How do you answer 'What immediate benefits would you bring to our organization' on a job application?

Answer 1

I would first need to have determined what the company does and what skills they might be lacking or need in greater supply. Then I would evaluate my own skills and knowledge base and determine if MY skills would be beneficial to the company IN MY ESTIMATION. Of course, there is no way that I could know what the REAL needs of the company might be, so all I could do is evaluate my skills and knowledge and apply them generally to my perceptions of the needs of the company. As my skills and knowlege are no doubt different than yours, my response would be different than yours. The reality is, such a question is often a method for an inexperienced and unsure interviewer to start a conversation. It is an open ended question that allows you to discuss your abilities. If I were answering a question like that I might preface my comments with something like, "That's an interesting question. I am intrigued by this company and would like to learn more about it so that I could figure out all of the ways I could benefit the organization, but some of my skills would be obvious and allow us to improve our product. (Note the inclusion of myself into the organization, indicating that I would like to consider myself part of the organization, a good interviewer wouldn't miss that) I am able to understand a customers process through observation and interviewing the people who do the work on their production floor, and have been quite successful in writing proposals, functional specifications and detailed system design documents. I feel that any project that you might assign to me would benefit from my experience." The simple reality is, some interviewers would like that approach, others wouldn't. Some would be intrigued by my claims and others would either think I was being arrogant or perhaps even feel that their own documentation department is doing well enough that they wouldn't need my assistance. all you can do is evaluate your skills and report what you believe to be your strengths.