“Tell me about yourself”, these are the words you hear during an interview that leave you speechless. What do I tell them about myself? What skills do I have? Why am I here for this job? These are all things you are asking yourself while your interviewer is sitting across from you waiting for you to answer that question. What should you say? Here we will learn what you can do to prepare yourself for the question that stumps us all.
Learn What the Question is Asking
When you hear the question, it is important to think of what they are asking you. There are some important things to remember. Thinking about what skills you have gained and what you will be able to offer to the organization. The interviewer wants to know how you can impact the organization, this may include skills that are not listed on your resume or situations you’ve had to deal with before. In this article written by careersidekick, we get 4 helpful examples of we can answer our big question. How have you gotten to this point in your life? Have you had to use problem solving to get through a tough situation, they’ll want to know what you had to go through and why you succeeded.
Knowing Why they Ask
Learning the reasoning behind why they are asking this question is also important. They may want to know more about you and hear how you talk about yourself. They may want to know how you hold yourself to learn your personality and professionalism. Along with that they can learn how you fit within their internal culture and if you would fit for the role you interview for. This question can be a quick-thinking test to see how you handle yourself under pressure and if you can withstand heat. Understanding some of the reasons why they are asking can give you some ideas to think about prior to your interview.
The Delivery
When you are preparing to go into your interview it is important to practice and ensure that you are ready. This video from Indeed shows you six example answers for you to help deliver that perfect answer. Practice and preparation are words we have heard our whole lives, it will never go away either and in this situation, it could help you land that job. Work on those instances where you used your knowledge and skills to work through a situation. When you’re in the interview make sure to remain professional and confident. This will add to the information that they are receiving through your interview and see that you are put together well.
Things to Keep in Mind
While going through the interview process there are many things to keep in mind, it includes what you’re looking to do there and what has gotten you to this point your knowledge and experiences. Along with the personal things it is important to keep in mind where you are interviewing. You’ll want to keep in mind the role you want to secure, this will help you highlight certain skills that go with the role you are trying to obtain. Along with that not getting too personal, it is important as you wouldn’t want to get into a rant about past experiences that are irrelevant to the situation at hand.
Important Information to Include
As we have touched on throughout the article, there have been certain situations that we should use to secure the job. These points include:
- Experiences and Success stories. Include instances where you used your knowledge and skillset to solve a problem or go above and beyond towards success.
- Focus on your strengths and skills. This goes back to the last point but elaborate on each skill you have and how they led you to that success.
- Talk about what you know of the role you are looking to acquire and how your skillset fits within the role and organization.
In a video on YouTube titled Tell Me About Yourself?, they give some tips on how to answer that tough interview question. All the Do’s and Don’ts that we’ve been talking about throughout the article. With this information we can put all the steps together to complete a successful interview.
Time to Execute
Now that we know why we’re being asked and what to say this question doesn’t seem as stressful and scary to answer. Knowing all this information can leave you plenty of time to prepare and practice a successful answer. Good luck on the interview and get the job of your dreams!!
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