The Phone Interview

[scorched]

I have worked at 10+ companies over 28 years, and never in my life can I recall being asked that.
If I got asked that question, I would realize I am in jeopardy of not advancing. If you didn't convince them already, it's doubtful you will by answering that question.

But my answer would be "I honestly don't know who your interviewing, but there skills are obviously similar to mine", and I would ask them to recall my history of success, my military duty, responsibility, and adaptability from a personal and team perspective. And then use BIPolar's technique of asking for the close, "if all candidates skills are fairly equal, wouldn't you want someone who can adapt to the team, yet has the individual can do attitude ?" .

have you never interviewed someone and at the end asked them "Tell me, why should I hire you over the other candidates?"

because I've gotten that question so many times

it sounds like BIPolarGuy found out a way to make a preemptive strike

I think BIPolarGuy's way sounds a little pushy too, but I think its a perfectly valid technique for certain kinds of jobs : the MBA, managerial, decision maker position - you want someone pushy, someone who will take control, a decision maker