How to Answer the ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ Interview Question
Don’t be afraid of this question; instead use it as an opportunity to position
yourself for success.
September 22, 2009
By Lee E. Miller
FILED UNDER:
Interview Questions.
When I was a human-resources executive doing hiring interviews, I almost always
began my interviews with candidates by requesting, “Tell me about yourself.” I
did that for a number of reasons, the most important of which was to see how the
candidates handled themselves in an unstructured situation.
I wanted to see how articulate they were, how confident they were and generally
what type of impression they would make on the people with whom they came into
contact on the job.
I also wanted to get a sense of what they thought was important.
Most candidates find this question to be a particularly difficult question to
answer. That is a misplaced view. This question offers an opportunity to
describe yourself positively and focus the interview on your strengths. Be
prepared to deal with it. These days, it’s unavoidable. Like me, most
interviewers start off their interviews with this question. A lot of
interviewers open with it as an icebreaker or because they're still getting
organized, but they all use it to get a sense of whom you are.
The wrong response
There are many ways to respond to this question correctly and just one wrong
way: by asking, “What do you want to know?” That tells me you have not prepared
properly for the interview and are likely to be equally unprepared on the job.
You need to develop a good answer to this question, practice it and be able to
deliver it with poise and confidence.
The right response
To help you prepare, I spoke to a number of career coaches on how best to
respond when faced with this question. Heed the
career advice that follows to ace this opener:
The consensus of the coaches with whom I spoke :
Focus on what interests the interviewer
According to Jane Cranston, a career coach from New York , “The biggest mistake
people being interviewed make, is thinking the interviewer really wants to know
about them as a person.
They start saying things like 'Well, I was born in Hoboken, and when I was three
we moved …’ Wrong. The interviewer wants to know that you can do the job, that
you fit into the team, what you have accomplished in your prior positions and
how can you help the organization.”
Nancy Fox, of Fox Coaching Associates, agrees. She notes that “many candidates,
unprepared for the question, skewer themselves by rambling, recapping their life
story, delving into ancient work history or personal matters.” She recommends
starting with your most recent employment and explaining why you are well
qualified for the position. According to Fox, the key to all successful
interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking
for. “In other words, you want to be selling what the buyer is buying.”
Think of your response as a movie preview, says Melanie Szlucha, a coach with
Red Inc. “The movie preview always relates to the movie you're about to see. You
never see a movie preview for an animated flick when you're there to see a
slasher movie. So the ‘tell me about yourself” answer needs to directly fit the
concerns of your prospective employer.”
Previews are also short but show clips of the movie that people would want to
see more of later. They provide enough information about the movie so that you
could ask intelligent questions about what the movie is about. Hiring managers
don't want to look unprepared by reading your resume in front of you, so Szlucha
advises “to provide them some topics to ask you more questions about.”
Highlight your most important accomplishments
Greg Maka, managing director at 24/7 Marketing, advises job seekers to "tell a
memorable story about your attributes.” For example, if you tell an interviewer
that people describe you as tenacious, provide a brief story that shows how you
have been tenacious in achieving your goals. “Stories are powerful and are what
people remember most ,” he said.
One great example is that of Fran Capo, a comedienne who bills herself as “the
world’s fastest-talking female.” She offers the following advice: “Whenever I go
on auditions or interviews. I have a "set" opening I use. ... I tell the
interviewer what I do in one sentence and then say, ‘A nd I also happen to be
the Guinness Book of World Records’ fastest- talking female.’ Then I elaborate.”
According to Capo, the main thing in anything you do is to be memorable, in a
good way. Your goal when you answer the ‘tell me about yourself’ question is to
find a way stand out from everyone else.
And, be brief
Career Advice from TheLadders
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Help Them Say Yes in Your Next Interview
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A New Deciding Factor in Interviews
Maureen Anderson, host of
The Career Clinic
radio show, stresses the importance of keeping your answer short: “The employer
wants to know a
little
bit about you to begin with — not your life story. Just offer up two or three
things that are interesting — and useful. You should take about a minute to
answer this question.”
To make sure it is succinct and covers what you want it to cover, she suggests
that you “write your answer out before the interview, practice it, time it and
rehearse it until it sounds natural. Then practice it some more. The goal is to
tell the employer enough to pique their interest, not so much that they wonder
if they’d ever be able to shut you up during a coffee break at the office.”
Rather than dread this question, a well -prepared candidate should welcome this
inquiry. Properly answered, this question puts the candidate in the driver's
seat. It gives candidates an opportunity to sell themselves. It allows them to
set the tone and direction for the rest of the interview, setting them up to
answer the questions they most want to answer.
A veteran human-resources executive, Lee E. Miller is a career coach and the
author of "UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective — The Art of Getting What
You Want" and "Get More Money on Your Next Job ... In Any Economy." He may be
contacted at
Lee@YourCareerDoctors.com
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