Framework for “Why XX company?”
‘Why this company?’ is one of the most common questions asked in most interviews. From the company’s perspective, the candidate must have done their homework to know and somehow choose their company over others. Most often than not, this is not easy, given that we usually apply to a list of companies.
This article attempts to create a minimal framework designed to ace this question. In par with the word “framework”, this is a conceptual structure and will allow fitting your own experience, learning and personal preference into the answer. Understand the subtle difference between fitting and force-fitting before you began.
First things first, an interview is where you assess the company’s fit for you as much as they evaluate you for theirs. So if you find red flags while trying to learn about the company, please throw your rose coloured glasses away.
Let’s start by bucketing into major heads.
1. People Bucket
Are people in the company happy and accomplished?
People Bucket will involve your interaction with the people in the company, such as your college alums, college classmates, ex-colleagues, or even your neighbour. This is a hard and time-consuming step as you have to reach out to the very people, you probably only smile while passing in the hallway, but you got to do what you got to do. This is crucial in telling the interviewer that you are not an “all talk no do” person.
Firstly, make a list of people you can reach out to from the company. If you don’t know anyone from the company, LinkedIn is a blessing you could use.
Now, when you reach out to these people, it is vital to know their background. Let's say, they have received an offer on-campus. Their experience is going to be different from PPO (Pre-placement Offer) holders or off-campus, their perspective on the whole process. Similarly with people who have worked in different companies before being in this company vs college-recruits. Once this understanding is in place, you can understand their experiences from a higher level.
When you finally connect with them, I suggest introducing yourself and stating your interest in applying for the company. Please don't directly ask for a referral. It can be off-putting. Some of the aspects you can try to understand is,
a. How have they contributed to the company’s overall growth?
Their inputs on how they validate their job can give you valuable metrics to talk about in the interview. Some of the answers can even be inspirational and relatable to your own goals.
b. Their learning quotient
Any candidate should be curious to learn, as the new company is probably (and hopefully) going to be significantly different from what they are used to. So, a positive learning quotient is a great point you should know and talk about.
It is important to use this information in the interview wisely. For example, if you mention the name of the employee and indicate your interaction, it is a sure way of saying you did, in fact, contact this person and are confident that the conversation was positive (as the company might ask the person about you).
2. Value Bucket
What does the company care about?
In most companies, values and key goals are the drivers for daily decision-making. Hence, an aspirant or future employee should know these values. By knowing this essential information, you can pivot the answer to a random HR question to reflect your adherence to the value.
Some of the critical values companies at 2021 care about are below, along with some key indicators you can use to understand the metric. Learn about what the company does and link it with your experience (if any) following these goals and values.
- Innovation — R&D investments, Upskilling opportunities, Patents held, innovation quotient of their suppliers or clients
- People culture — Open-door policy, type of hierarchy (flat or vertical), Mentorship, Career Guidance programs, Collaborative Culture
- Social contribution — Environmental, Social, Governance — Company Initiatives in Sustainability, Focus on economically backward, children, women, animals, etc.
- Diversity and Inclusion — Diversity in gender, LGBTQ+, physical disability across various ranks in the organisation (Even if the company says gender diversity is 30%, all women and non-binary could be only in the lower ranks)
- Digitalisation — Spend on digitalisation for the company internal use, product/service, suppliers, clients/customer, etc
Awards/ranking received for a particular value can also be an important common parameter.
3. Quality Bucket
Does the company deliver well?
At the end of the day, work done should be associated with some value, personal interest and meaning. Depending on the role and industry you are interviewing for (if you don’t know what you are interviewing, focus on your interest), you can research for articles, reports of the company or their clients, papers published, press release documents, etc.
If you find a lot of data, make sure to go through the ones that are related to the role. If you do not find any data, enquire about existing employee projects and how the company delivers.
If the company is dynamic in delivering value with utmost sincerity and 100% customer focus, you can mention how you want to be part of something invaluable. If there is something good about the work done, tell them you know that. It would be a gentle pat in the back moment, and the interviewer will remember your compliment.
The bottom line is you are selling yourself. Remember to state what you know and how you can contribute clearly. Reluctance to share this information cannot be good in this setting.
If you could use an example written on this, let me know either in the comments or through DM!
Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day ahead! Au Revoir!
