Tell Me about Yourself
We have all heard terrible narrations of interviews and are mostly more than horrified & anxious most of the time about handling an interview. So, to start with thinking of the interview, the first obvious question he & she & you & I expect is, “Tell me about yourself.”
Now, please!! Here is not an invitation to go over your whole life story or even to go line by line through your resume you just submitted to the company. More importantly, here is probably your first and best chance to market yourself to the other person or panel over the table on why you’re the ‘best man’ for the job. Here all you need to do is keep in mind that you have to impress your panel in the first 1 minute time you have. This question, if asked, is just a lucky chance you have to shortlist yourself. This is asked for a good & different number of reasons, most importantly of them is to check how you handle yourself in a free/unexpected situation. However interviewers, nowadays, are aware that you have prepared yourself on the need to talk ‘About Yourself’ . Having said that, the most pertinent trick here, then, is to ‘act’ that the answer is natural & spontaneous, how many every times you may have learnt it by heart.
The best thing to do would be to think of what others would answer & definitely exclude them to start your answer for the same. A good strategy you may use here is the ‘Present-Past-Future’ formula. So, begin talking about your present—where and what you do right now; what your profile demands of you, and so on. After that, you may move into the past—an array of responsibilities you have handled & their experiences you’ve had while also informing the skills you gained at the previous designation. Finally, end with what you are looking forward to —why you are really looking forward to this particular opportunity.
If you are a fresher, you may recount your just accomplished highlights (projects, commendations, specializations) and then move on to talk briefly about your high school-life achievements with a strong and persuasive talk as to why & how, given the specializations you have, do you aim to do well. And finally, never be scared to relax, retell incidents & anecdotes—Since the hiring manager already has your chronicle of skills & competencies, they may also want to know a little more about you that is not included in your submitted resume.
The Only Wrong Response
You may use several ways to respond to this question; the one & only incorrect response to this question is “What would you (the interviewer) want to know?” It gives a signal that you have not prepared enough or a bit for your interview and are likely to be unprepared on the job, if offered. So, it is important you prepare a reasonably good, unique yet realistic answer to this question, rehearse it & deliver it with calm, composure and confidence.
The Right Response
The right response should necessarily include a couple of things:
• What most interests the Interviewer
• Bring to light your most important accomplishments
The Para Language
The panel actually, at a stage, cares less about your answer to this question and stresses more on observing your confidence, initiative and passion, intonation & body language when you respond. Your speed & confidence of the response is the response.
Final Tips
Next time, try these:
“I can sum up my personality in just two/three words...” immediately draws attention to your confidence.
“The philosophy I live by is....” shows that you are a thinker, not just the average interviewee
“My close peers say I am ...” shows your own level of self-esteem & self-awareness
“I am terribly passionate about ...” indicates what you actually are as a person, not only what you do
These are examples you can build on. The secret is how you will extract from the heavily-bored-by-candidates interviewer, “Wow! That’s the most unique response I’ve got all day!” In short, this question is all about your ‘Impression Management’ and if you do it well… There you are!!!