this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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As I say every time I see this joke, it's a stupid question when McDonald's asks it, but a good when when more advanced or complex jobs ask it. A person who is passionate about science is a better candidate for a job at an engineering firm than someone who isn't. Plus, the question, done right, is asking "why this specific company" rather than why do you want any job. "Why FLIR instead of Tesla?" is a very different question than "why McDonald's instead of Burger King".
Even then, the true answer is probably “I applied to a bunch of places because I can expect more than half of them not to even give me the courtesy of an email, you’re not special.”
As you get more and more specialized, this starts to change. If my expertise is selling matts for large cranes, then there are like 3 companies that do that. The companies themselves are no special, but your expertise in that area does have a special alignment with what that company wants to do.
Non-specialized positions, again, make this question worthless.
Sure, but if you're a web developer, hell even if you're a senior web developer, the answer is almost always still "I applied to a bunch of places because I can expect more than half of them not to even give me the courtesy of an email, you’re not special, and I like being able to afford paying for food" unless you're applying to somewhere like NASA or something. I was asked this question at my first dev job I ended up getting out of school, and I ended up stumbling through it and said something like it was a good fit because of location and it seemed interesting etc.
Exactly right. Corporations need to understand that workers apply to a bunch of places that are likely to hire them and workers have to understand that the company has received probably hundreds of applications for the position. Nobody is special until 2 actual people have & maintain a relationship.
But we all lie about it so the question is futile.
Like of course I'm going to be passionate about "x" when interviewing somewhere. If I didn't say it I don't get hired. Ergo....
I think good answers, in this case, are more than "I'm passionate about x". A specific scenario where you were really interested in a specific scientific question related to the job at hand would be much better. Again, useful if you're going to be an engineer at Tesla, not useful for a cashier at Taco Bell.
But we're just gonna find the most efficient answer template and lie again.
Y'all training us to lie.