> "I'm not just firing resumes out at random, after all."
This, I think, is really the core of it. Talented candidates can be picky about what jobs they apply to because they are in demand; they have looked over a company and found one or more specific reasons to apply. Answers like "I'm looking for a job and this position matches my skills." suggest that the candidate is being unselective, possibly because they are desperate and/or are significantly below average.
I think you're overextending his reply. He gave interesting insights on how he answers this question and that's all. Lots of companies I'm looking at are asking such questions even for very basic roles. I can't believe they are all filled with extremely talented people who are that many orders of magnitude above everyone else, and who could be working anywhere else they wanted and chose that job from all others because they are so interested specifically in that company/product/domain/role; and, because of that, they gave brilliant answers to the "why do you want to work here?" question when they applied. If I'm wrong, please give me examples of those brilliant answers. I'm honestly curious about what kind of data that input produces to people at the other side of the table.
I've been doing this since I was wet behind the ears, back when I would have taken any job that came my way. An underlying social aspect to job-hunting (and all aspects of life) is that people respond to how you present yourself. Behave as if you are professional and desirable, and people will tend to think of you that way.
We are what we pretend to be, so we need to be thoughtful about what we pretend to be.
This, I think, is really the core of it. Talented candidates can be picky about what jobs they apply to because they are in demand; they have looked over a company and found one or more specific reasons to apply. Answers like "I'm looking for a job and this position matches my skills." suggest that the candidate is being unselective, possibly because they are desperate and/or are significantly below average.