How to Answer: "Why Should We Hire You?"
Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com

It's almost inevitable that sometime during a job interview an applicant will be asked the following question: "Why should we hire you?" This is a challenging question for any applicant, but especially difficult for those entering the workforce.

If you are prepared, this is like getting a slow pitch right over the middle of the plae. This is your hance to deliver all your key messages. This is your chance to reinforce the interviewer's positive first impression about you (or reverse a negative first impression.)

David Boeckmann, who conducted more than 2,000 on-campus interviews for Procter and Gamble before retiring, says most applicants are not prepared to hit the softball pitch. As founder of Stellar Interviewing Concepts, Boeckmann advises college students how to prepare for an interview.

Any employer, Boeckmann believes, is looking for three characteristics in an employee: the ability to get things done, the ability to solve problems, and the ability to work with other people.

Boeckmann advises students to catalog their life experiences according to those three categories. Even though they are young and may not have much work history, they can still find life experiences that demonstrate their ability to get things done, solve problems and work with others. Perhaps they headed up a food drive at their fraternity or sorority, maybe they were a leader on a sports team or in their Scout troop or maybe they organized a litter cleanup in a local park.

Maybe your achievements are more personal and private - for example, you taught yourself how to draw or paint or maybe you started a diet and exercise regimen and lost 40 pounds.

If you have trouble thinking of such examples from your past, get some help from friends and family who can help you recall some of your life's achievements. Then, get together with someone and practice hitting the pitch.

Here comes the pitch: "So, why do you think we should hire you for this position?"