There are several popular interview questions that you’re going to face. The “tell me about yourself” question is sure to be one of them. Unlike other questions that get a lot of attention for being tough, this one is often seen as a throwaway. That couldn’t be further from the truth. This question gives you every chance to not only give the interviewer/s a chance to get to know who you are, but you also have the opportunity hit every note of why you’re the perfect candidate for the job. Let’s get started!
Interview Questions: Tips to Follow
Focus on the Question
A big mistake that people make out of the gate with this question is losing focus when talking about themselves. Your interviewer isn’t interested in hearing about your favorite movie, what you’ve been doing in your free time, or how your friends describe you. They’re not really interested in hearing about “you” rather “you at work”. To successfully answer this question, focus on how you relate to the job and what you can bring to not just the position, but the company. Reign in that desire to talk about every aspect of yourself and leave it for any small talk that might conclude an interview.
Mention Your Past
Don’t forget, your interviewer doesn’t know who you are or much about your past. This question is here to give them an insight into how you performed in your last position and how you were able to fit in with their culture. Bringing a past success to this question is the perfect way to accomplish both parts of what they’re looking for. Exemplify the skills the job description highlighted and implement them into your story about how you overcame a challenge and achieved your goal.
If you don’t have much job experience, you can draw in a story from your personal life. Make sure to keep it professional and keep the focus on the skills developed in that story that apply to the job.
Tailor Yourself to the Job
We know that you’re a complex person. Everybody is. So, trying to condense your whole personal and professional identity into a couple of lines isn’t easy. Instead of doing that, tailor your description of yourself to meet the needs of the job. For example, if the position is a leadership role, emphasize those traits when describing yourself. Talk about how you lead others and how your abilities created a win for the team. Doing this streamlines your answer, prevents you from going off-topic, and gives your interview information that they can actually do something with.
Highlight Your Strengths
Remember, these interviewers probably don’t know anything about you other than maybe what your resume says. They don’t know your weaknesses, so ignore them. Focus on your strengths instead. Are you great at organizing? Perfect, talk about how you helped organize your goals or schedule. Maybe you even organized your department at your past job. That’s great! This is what you should tell them. Be specific, have details, and watch how this answer can have an enormous impact in getting you hired.
Bring Your Personality
While you shouldn’t use this question to bring up every aspect of your personality, you can show off a bit about who you are. Depending on your interviewer and the questions they’re asking, you might not get another chance to show them what you’ll be like to work with. Besides bringing up examples of your strengths and successes, you can mention some things that’ll set you apart from everyone else they’re interviewing. Mention a hobby that you’re into, or what you’re like to work with. Everybody wants to work with someone they like, so try to connect with the interviewer on a personal level. If it’s a close call between you and someone else, they’re going to pick the person they like the best. Make sure that’s you.
Interviews are most daunting when you don’t know what you’re getting into. Being prepared for questions like the “tell me about yourself” question, will immediately give you a head start on your competition and play a large role in the success of the interview. Implement these tips into your next interview and good luck. JōbSource is confident you’ll get the job.
If you’re having trouble finding the right job for you, come into one of our branches or check out the job postings we have online. Your next career starts with JōbSource
