From "Why Us?" to "Why Not Yet?" – Try something new in interviews
– An bold and honest approach for when you're applying to companies that don't align with your values
Published on by Gernot Sauerborn
Your applications haven't been successful so far. You've sent out dozens, maybe hundreds. The responses are few, the rejections many. And now, you're doing what pragmatism demands: you're applying to companies whose products, image, values, or reputation don't fully match your own.
This is understandable. You need to earn a living. The ideal job hasn't appeared. So you broaden your search.
But then comes the interview. And the question arrives, as it always does: "So, why do you want to work for us?" What do you say now?
Why standard answers fail
You can search for standard answers. You could ask an AI. It will give you something polished, professional, and perfectly safe:
"I admire your company's market position and innovative approach. I believe I can contribute to your continued success and grow professionally with you."
It's competent. It's correct. It's safe. And it will make your interviewer yawn.
The safe answer is safe because it says nothing. And saying nothing is the surest path to failure in a job interview.
The gap – your hidden opportunity
Here's a different approach. One that requires courage, but offers something rare: genuine distinction.
Start by doing something AI cannot do. Something deeply personal. Analyze, with brutal honesty, why this company does not yet match your values.
- What specifically bothers you about their products?
- Which aspects of their public image feel wrong to you?
- What values do they seem to lack?
- What past incidents or reputational issues give you pause?
Don't judge yourself for these thoughts. They are not obstacles to hide. They are raw material for a story only you can tell.
Because from this gap — between where they are and where you believe they could be — emerges something powerful: your authentic, highly personal reason for applying for and working in this company.
The honest answer: "I'm not convinced yet"
Imagine sitting across from your interviewer and saying something like this:
"I'll be honest with you. Until now, I am not your customer. I am not convinced by what I know about your products and your reputation. And I think, there are other people like me, being not your customer for the same reasons.
But here's why I'm sitting here today: I would be your client, when something would be different. More of this, more of that, and a bit less of this .
I see this development potential in your company. Perhaps this opens up new client segments. And this kind of possible change inspires me.
Does this guarantee success? No. Nobody can promise that.
But it guarantees something perhaps more valuable: They will sit up and listen to you. Because you have given them something rare — honesty, vision, and the courage to say something contradictive.
Why this can work: The power of edges
In a world where AI can generate endless smooth, polished, indistinguishable application texts, the greatest differentiator is becoming authenticity with edges. Candidates who
- are brave enough to name the elephant in the room
- have a vision beyond just doing their job
- want to make a positive difference, not just collect a paycheck
- show corners and edges instead of being AI-smoothed into blandness
are the people interviewers remember. Not because they were perfect — but because they were real.
What does courage in an interview require?
So what would it take for you to sit across from an interviewer and speak honestly about where their company falls short of your values? What would need to be true for you to take that risk?
Maybe it's about knowing yourself first. Do you actually know what you stand for? Not what sounds good in an interview, but what genuinely matters to you — even if it's inconvenient?
Maybe it's more self-confidence you need. Or is it something else—perhaps less confidence in the usual sense, and more trust in your own process? Trust that even if this interview doesn't lead to a job, you'll have learned something by showing up honestly?
We are not talking about tricks you can learn from a YouTube video. Being yourself might require, that you re-discover and re-activate your capabilities. And sometimes, it needs a guide who can help you find your way.
Moving on With Systemic Solution Oriented Coaching
What would it take to leave behind the familiar, low-risk standard answers—and is it perhaps the simple realization that those very answers have not brought you any closer to your goal so far? When did you first sense that a courageous, unconventional approach gave you a real advantage, and what was going on inside you at that moment that could now serve as an advance of trust?
Is it self-confidence that you need to try something new—or rather the accumulated experience that in comparable situations, unconventional answers have actually moved you forward? What is the smallest, barely risky deviation from the usual script that you could dare in your next interview, just to test whether going off the beaten track brings you more clarity and resonance?
Systemic solution-focused coaching builds exactly these abilities: it helps you honestly assess the impact of standard responses so far, gradually develop trust in your own authentic formulations, and gather positive experiences with courageous answers—so that you no longer seek safety in risklessness, but in the growing certainty that your real voice makes you distinctive and interesting.
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My insights are grounded in my daily work with international professionals and executives navigating the job market and workplace culture in German-speaking countries. As an experienced manager, management consultant, systemic coach, and business-oriented German language teacher, I combine a practical understanding of business expectations with a deep appreciation of the challenges of working across cultures. Having lived and worked internationally, I understand how to make professional experience, individual strengths, and personal identity visible in a new professional environment.
I offer a free chemistry call to personally connect, share how I work with clients, and see if my coaching approach aligns with your goals.
It's the perfect opportunity to decide if we're a good match for your interview preparation.