Why Should I Hire You?

Recently, Stephanie Somogyi Miller was interviewing candidates for an entry-levelpublic relations position at her company, Spread PR, a Miller/Hamilton company. Over the course of 20 candidates Miller quickly realized -- much to her shock -- that many job seekers were unprepared when she asked them, "Why should I hire you?"

"I thought it gave people the opportunity to tell me what they wanted to tell me, versus me asking a million questions," Miller says. Only one candidate was able to give an answer without stumbling. What's worse, Miller couldn't envision any of these applicants having a coherent conversation with a reporter if her one question was causing so much distress.