Employers often explore your strengths and credentials by asking specific questions during the interview process. A potential employer may ask you about what makes you different from other candidates. Understanding why an employer might ask about this and how to respond may help you perform better during your interview and potentially impress a hiring manager. In this article, we describe why employers ask about how you differ from other candidates, explain how to answer the question “what is your edge among other applicants” and provide three example answers for reference.
This can help you focus on sharing experience and skills that are relevant to the position for which you’re applying. Sharing relevant skills can also aid you in showing an interviewer that you’re familiar with the needs of the position.
How to answer “ What is your edge among other applicants?”| Get hired| Mr Kapuyater
What Not to Say
When asked what you can offer the company that other candidates can’t, remain positive and avoid answers that make you look arrogant, difficult to get along with, or otherwise overly critical. Focus on what you can do, not what others can’t. Avoid:
What the Interviewer Wants to Know
Part of what makes answering this question so challenging is the potential for it becoming a trap.
Hiring managers want to know how you assess your own value. But this question also gives interviewers a way to determine if you have an inflated view of yourself or tend to be overly critical of your colleagues.
Remember, part of what interviewers look for is a cultural fit. In most cases, they’ll want to avoid hiring someone who thinks they’re superior to their colleagues or who tends to be overly critical of the people around them.
Tips for Giving the Best Response
Why do employers ask about your edge among other applicants?
Employers may ask a candidate about what makes them different from the competition to determine their confidence level and learn about their strengths. Recent graduates may answer this question by explaining their transferrable skills, which can be helpful if they have minimal experience with the position for which theyre applying. You can use these tips to formulate an effective answer to this question:
Prepare for the answer before the interview
Before the interview, consider preparing your response to common interview questions like this one. To help you prepare your answer, consider what specific skills or experience you want to talk about and focus on unique aspects of your education or experience. For example, if you just finished an internship at a company after successfully completing a competitive interviewing process, you could include that accomplishment in your answer.
Preparing before the interview can also help you respond to interview questions confidently, which may impress the interviewer. Thinking about your responses before the interview can also help show an interviewer which industry skills you possess, what useful experience you have and what youve accomplished.
How to answer “what is your edge among other applicants?”
Whether youre a fresh graduate or a professional with experience, you can answer the question “what is your edge among other applicants” using the following steps:
Talk about your education
If youre a recent graduate, you may not have extensive work experience in your field. If you participated in an internship program related to the position to which youre applying, consider mentioning this experience in your answer. Alternatively, you can focus on relevant courses you took during your studies and discuss your accomplishments in those courses. Regardless of the educational experience you describe, consider offering information about direct expertise that might separate you from other candidates. For example, if youre applying to be a chemical engineer, you might focus your answer on a course you took about industrial chemical solvents.
7 sample answers to “What is your edge among other applicants?” interview question
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Remember to think about which of your experiences and qualifications make you a better fit than the competition. For instance, maybe you have a certification that makes you more knowledgeable about various technologies than the average person.
Use these example answers as a starting point as you prepare your own answers:
“I’ve had two years of experience working on similar projects, so I know what problems are going to arise and can prevent them from happening — saving the team time and energy to work on higher-value tasks. Additionally, I’ve shown the ability to take control of a project and make sure the team delivers tasks on-time and within budget. In fact, I created such detailed project plans in my time at XYZ Inc. that my boss asked me to create a department-wide template for all future project proposals, action plans, and other project-related documents. That ended up boosting the productivity of teams outside of my own, and it felt good to contribute to the company in a broader way.”
Why it’s a good answer: There’s nothing fancy about this answer, but it’s effective nonetheless. This interviewee has walked the walk, and clearly defines what she has to offer the team.
While there are plenty of other potential candidates who may share a similar academic background in renewable energy, I have multiple certifications from NABCEP and OSHA. These certifications indicate that I understand the risks and safety precautions need while on a job site, and I have a certified understanding of renewable energy practices that are used across North America.
Why it’s a good answer: In their answer, this person has shown that while they have a similar academic history as many of the applicants, but they’ve also shown that they are uniquely valuable because they have certifications that put them ahead of other potential employees. This is the kind of thing that tips the scales for interviewers.
After working in HR for a few years, I discovered that my real talent lay in operations management. It started by streamlining the recruitment and onboarding process, which had the effect of reducing onboarding time by 22% while increasing new employee retention and satisfaction by 14%. Policy, planning, and strategy are areas where I excel that make me sort of unique among most mid-level HR personnel. With my blend of talents for talent acquisition and long-term, big-picture thinking, I would bring a novel approach to the role that would leverage my skill set in a way that aligns perfectly with ABC Inc.’s broader goals.
Why it’s a good answer: Notice that this interviewee briefly touches on the probable aspects of similar candidates without spending too much time on the matter. This is a subtle way of hinting at the fact that the interviewee is not only more qualified but more ambitious and forward-thinking.
Well, I started my own business out of college and I think taking on that entrepreneurial task gives me a unique perspective. Having to handle the business side of things while also working on developing a great product wasn’t easy, but that challenge helped me grow as a professional. I think a lot of people applying for tech positions like this don’t have as good a sense of why management does what it does. My experience would help me act as a liaison between these two equally important branches of the company.
Why it’s a good answer: This answer brings in a relevant, impressive experience that shows this interviewee is genuinely one of a kind. I wouldn’t be surprised if the interviewer had further questions to ask about the interviewee’s business which could translate into a much more memorable conversation than your average job candidate.
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Interviewers ask “what sets you apart from other candidates” to learn more about what qualifications you value most in yourself, hear about experiences that make you uniquely qualified for the position, and identify reasons why hiring you is better than hiring a similarly qualified candidate.
To be clear: this question is not about the other candidates — it’s about you. Your goal is to discuss what skills you’ll leverage to help the company achieve its goals in a way that makes it easy for the hiring manager to imagine you already working in the position.
In a way, this question is a blend between “tell me about yourself” and ““what is your greatest strength”, but it’s asking for a slightly different answer. The hiring manager wants to know what you can bring to the company that no one else can.
The difference between, “What are your strengths?” and “What is your edge among other applicants?”
Some applicants confuse, “What are your strengths?” to “What is your edge among other applicants”?
Both talk about strengths in the workplace; but you see, these two interview questions have one distinct difference.
“What is your edge among other applicants?” asks about the difference between you and the other applicants. Therefore, your answer should be unique as much as possible that it makes you stand out from the crowd.
The best way to mess this question up is to state a strength that’s common. Worse, the interviewer will end up asking you a follow-up question and say, “Well, everybody says they’re hardworking. In fact, the last ten applicants have been telling me that. Do you have that something that the other applicants don’t, that would make me wanna choose you?
Therefore, the key in answering, “What is your edge over the other applicants?” is the differentiation.
On the other hand, “What are your strengths?”, asks about your strength without requiring you to explain why you’re better or different from the others. You simply state your strengths and be done with it.
FAQ
What makes you better than other applicants best answer?
