Since it is clear by the fact that you asked this question that you have no clue what you want or why you would hire anyone I no long want this job. Thank you for the interview practice. Perhaps we will meet again.
Of course most people who are interviewing actually need a job and so they cannot afford to tell the truth. So you need to BS your way though, but this is not a useful question to ask in the first place and it reflects bad on them that they did. If you are lucky enough to get two offers this is a sign you should choose the other.
This is the right question to frame the interview around: why should we hire (or not hire) this person. However interviewers need to ask the types of questions that a well prepared interviewee cannot lie and fool the interviewer. There is plenty of research on how to interview people: people who are interviewed have incentive to lie, and probably have done enough research to figure out what lies to tell.
The problem with "Why should we hire you" is you learn one of two things: how good the candidate is at delivering a prepared statement; or how good the candidate is at lying himself out of a tricky situation when put on the spot. The first is interesting only if you are hiring an actor - but in this case you can get more information by giving the actor a short speech and a few minutes to prepare before delivering it. I guess the second is interesting if you are hiring a thief for a job where he might get caught.
Of course most people who are interviewing actually need a job and so they cannot afford to tell the truth. So you need to BS your way though, but this is not a useful question to ask in the first place and it reflects bad on them that they did. If you are lucky enough to get two offers this is a sign you should choose the other.
This is the right question to frame the interview around: why should we hire (or not hire) this person. However interviewers need to ask the types of questions that a well prepared interviewee cannot lie and fool the interviewer. There is plenty of research on how to interview people: people who are interviewed have incentive to lie, and probably have done enough research to figure out what lies to tell.
The problem with "Why should we hire you" is you learn one of two things: how good the candidate is at delivering a prepared statement; or how good the candidate is at lying himself out of a tricky situation when put on the spot. The first is interesting only if you are hiring an actor - but in this case you can get more information by giving the actor a short speech and a few minutes to prepare before delivering it. I guess the second is interesting if you are hiring a thief for a job where he might get caught.