What Can You Bring To The Role?

If you’ve ever attended an interview we’ll bet good money that some variation of “what can you bring to the role?” will have cropped up in your interview. It’s a direct question, asking you exactly how your professional or academic experience will benefit the company you’re applying to. But… It can also be a really difficult question to answer. So, it’s a good job that we’re here to lend a helping hand.

Below, we’ll take you through everything you need to consider to prepare a stand-out answer for this interview question.

Why Do Interviewers Ask This Question?

Here’s a tip that goes for any interview question you’re trying to work out how to answer. Reverse engineer the question. Ask yourself: “Why are the interviewers asking me this? What are they trying to find out?” Put yourself in the position of the interviewer, and you’ll likely find a good place to start.

Interviewers ask “what can you bring to this role?” to find out:

• If you have prepared. Your preparation for the interview is indicative of your character and your attitude towards the job. Researching and prepping for your interview is a transferrable skill – and interviewers know that. By showing that you’ve read and understood the job description and employer profile, you indicate that you’re the kind of person who preps properly for meetings beforehand.
• If you have the right skillset. You’ll always have to train up when you start a new job, but you’ll be expected to have a relevant skill set to begin with. Employers want to know that you already have a good base of skills and knowledge, so they can onboard you into your new role relatively easily.
• If you understand the job. Although it’s important to demonstrate your skill set, it’s even more important to pick the right skills to expand upon. For example, applying for a Customer Service job and stressing your admin experience suggests that you don’t understand the scope of the job.
• If you’re a good fit for the culture. This all links in with preparation. Have you considered the team and company culture? For example, Airbnb likes to hire hosts across their company. Many travel companies like to recruit avid travellers with unquenchable wanderlust. Companies – large and small – spend a lot of time and money making culture work, so this one shouldn’t be overlooked.

How to Prepare For “What Can You Bring To The Team?”

First thing’s first, preparation.

You can expect to be asked this question in some form, so not having an answer prepared suggests you aren’t committed to the job.

Find the job description on Career Street and look through the company profile. The videos that employers provide on Career Street are invaluable here: they give you an incredibly insightful glance into the real culture and needs of the business.

Note down key skills the employer requires for this role, as well as the most important elements of their company or team culture.

Demonstrate Your Skillset

Now you’ve got a list of the key skills your employer is looking for, it’s time to match them to your experience. Think: how have you demonstrated this skill in your past experience? Is there anything here that makes you stand out – what can you bring to the role that no one else can?

The keyword here being demonstrate. Anyone can claim they craft killer copy or conduct super-accurate audits. Instead, talk through your past experience. If you’re a marketer who needs to showcase their copywriting skills, talk about your last job: maybe you tapped into your demographic and rewrote a landing page that increased conversions by 25%. If you’re going for your first managerial position, talk about that time you led a challenging project with a variety of stakeholders.

Show Your Passion

The same rule applies here: show your passion, don’t just say you’re passionate. You want to portray your interest in both the job and the business. For example, a tourism board looking for an Events Executive might be searching for someone with a real love for the location, as well as a passion for putting on awesome events. To put this across, you could talk about why you like visiting that location – or why you’d like to visit it – and a creative idea you implemented in a community event you organised.

Especially if this is your first job, or you’re switching careers, demonstrating your passion can win you the role, so don’t underestimate it!

How To Structure Your Answer

This will be one of the most important questions in your interview, so take your time but stick to the point. It’s better to explain a handful of skills and passions in-depth than run through a list of everything you’re good at.

There’s no perfect structure, but a safe bet is to talk through 1-2 of your key skills, then elaborate on how you can bring your interests and passions to the role.

“What Can You Bring To The Role?” Examples

Clare, 19

About Clare: Clare has just finished her A-Levels. She is going for her first full-time job as an Apprentice Paralegal at NLF Law. The role involves being the point of contact for clients with medical negligence claims.

“I’m really looking forward to bringing my people skills to this role, as I understand the importance of client relationships at NLF Law. I gained confidence in my communication skills through my part-time job at a supermarket chain. I often dealt with complaints in a fast-paced environment, which I found stressful at first. However, I learned the skill of managing the needs of multiple customers, whilst staying calm and professional. I saw that one of NLF’s core values is going the extra mile. I really resonate with that, having seen the importance of impeccable service on client loyalty.”

Tunde, 27

About Tunde: Tunde is a consultant working client-side. They’d like to move to a consultant firm, Core Consulting, in order to work with a wider range of clients and more varied opportunities.

“I can bring in-depth industry expertise to this role. Having worked on dozens of projects for a multi-national company, I have a diverse range of expertise in the energy sector, an industry I’m aware Core Consulting is expanding within.”

Shae, 36

About Shae: Shae has worked as a Senior Marketing Executive for an international travel brand for 2 years. She loves the travel industry but wants to move to a more customer-facing role. She is applying for a job as a Sales Manager at a small tourism business that sells domestic trips.

“I’ll bring my passion, not just for travelling, but for creating unforgettable experiences for other travellers too. In my last role, I led our launch campaign for a new destination, South Korea, as I know the country well – I taught there for 2 years. I realised I found it fulfilling sharing my love for a destination, and I feel I can feed that passion more in a Sales role.”

Our Final Tips

You’ve got everything you need to give an excellent answer to the question, “What can you bring to this role?”

Here’s some advice we’ll leave you with: keep it simple. Talk about a couple of your skills and passions in-depth and don’t try to list everything you’ll bring to the role – there’s no secret checklist you need to tick off.

Stand out from the crowd

When you’ve decided on your next role, your next step is to visit Career Street.