How to answer "why do you want to work here?": a formula and answer examples

To answer "why do you want to work here?", cover three things in a short answer: what draws you to this company, why this role in particular, and what you would bring to it. MIT Sloan's career office names the same three parts. Back each one with something specific you found while researching the company, and leave salary and perks out of it.

What the interviewer is asking

The question checks whether you want this job at this employer. Imperial College London's careers service says an interview asks three things, and the second is "Will you do this? Do you appear motivated for this specific opportunity with this specific organisation?" Interviewers "want to see a genuine interest and passion for them specifically."

Ryan Frechette, a career coach at Korn Ferry, gave the reason in March 2022: "Interviewers know that your desire to work for the company and in the role could be a direct indicator of how motivated you'll be to show up and produce positive results."

It can come at either end of the interview. Indeed's career guide (updated 15 June 2026) says interviewers ask it "early on to set the tone for the conversation or at the end to evaluate your genuine interest in the role." It also comes in several wordings, and they all want the same answer:

• "Why do you want to work for us?" (Indeed)
• "What made you want to apply for a job with this company?" (Indeed)
• "What do you know about our company? Why do you want to join our company?" (Hong Kong Labour Department)
• "What interests you about this role?" (MyCareersFuture, Singapore)
• "Which of our values speaks to you the most, and why?" (Imperial College London)

Research the company first

You cannot answer well without research, and interviewers notice when it is missing. In a June 2011 Accountemps survey of more than 1,000 senior managers, the most common answer to "What do you think is the most common mistake candidates make during job interviews?" was little or no knowledge of the company.

Source: Accountemps (Robert Half) survey, 21 June 2011. The full list also includes lack of eye contact, late arrival and limited enthusiasm.

The survey is from 2011, and the advice that came with it was basic: "At a minimum, job seekers should visit the company's website or conduct online research prior to meeting with a hiring manager," said Max Messmer, then chairman of Accountemps. Career services and recruiters suggest these places to look, and what to take from each.

Write down two or three facts you could talk about for half a minute each. Oxford's careers service suggests asking yourself "What attracts me to this organisation?" and "What have I done to find out more about this organisation?" before the interview. If you cannot answer the first, the research is not finished.

The formula: company, role, you

MIT Sloan's career office (reposting an April 2023 Big Interview article) says you need to cover "why do you want to work at this company (which will show you did the research), why this particular position interests you (to show you're a great fit), and why you'll be successful in this position (to showcase your relevant skills)."

Hong Kong's Labour Department gives the same structure in its own words: "Relate why you are interested in the post, and why you like to join the company and the trade." Singapore's MyCareersFuture site, in an article contributed by the recruiter Michael Page, describes three ways in: "by focusing on yourself, the company, or the role you are applying for."

Weight the parts to the wording you hear. The MIT Sloan article puts it this way: "if they ask you 'why this position, specifically?', don't drone on about how you cherish the company values."

Penn Career Services (26 May 2026) suggests building the company part from the employer's mission statement and values, then weaving in your experience. It also warns against a word-for-word script: "We don't want to script out an answer word for word, because we want to respond in a genuine and authentic way."

How long to talk

None of the sources sets a fixed length for this answer. An Indeed career coach, in a video on Indeed's guide, works towards "a two- to three-minute answer". Imperial College London says recorded video interviews usually allow "two or three minutes to give your answer". Three parts, with one specific point each, fit well inside that.

Why do you want to work here: answer examples

The answers below were written for this page. The companies, products and figures in them are made up. Use them for the shape, then put in what you found about the real employer and your own facts.

A recent graduate

"I first used your budgeting app at university, and I read last month that you're launching it for small businesses. That's what made me apply. The analyst role works on how customers use the product, which is what my final-year project was about: I studied two years of usage data from a student society's booking app and found why most people dropped off before paying. I'd like to do that kind of work on a product I already use, and I think the project shows I can."

A career changer

"I've taught secondary school maths for six years, and the part I've enjoyed most is building the dashboards our department uses to track students. When I looked at your company, I saw that your learning platform is used by schools in the region and that your research team publishes what it learns about how students use it. This role sits between teachers and the product team. I've spent six years explaining things to teachers and students, and I've finished a course in UX research, so I can bring both sides."

An experienced professional

"I've been a customer success manager for five years, most recently looking after around forty mid-sized accounts. I'm applying here because you're moving from serving large enterprises to mid-sized companies, which I read about in your latest annual report, and that's the segment I know best. The role is to build the playbook for those accounts. Last year I wrote the onboarding process my current team still uses, and I'd like to do that again with a company that's growing into this market."

When you had not heard of the company before

Indeed's "why this company" guide includes an example that starts with an admission: "Before finding your job posting online, I had not heard of your company before, so I researched your organization to learn more about who you are and what you do." You can be honest about that if the research that followed is specific.

"I hadn't heard of you before I saw this posting, so I spent some time on your site and your recent news. Two things stood out. You publish a public status page for every client project, and you won a regional award for it last year. In my last role I set up weekly reports for clients because they kept asking where things stood, so I've seen why that matters. I want to work somewhere that already treats it as part of the job."

Why this company, why this role, and similar questions

The variants lean on different parts of the formula. Lead with the part the question names, then add the others briefly.

What not to say

Indeed lists three answers to avoid: "I've been applying to many places and waiting to hear back", "What really drew me to this job was the salary/perks package you offer" and "This job seems like an ideal stepping stone to my dream job."

Robert Half UK adds more. Generic answers like "I need a job" or "This seems like a good opportunity" will not impress, and "negative comments about past employers can raise red flags about your attitude and professionalism." Repeating your CV is a waste of the question too, since "the interviewer has already read your CV."

Research can be overdone. Hannah Szymanski, a market director at Robert Half, says: "don't just regurgitate facts and figures from the company website." A fact belongs in your answer only if you can say why it matters to you.

Keep pay and conditions out of this answer. Korn Ferry's David Meintrup says job seekers should prepare to talk about "their passion and their knowledge of the industry, company, and position", not just "salary and logistics like start time and location." Hong Kong's Labour Department advises against asking about employee benefits when it is your turn to ask questions.

Last, do not learn the answer by rote. Oxford's careers service says that pre-formed answers learned this way "are likely to sound false". MIT Sloan's advice is simpler: "be honest. Recruiters can smell a stuffy answer from a mile away."

Why do you want to work here in one-way and AI interviews

Many first rounds are now recorded. Imperial College London's careers service says "it is normal to have around 20 seconds to read a question and consider your answer before recording begins, followed by two or three minutes to give your answer." It adds that some platforms use large language models to ask "follow-up or probing questions based on your answers before moving on."

A recorded answer gives you no nods to steer by, so the structure matters more. Say the company part first, so it is on the record before the timer ends. If a follow-up asks what you know about the employer, answer with a second fact from your research instead of repeating the first. Our guides on the one-way video interview and how to prepare for an AI interview cover setup and practice.

If your first round is on ROUND.1, a hiring marketplace for Hong Kong and Singapore, it is one AI video interview in a web browser, with a camera and a microphone, lasting about 20 minutes by default (roles can be shorter), 30 at most. There is one attempt, and the interview cannot be restarted. Each role is interviewed in one language, English or Mandarin Chinese. Accent, pronunciation, grammar and fluency are not scored. The interview is scored competency by competency, each score backed by quotes from the transcript, so a specific example counts for more than a polished phrase. The same interview is reused for the other roles you choose, so if you are asked about your motivation, reasons that rest on the work and your skills carry across those roles. A person at the company decides whom to hire. The full list of facts is on ROUND.1, explained.

Notes for Hong Kong and Singapore

Hong Kong's Labour Department lists both forms of the question among common interview questions: "Why do you apply for this job?" and "What do you know about our company? Why do you want to join our company?" Its advice is to "collect and study information related to the company and the trade before interview" and to "explain how the post and company suit your interests, your expectation and opportunity for further development." It also notes you can learn about a company's business and structure "from its website and annual report".

In Singapore, the MyCareersFuture article cited above gives sample answers for each of its three approaches. On progression, it says employers want to see "that you don't treat this role as just a quick career stop."

In both cities, practise in the language of the interview. If you read about the company in Chinese and are interviewed in English, rehearse the English version of the facts you plan to use.

Related questions

Penn Career Services calls "why do you want to work here?" the cousin of "tell me about yourself", which often comes just before it. Our guide to answering tell me about yourself uses the same research. Hong Kong's Labour Department suggests ending the interview with one or two questions about duties, training and promotion prospects "to show your interest in the applied post or joining the company"; our guide to questions to ask at the end of an interview has more. For questions that start with "tell me about a time", use the STAR method, and practise the rest with our mock interview questions.