Why “Why Are You Here?” Is the Most Misanswered Interview Question
Most job candidates focus on what they’re escaping. Smart ones focus on what they’re choosing. Here’s how to get it right.
There are many mysteries in the universe:
Why do pigeons walk like they are late for a meeting?
Why do people keep pressing the elevator button when it clearly does nothing?
And most confounding of all:
Why do job candidates completely forget where they physically are the moment an interviewer asks, “So, why are you here today?”
You would assume that a question asked in this building, in this company, by these humans would prompt candidates to talk about, you know…
this building, this company, and these humans.
Instead, something short-circuits. The candidate’s frontal cortex collapses into a nostalgic slideshow of everything they hate about their current job.
Toxic culture.
Limited growth.
Leadership chaos.
It’s like the interviewer asked,
“Hey, could you trauma-dump for 12 minutes straight?”
and the candidate cheerfully replied,
“Absolutely, I’ve been rehearsing!”
This article is a look at why that happens, and how to prevent joining the global epidemic of people who seem hell-bent on answering:
“Why are you HERE?”
with
“Let me tell you where I’d RATHER not be.”
Why Smart People Answer This Badly
If you have ever answered the “Why are you here?” question with a detailed critique of your current employer’s incompetence, your brain betrayed you.
Not because you’re dumb. But because your brain is ancient hardware operating in modern settings.
Your nervous system evolved to scan for threat, store it, and replay it. It did not evolve to distinguish between “tiger in bush” and “vaguely ambiguous corporate question.” To your brain, both are stressors. And when stress rises, it retrieves emotionally charged material first. From a survival standpoint, negative information is gold, but from an interview standpoint, it’s conversational sabotage.
Negativity Bias
Humans are wired to remember danger, threats, and all the times your boss “Karened” abruptly during an all-hands meeting. That’s why, the moment an interviewer casually asks, “What brings you here?” your neural pathways sprint toward the freshest source of pain:
“There’s no growth!”
“The culture is broken!”
“My manager communicates exclusively through passive-aggressive WhatsApps!”
Your brain keeps these grievances on speed-dial.
Rumination
If you’ve been unhappy in your job, you’ve been mentally rehearsing that unhappiness on loop for months. So when a stressful question arrives, your brain doesn’t grab the carefully crafted “Why THIS role?” monologue you wrote last night.
No. It grabs the rage-speech from your commute.
Social Anxiety
Interviews trigger the classic “perform or perish” instinct. Under stress, the brain defaults to over-explaining. And nothing is easier to over-explain than:
“Why my current job is a hot mess.”
“Why Jane in Accounts must be stopped.”
“Why I deserve better.”
Identity Protection
Talking about how terrible your current job is feels good because it protects your self-esteem.
You weren’t “not progressing,” your company is “anti-growth.”
You didn’t “outgrow your role,” your manager “forgot your existence.”
But none of this is what the interviewer asked.
Or wants.
Or enjoys.
Yet candidates default to it anyway, like moths to a flame.
Where Candidates Go Wrong
To be fair, companies do not always help. “Why are you here?” is vague. But even so, the number of candidates who interpret it as “Please narrate your suffering” is astonishing.
Mistake #1: Treating the Interview Like Group Therapy
When someone asks, “Why are you here?” they are not inviting you to unpack unresolved workplace trauma. They are assessing fit.
And yet, candidates frequently respond as though the hiring manager has gently leaned forward and whispered, “Tell me everything.”
Out come:
Their grievances
Their burnout
Their Greek tragedy of workplace suffering
No hiring manager has ever thought, “Wow, this person seems emotionally raw and resentful, we should totally hire them.”
Vulnerability has its place. A recruitment screening call is not that place.
Mistake #2: The Push Monologue
Push factors = reasons you want to leave.
Pull factors = reasons you want to join.
Candidates often catalogue every frustration in forensic detail, then tack on a polite, last-second, “And I thought this looked interesting.”
Push becomes the feature presentation. Pull is the end credit scene.
If the goal is to persuade someone you want to be here, dedicating 80% of your answer to why you want to be somewhere else is an odd strategy.
Mistake #3: Generic Motivations
These include:
“The salary is attractive.”
“I like that it’s closer to home.”
“It’s a reputable company.”
Fantastic. Truly life-changing motivators.
Except… 20–50 other companies offer the same things.
These reasons don’t say “I want YOU.”
They say “I would have joined whoever contacted me first.”
Mistake #4: Synthetic Flattery
Examples include:
“You seem like a great manager” (after 18 minutes of knowing them)
“This company is a perfect cultural match” (after reading 1 Glassdoor review)
“I admire everything you do here” (everything??)
Grounded appreciation works. Vague praise does not. Humans have remarkably sensitive radar for insincerity, especially when it is aimed directly at their ego.
Mistake #5: Forgetting That Interviewers Are People
Interviewers are not soulless gatekeepers. They too want:
To feel their company is desirable
To believe their decision to join was wise
To validate their identity through your interest
When you talk about why specifically you want to join their team, you’re affirming not only the organisation but their decision to commit to it.
That validation matters more than candidates realise.
Push vs Pull: What They Actually Mean
Push factors are the reasons you are leaving. Pull factors are the reasons you are choosing this next step. Both exist. Both matter.
Push Factors: The Art of Restraint
Push factors are not inherently negative.
Plateaued growth,
Limited scope,
Strategic shifts,
Cultural mismatch.
These are legitimate career inflection points. The problem is marinating in them.
Good Push answer:
“I have learned a great deal in my current role, but the progression opportunities are limited and I am ready for broader scope.”
Bad Push answer:
“Let me tell you about the trainwreck that is my department and how every day feels like an emotional hostage situation.”
Push should occupy about 20% of your response. It sets context. It does not dominate the narrative.
Pull Factors: The Substance
Pull factors are where you say:
“Here’s what attracts me to YOU.”
“Here’s why YOU make sense for my growth.”
“Here’s why I want to spend my limited lifespan working with YOUR problems, YOUR culture, YOUR people.”
This should be 80% of the airtime.
Why? Because that’s what they actually asked.
The Psychological Leverage of Pull
Pull factors do three powerful things.
Validate the interviewer’s identity (“You made a good life choice joining this place.”)
Demonstrate commitment (“I’m here for the work, not fleeing from chaos.”)
Show fit (“I’d be a good colleague because I like the same toys you do.”).
Pull factors are how you go from “candidate” to “future coworker” in someone’s mind.
How to Prepare So You Don’t Panic
Let’s approach this like a public health issue. Because in a way, it is. Entire industries are suffering from candidates who cannot answer a simple contextual question without drifting into grievance.
Step 1: Write Down Your Push Factors
Not in your head. On paper.
Ask yourself:
Why am I leaving?
What about my current role can’t continue?
What have I outgrown?
Be honest.
Then distill it into one or two calm sentences. If it sounds like a conference keynote fueled by resentment, edit again. You are aiming for controlled and factual.
Step 2: Write Down Your Pull Factors
This is the star of the show. Examples:
The company’s growth trajectory
The specific problems the team is tackling
The stage of product or technology
The culture you’ve observed in research or earlier interviews
How the role intersects with your career direction
If your Pull factors include:
Location
Salary
It’s a building with oxygen
Delete and try again.
Step 3: Update as You Go
Every interview reveals more information.
Treat each round as data gathering.
Add new Pull factors as you discover them.
Subtract false assumptions.
Refine your thinking.
That evolving list becomes your North Star.
Step 4: Practice the Pivot
When they ask:
“Why are you here?”
Your brain will want to rant about the Push side.
But with rehearsal, you’ll override it like a calm adult:
Brief Push
Smooth pivot
80% Pull
You’ll sound composed, intentional, compelling… and crucially, not bitter.
Step 5: Remember What You Are Selling
Everyone is escaping something. Only the good candidates can articulate why they are arriving somewhere.
The collapse that happens around “Why are you here?” is the predictable collision of under preparation, negativity bias, and a nervous system that interprets evaluation as mild danger. Add a vague question and a fragile ego, and you get a performance that veers in the wrong direction.
The solution is almost embarrassingly straightforward.
Know your Push.
Feature your Pull.
Talk about them, not your sorrows.
Validate their company.
Give them reasons to imagine you as a coworker, not an emotionally evacuated job refugee.
When you center your answer on why this role, this team, and this stage of company development align with your trajectory, you give the interviewer something concrete to work with. You make it easy for them to picture you solving problems alongside them.
Most hiring managers sit through thousands of interviews listening to the same tragic monologues about toxic workplaces. You could be the rare, dazzling anomaly who actually answers the question.
They asked why you’re here.
So tell them why you’re HERE.
Specifically HERE.
Not why you’re sick of THERE.
If that feels almost too obvious, good. Obvious things executed well are rare.
At Career Candour we work 1:1 with professionals on comprehensive interview preparation. No tricks. No shortcuts. Doesn’t matter how good you are if interviews aren’t converting. Want support that treats this seriously? DM us.