I stopped acting like every company was a calling and started saying the quieter truth
For months I kept bombing the “why do you want to work here?” question because I was trying to sound inspired. I once told a company that made warehouse barcode scanners that I was “drawn to their mission,” and the recruiter looked at me like we both knew I had just committed a small crime. Another time I said I had “always admired” a payroll software brand I had learned existed 19 minutes before the call. I wasn’t lying to be shady, I was just following all the advice that says you need to show passion.
Then I had an interview where I was too tired to perform. I had spilled coffee on my sleeve, my upstairs neighbor was drilling something, and I had already been rejected twice that week. When they asked why I wanted the role, I just said: “I’m not going to pretend I grew up dreaming about procurement dashboards. But I like work where small fixes save people hours, I like teams that write things down, and this role seems like it has problems I actually know how to untangle.” I thought I had ruined it.
The hiring manager laughed and then asked the best follow up questions I’ve had in months. We spent ten minutes talking about a broken handoff process I fixed at my last job, not about “company values” printed on a careers page. I didn’t get that job, but the interview felt human for once, and I’ve used that answer since. My hit rate is better now. Not magic, not some guru trick. Just less fake worship of the employer and more specific reasons I can do the work without hating my life by week three. Weirdly, that seems to land much better.