How to answer “Why this firm?” in a graduate interview
Every graduate interview has one question you can bank on. Some version of: why us?
It sounds easy. It is also where most candidates quietly lose the room, because the interviewer has heard the same three answers all morning and can tell within ten seconds whether you did your homework. Here is a structure that holds up under pressure, and the mistakes that make interviewers switch off.
Why they ask it
Interviewers know you are applying to fifteen places. They are not offended by it. What they want to know is whether you chose them, or whether they simply had an open application when you were pasting cover letters.
There is a commercial reason behind the question too. Graduates who join for the brand and discover they hate the actual work tend to leave within two years, and replacing them is expensive. A specific, honest answer to why us is your evidence that you know what you are walking into.
The three layers of a strong answer
A convincing answer stacks three things, in this order.
- What the firm is actually known for in Australia. Not globally. The local office, the local work.
- One proof point you can only say about them. A project, a deal, a conversation with someone who works there, something you saw at an event.
- Why that specifically suits you. Connect their environment to how you work and what you want to build first.
The Australian office often does different work to the global brand. A bank famous overseas for restructuring might run a merger-focused team in Sydney. An engineering giant known globally for oil and gas might mostly do transport projects here. Quote the global reputation at the wrong desk and the interviewer knows you researched the wrong company.
What this sounds like
Two examples, both around thirty seconds spoken. Notice how much lifting the specific detail does.
“Aurecon kept coming up when I asked graduates about design work rather than site work. I want to start my career in detailed design, and the Buildings team runs the kind of projects my capstone was based on. I also read that the graduate rotation includes a digital engineering stream, which is where I want to head longer term. That combination is hard to find at one firm.”
“I spoke with one of your analysts at the UNSW careers evening and she talked about working directly with the director on a deal in her first year, not through three layers. That matches everything I have read about your Sydney team running lean. I learn fastest with real responsibility early, even when it is uncomfortable, and I would rather be stretched at a smaller desk than watching from the edge of a big one.”
The mistakes that sink it
- Reciting the About page back to them. They wrote it. They know.
- Quoting the global reputation when the Australian office does different work.
- Compliments with no evidence. Prestigious, market-leading and world-class are adjectives, not research.
- An answer that survives the swap test. Replace the firm's name with a competitor's, and if the answer still reads fine, start again.
- Making it entirely about what the firm gives you. Training and brand matter, but say something about the work you want to do for them.
How to research an Australian office in twenty minutes
- The firm's Australian newsroom or its local LinkedIn posts. What has the AU office announced this year?
- Industry press for one recent local deal, project or client you can name.
- The graduate program page, for how rotations actually work. Naming a real stream shows more effort than most candidates ever spend.
- One conversation with a current grad or recent alum. This is the gold, and it is easier than it sounds. Most grads answer a polite LinkedIn message from a student at their old uni.
Prepped keeps researched intel on 150+ Australian firms, what each one actually values, and runs mock interviews that pressure test your answer before a human hears it.
Practise the question freeGeneral information, not personal career advice. Program details and dates change, so always confirm specifics on the employer’s official page.