You walk into an interview room. You take your seat. But before you can even say good morning, the interviewer throws it at you.
“So, what makes you unique?”
What do you say?
If you’re like most people, you’d probably say something generic like “I’m a hard worker.”
But guess what? Nobody wants to hear that. Even Mr. Bean would say he’s a hard worker.
(Speaking of Mr. Bean…)
What they want to hear is something that sets you apart from other applicants. In other words, what makes you unique for this job, or why are you the best fit for it?
Unfortunately, most job seekers struggle to provide compelling answers to this question. Most even spew garbage, squandering a great chance to portray themselves as an invaluable asset to the company.
To address this challenge, here are seven sample answers you can give to the age-old interview question “What makes you unique?”
What makes you unique? Sample answers
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Mention a personality trait relevant to the job role
The first answer you can give is to mention any personality trait you have that is relevant to the role in question.
For example, let’s say you’re applying for the role of a marketer.
You can say something like, “I’m a socially intelligent person. I find it easy to pick up facts from events around me and make constructive conversations from them. For example, I could pick a detail from someone’s shirt and start my product pitch from there.”
The idea here is to understand the job role and then look inside yourself to see which personality trait you have that is relevant to the role.
See another example: You’re applying for the role of a social media account manager, and you’re asked, “What makes you unique?” Your response can be something like, “I am an excellent communicator. I thrive at starting and sustaining conversations with people, strangers especially.”
Important Note: Don’t state a trait you don’t have!
How do you know the ideal traits to mention?
- Go through the job description.
- Go online and search for a list of traits expected of someone occupying that role.
- Then look inside yourself to see which of these attributes you have.
- Voila.
For the social media manager example I gave before, see the expected personality traits:
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Mention the soft skills you have
This is quite similar to the first one, but it’s different in that it doesn’t have to be directly tailored to the job role. Mentioning your soft skills gives the interviewer a glimpse of you not written in the resume.
That is, even outside the bracket of the job functions, you remain a relevant and valuable asset.
That said, it is important to ensure that whatever soft skills you highlight are skills you can defend with proof.
So when the interviewer goes, “Tell us, what do you think make you unique?” you can look them in the eye and say something like,
“I have a photographic memory – I love to read and can absorb lots of information and apply things I learn to situations in the workplace, which I am told is a very rare skill. For example, while walking into this room, I noticed a sign on the wall which read “Hard work is intoxicating,” and immediately I knew that must be a mantra for boosting workers’ efficiency here.“
Your own soft skill may be:
- Critical thinking
- Punctuality (no workplace likes latecomers)
- Creativity
- Teamwork skills
- Organization
- Interpersonal communication
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Mention your passion for new adventures/experiences
When an interviewer asks you, “What makes you unique?” and you respond by saying, “I have an unquenchable thirst for learning and knowing new things,” you immediately ignite the “I want to know more about you” fire in the other person.
Talking about your passion for new experiences is a way of saying to the interviewer that you’re eager to discover their operation mode. It also shows that you’re unfazed by challenges.
Another way to look at it is this: Besides the knowledge and experiences you’ve had already, you’re still driven to have more. This shows how passionate you are about the field you’re in.
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Mention how your experience from a different industry puts you above the other candidates
- This answer is applicable in cases where you’re applying for a job in an industry you’re new to.
When interviewers see that an applicant doesn’t have experience in the field, or that their experience is from a different industry, they feel that the applicant may not be ideal for the role.
However, they’re giving you a chance to prove them wrong by asking you, “What makes you unique?” They want you to give them a reason to look away from your inexperience.
So, how do you go about that? It’s simple. Explain to them how your previous experience uniquely qualifies you for the job.
For example, let’s say you’ve been a customer care rep in the dental industry, and now you’re applying for the role of a marketer in a finance firm. You can point out any technical skills you’ve garnered from the dental world which are applicable and relevant in the finance world.
In addition, you can also state how your previous experiences have shaped you into a more rounded individual, better than those who followed a linear career path.
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Mention your previous experiences with failure and how you handled it
Imagine you walk into the interview, and then you hear, “So, what do you think makes you a unique candidate for this role?”
Sit tight and reply, “Being unfazed by failure. Many people seem to dread it, but I see it as a necessary barrier to cross. For example…” Then you follow up with a story detailing how you once turned failure into success.
The idea here is to show your interviewer that you’re not afraid of failure. Even when something doesn’t go your way, you’ll always see the positives and find a way to learn from it.
Of course, you’ll need to have a very convincing story to back up this claim. Otherwise, it would seem as though you’re bluffing.
See a real-life example of this:
Interviewer: “What makes you unique?”
Me: “My perception of failure. I don’t pray for it. But I’m always open-minded about it. In fact, I see it as a necessary learning curve.
Some years back, in my first job, we were tasked with boosting the company’s revenue. My team and I tried to implement a new sales strategy. Unfortunately, the market didn’t accept it, and that caused our overall revenue to drop. While most people might start licking their wounds, I went back to the drawing board, highlighted the errors, and worked on improving on them. After a couple of weeks brainstorming with the team, we came up with new strategies and boosted product sales by 28%.”
Important Note: Never tell a false story!
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Mention how you proved useful to your past employer
What every interviewer really wants is to hire the best person. The best way to show them you’re that person is to present qualitative proof of your talents.
When they ask you what makes you unique, you can talk about your results-driven skills by referring to past results and successes.
For example, you can answer the interviewer in this manner:
“I find that I’m results and numbers guy. Even when I’m assigned tasks that are not really quantitative, I still find ways to approach them quantitatively.
For example, in my last job, my safety team and I were asked to put some measures in place to eradicate the growing cases of injuries on-site.
Despite being a simple task of sticking safety signs around the factory and re-sensitizing our workers, I still found a way to quantify the progress of the results. After a few months, I was able to show my superiors how we had mitigated injury risks by 70%.”
Summarily, the point here is that you can answer the question by describing successes you had with your past employers. If you can quantify the successes, that’s even better. Say, “20% ROI increment,” “35% increase in website traffic,” “12% boost in email subscribers,” “48% growth in referral rate,” etc.
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Mention how innovative you are
Everybody knows the work environment is not a static one, which means workers sometimes have to get innovative to execute their tasks.
When you’re asked what makes you unique, you can use this opportunity to emphasize your innovative qualities.
Talk about how flexible and creative you’ve been in the past by describing a core situation that required you to be.
For example, you can say something like:
“Creativity and innovations are a big part of who I am. I’m cool with doing things by the book, but sometimes I prefer to come up with something innovative and creative. Maybe that’s because of an obsession for “having my stamp” on things I do. I have always been a very creative individual. My ideas were often the final choice in group projects throughout my university days. Even my colleagues would come to me if they needed ideas for their projects! In my previous job, many co-workers relied on me for ideas whenever they were stuck with a task, because they knew I’d always come from a different angle. Sometimes they even called me a muse, and we’d all share a laugh. I would be glad to bring my creative flair to your organization.”