How to answer 'Why do you want to work with us?'

My friend was furious after a Head of Engineering interview with Atlassian. Here’s how the conversation went:

He said, “I cleared two rounds and then got to the SVP who asked me, ‘Why do you want to work with us’?”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them the comp was decent and the benefits were nice, but what is the point of asking this question? Don’t people just want to work for money? Do I need an ulterior reason to work for a company?”

The answer he already had

“If you were being offered the same role, comp, and benefits at another company, but it was a pharma firm, which one would you choose?”

“Atlassian, of course!”

“Why?”

“Well, they’re building a state-of-the-art IAM platform called Atlassian Guard, and having worked on a similar thing at Okta, it makes perfect sense.”

“Why didn’t you tell them?”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You really don’t read my content, do you?”