Interview Question: Describe Your Ideal Company

“One that offers free chocolate chip cookies to its staff every hour and pays for time spent receiving backrubs from attractive, single masseuses.”

There are a lot of interview questions where sucking up to the company can help give you brownie points (to go along with your brownie nose). This is sort of one of those questions. Describing your ideal company is not necessarily about literally describing the company you are interviewing with, but it is about achieving the following:

• Nothing you describe is NOT applicable to the company.
• Everything you describe makes you sound like a great employee.
• The company sees itself in the words that you use.

For example, if you say that your ideal company involves a lot of hard work, the interviewer will say “Hey! Good! We have a lot of hard work!” and be pleased. If you say your ideal company offers rewards to hard working employees, however, the interviewer might think “Hm… We do not offer any bonuses or corporate gifts for hard work, so maybe that’s not us.” Ideally, you should use this question to say more about yourself than about the company.

Bad Answer

“My ideal company will have a fair amount of workload for my salary, and the knowledge that if they want harder work, they should reward me with greater pay. I also like donuts.”

Good Answer

“For me, an ideal company is one where I show up every day and feel myself contributing, knowing that I am playing a role in the success of the company. My ideal company depends on me, so that I am motivated to work hard and complete my tasks. Also, my ideal company offers products and solutions that I believe in, and has a long term plan for success.”

Here you meet all of the criteria. You do not mention anything untrue to the company. You do mention a vague statement that all companies believe about themselves (having a long term plan for success), and you make yourself sound like a great employee by focusing on how you can contribute.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Don’t make jokes.
• Avoid anything not applicable to the job you are applying for.
• Make yourself sound like a great employee.

Related posts:

1. Common Interview Question: What is Your Ideal Company?
2. Common Interview Question – Describe the Best Job You Have Had
3. Interview Question: How Can Your Strengths Help Our Company?
4. Interview Question: Why Do You Want to Work for a Company of This Size?
5. Interesting Interview Question: How Would You Describe Your Personality?