Do you know What Employers Want?

You must be aware of the hiring authorities “buying” motivations and how to sell to them.

Key Takeaways

• Every employer evaluates every candidate — from entry-level to CEO — against the same four core questions, in roughly the same order.
• For early-career candidates, the first two questions (Can you do the job? Do we like you?) should be the sole focus of interview preparation.
• The perceived risk of hiring a recent graduate is real and must be actively addressed — not ignored — in your application and interview.
• Likability in a professional context is not about being popular; it is about demonstrating that you are reliable, self-aware, and collaborative.
• Salary negotiation matters even at entry level — leaving it entirely undiscussed can set a compensation baseline that follows you for years.

There are basically four questions any hiring organization asks of every candidate, whether they are applying for an entry-level position or to be the company’s next President.

Those questions are:

– Can you do our job?
– Do we like you?
– Are you a risk?
– Can we work the money out?

As someone with very little experience, you need to concentrate on answering only the first two questions. You may need to address the third one, but not if you answer the first two well enough.

To an employer, there is risk in hiring recent graduates or others just entering the workforce because they cannot look at your past performance record. The fourth question will impact your later career.

Today, you don’t really have an ability to negotiate money because you aren’t bringing much expertise to the job.

So, focus on the first two questions. You have to convince the prospective employer that you can do their job and that you are a likable person. The latter issue is addressed by your interviewing style. It is real simple to do – when you understand the concept.

The major concept that you are going to sell to a prospective employer is this:

I have been a really good, hard-working, dependable, intelligent, and loyal leader. I have also been a good follower with passion, initiative, commitment, and willingness to do whatever needs to be done. Therefore, I will be the same if hired by your company.

Tony Beshara is recognized as the #1 recruiter in America by the industry’s leading journal, The Fordyce Letter.

Understanding Each of the Four Questions

Question 1: Can You Do the Job?

This is the competence question, and it is almost always the first filter any application faces. At the resume screening stage, employers are asking: does this person’s background contain evidence that they can perform the core tasks of this role?

For experienced candidates, this is relatively straightforward to demonstrate through job titles, responsibilities, and quantified achievements. For candidates with limited work history, the challenge is to translate academic and extracurricular experience into credible evidence of work competence.

How to answer it convincingly as an early-career candidate:

• Lead with the most relevant thing you have done — a degree project, an internship, a volunteer role, or a student job that required a skill directly applicable to this position.
• Be specific about your contribution: “I developed a data model in Python that reduced analysis time by 40%” is more convincing than “I am good with data.”
• Prepare to discuss how you learn new skills quickly — employers hiring inexperienced candidates are partly hiring potential, so demonstrating learning agility matters.

Question 2: Do We Like You?

This question sounds superficial but reflects a genuine professional concern: will this person integrate well into our team, and will working with them be a good experience? Employers who spend 40+ hours per week with colleagues make highly rational decisions to avoid people who seem difficult, unreliable, or socially disconnected from the team’s culture.

“Likability” in this context has nothing to do with personality type. Introverts can score extremely highly on this dimension. What it actually measures:

• Do you show up to the interview having done your homework?
• Do you listen carefully to questions before answering?
• Do you speak about former colleagues and employers without bitterness or blame?
• Do you ask thoughtful questions about the role and team?
• Do you seem genuinely engaged with the company’s work, or merely going through the motions?

These behaviors signal emotional intelligence, professionalism, and collaborative instincts — which is exactly what “Do we like you?” is measuring.

Question 3: Are You a Risk?

This is the question entry-level candidates worry about most but often address least effectively. The risk an employer perceives when hiring an inexperienced candidate includes: Will they leave quickly? Will they make expensive mistakes? Will they need so much management that the net benefit of hiring them is low?

The most effective way to reduce perceived risk as a new entrant:

• Reference specific examples of reliability — “I balanced a 20-hour part-time job with my degree and maintained a 3.7 GPA” is credible evidence of dependability.
• Demonstrate a history of seeing commitments through: clubs you led, projects you completed, roles where you received positive feedback.
• Avoid badmouthing previous employers, professors, or colleagues — candidates who assign blame externally are perceived as flight risks.

Question 4: Can We Work the Money Out?

For early-career roles, this question is often pre-answered by a published salary band or market rate that leaves limited room for negotiation. However, as your career progresses, this question becomes increasingly important — and the habits you build early set the pattern for how you handle compensation for the rest of your working life.

Even at entry level, it is worth doing market research before any offer conversation. Knowing the typical range for your role, location, and industry puts you in a position to respond intelligently if asked about salary expectations rather than either underselling yourself or quoting an unrealistic figure.

Common Mistakes Candidates Make When Addressing Employer Questions

• Assuming the competence question is answered by the resume: Your resume may get you through the door, but you must verbally reinforce your competence in the interview with specific stories and evidence.
• Confusing enthusiasm with likeability: Arriving eager but dominating the conversation, interrupting the interviewer, or asking questions that signal you only care about your own advancement undermines the “Do we like you?” answer.
• Being defensive about inexperience: Saying “I know I don’t have much experience, but…” immediately confirms the risk concern. Instead, redirect: “What I can offer is [specific relevant skill/experience/quality] — which I demonstrated when [specific example].”
• Neglecting the follow-up: A brief, thoughtful thank-you email after every interview round continues to answer the “Do we like you?” question after you have left the room.

Understanding what employers are actually evaluating transforms interview preparation from a guessing game into a targeted strategy. Pair this framework with our interview preparation guide for specific tactics on each stage of the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do employers really look for when hiring?

Every employer evaluates candidates against four fundamental questions: Can you do the job? Do we like you? Are you a risk? Can we work out the money? For entry-level candidates, the first two questions are by far the most important to focus on.

How do I convince an employer I can do the job with little experience?

Substitute direct experience with transferable evidence — academic projects, internships, volunteer work, and student jobs that required similar skills. Frame your past performance as a reliable predictor of future behavior: ‘I did X in situation Y, so I will do the same for you.‘

Why do employers worry about hiring recent graduates?

Employers see recent graduates as higher-risk hires because they cannot review a track record of professional performance. They compensate by looking for evidence of work ethic, reliability, and adaptability — qualities that must be demonstrated clearly in your application and interview.

How important is likability in a job interview?

Very important — hiring managers consistently report that interpersonal fit influences final decisions significantly, sometimes as much as technical qualification. A candidate who is highly qualified but seems difficult to work with is often passed over in favour of someone slightly less experienced who the team trusts.

When should I negotiate salary as an entry-level candidate?

Even as an entry-level candidate, some negotiation is usually appropriate once a formal offer is made. Research the market rate, express genuine enthusiasm for the role, and ask politely whether there is any flexibility — many employers build a small negotiation buffer into initial offers.