This question is actually a potentially useful tool for closing a candidate as well, designed to find out the candidate's interests with the answer potentially

This question is actually a potentially useful tool for closing a candidate as well, designed to find out the candidate's interests with the answer potentially used to demonstrate that the job being offered is a fit for the candidate's specific filters and criteria. This isn't much different from what an agency recruiter may ask a candidate in an initial profiling session, where the answers will be used later to try and close a candidate on a job offer.