What made UBS stand out as an employer?
There will be several similarly phrased questions you'll encounter in your interview, such as asking you why you want to work with UBS, and asking why UBS would want to hire you. Similarly phrased questions that have distinct meanings serve to test your attention to detail, while assessing the sincerity and originality of your answers, rather than offering answers which are generic to any job. So, when answering this question, you'll want to specify how UBS stands apart and why you want to specifically work for them. Detail how your career goals align with what they uniquely have to offer you.
A UBS employee featured on their "Meet Us" employee culture blog, touches on this very question, "A huge selling point for me was the firm's position as the world's largest and only truly global wealth manager - this really helped showcase just how successful the firm is! Their culture is also people focused, there's so many useful initiatives to support employee development, such as the UBS University. I was confident I'd be joining a great firm that would help me continue to develop my career."
A tool to help you prepare for this question is UBS's Recruitment Readiness Worksheet, which offers several exercises to guide you through making your CV and resume shine while aligning yourself with their company culture. One exercise invites you to record yourself answering this question, then playing it back and watching it from the perspective of your interviewer and scoring your answer from one to five.
For example, one category they invite you to score yourself on is "Motivation for role." On the low end of the scale, they've offered a summary of an unqualified candidate: "Hard to understand how their interests and aspirations match their career choice. No evidence to suggest they have reflected on their skills match for the chosen role. Lacking clarity on what they can bring to the table. Responses are generic to any employer." Whereas someone who they would consider a top performer would score closer to the following description: "Provides credible rationale for career choice. Demonstrates an understanding of skills required for role. Showcases their potential value-add to the division they are joining. Clear understanding of the unique selling point of UBS and division of choice."
"I was really drawn to the company's global positioning. I am very focused on my career plan. Although I've adjusted it a few times, and understand things don't always go according to plan, I am very determined and look forward to developing professionally. This is another reason I was drawn to UBS as an employer, because of all the development programs available, and UBS University, and how supportive of an environment it seems to be as well. Lastly, the company culture, values, and sustainability goals are very important to me as well, and this feels well aligned with my values."
When answering this question, as advised by their recruiters, "you'll want to be able to speak to what's on your resume, how you learned from it, and relate it to what we're looking for. Why you, why us? Understand what you have to offer, and let us know why we're a good fit for you."
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