason you’d like the job.

If you only have time to prepare one part, prepare the first. “Them” is where generic answers fall apart, and it’s the part that shows you chose this company on purpose.

You need one or two specific, true things. Good places to find them:

• The product itself. Use it, sign up for the free tier, read the changelog. Real experience with the product is the strongest reason there is.
• The job ad, read closely. What problem is the team hiring to solve? “We’re rebuilding our onboarding” or “expanding into Germany” is something you can talk to.
• Recent news and announcements: funding, launches, new markets, acquisitions. For public companies, the latest annual report or earnings summary says what leadership is focused on.
• The team’s own writing: an engineering or design blog, conference talks, the founder’s posts, podcast interviews.
• Their customers. Case studies and reviews tell you who they serve and what those people value.
• People who work there. A short message to someone in a similar role often gets you the most honest answer of all.

Write down two candidates and pick the one you can talk about for a minute without notes. If none of them actually interests you, that’s useful information about whether to take the job.

These are illustrations with invented companies and details. Use them for structure, not as scripts.

1. A startup or scale-up

“I’ve used your scheduling app with my own team for about a year, and the thing I noticed is how little setup it needed compared with the tool we replaced. The role is on the onboarding team, which is the part of a product I find most interesting: the first ten minutes decide whether anyone sticks around. At my current company I redesigned our signup flow and we saw noticeably more people finish it, and I’d like to do that for a product I already believe in.”

2. A large, established company

“Two things. First, you’re moving the whole claims process online over the next two years, and I read the interview with your COO about why. That’s a project at a scale I can’t find at a smaller insurer. Second, the role sits between the business and the engineering teams, which is exactly where I’ve spent the last three years. I led the migration of our policy system, so I know what goes wrong in these projects and how to keep people on board.”

3. A non-profit or mission-driven organisation

“I’ve volunteered with a food bank for four years, so I’ve seen the logistics problem you’re solving from the other side. What drew me to this role specifically is that it’s about data: you want to forecast demand by area. I do demand forecasting for a retailer now, and I’d much rather apply it to this.”

4. A career changer

“I’ve been a nurse for eight years, and the most frustrating part of the job has been software that doesn’t fit how wards actually work. Your product is the first one I’ve used that clearly had clinicians in the room. This role needs someone who can translate between clinical staff and the product team, and that’s what I’ve been doing informally for our ward’s rollout.”

5. A remote role at an international company

“I want to work on a distributed team that actually works in writing, and your public handbook shows you do: decisions in docs, async updates, few meetings. That suits me; I’ve worked that way for three years. The role is also on the payments side, where I’ve spent most of my career, so I’d be useful quickly.”

• Pure flattery: “You’re the industry leader.” It says nothing about you and anyone could say it.
• Only what you get: salary, benefits, location or remote work as the main reason. They matter, but lead with them and the interviewer hears “any job would do”.
• The company’s own slogan read back to them. Interviewers recognise their own marketing copy.
• Running away: “I need to get out of my current job.” Explain what you’re moving toward.
• Facts you can’t back up. If you mention a product feature, be ready for the follow-up question about it.

Many application forms on Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby include a custom question like “Why do you want to work at [Company]?” with a text box. Treat it as a mini cover letter: two to four sentences using the same formula.

“I’ve used [product] for [time] and [specific thing you noticed]. This role focuses on [part of the work], which is what I’ve enjoyed most at [current company], where I [result]. I’d like to bring that to [their goal from the ad].”

Keep it under about 100 words unless the form asks for more, and write it fresh for each company: these answers are often read before the CV. Our guide to Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and Workday forms covers the other questions those forms usually ask, and the FindAJobAI Chrome extension fills the repetitive fields so your time goes into answers like this one. It never submits a form for you.

Your answer is stronger when the rest of your application tells the same story. If you say the onboarding work is what draws you, the onboarding project should be visible near the top of your CV, in words the job ad uses.

A quick way to check is to run your CV against the ad with the free CV score checker: it shows which of the job’s keywords your CV supports and which are missing. If you’re changing fields, our career change cover letter guide shows how to explain the move in writing.