Are you starting a new job and wondering what made you stand out from all the other equally great candidates? I had a coaching call earlier in the week with a person who is joining a global tech company as Head of Engineering for one of the businesses. We talked about things to learn and questions to ask. We went deep into the specifics of the company, products, customers, metrics, team, etc.
One question that often doesn’t get asked – why me? I’ll phrase this below.
Clearly the leaders in this company interviewed great candidates and selected this person as their Head of Engineering. We don’t know who else was in the pool and what their backgrounds were.
So, it doesn’t hurt to ask a question separately as you reconnect with members of the hiring panel:
“I am excited to be here. Great to meet you during the hiring process. If you can share, what specifically about my experience did you consider would be of great value here? I’d love to know.”
The answers to this question can give a good sense of your perceived strengths which made you stand out that you might leverage to create impact in the new role. All the best!
On Product Leadership 