The Interview Question of the Week - Tell Me About Yourself

 

 

Get prepared for your next interview with the interview question of the week.

 

It's that time again! It's time for the Interview Question of the Week. Whether you are looking for a job or thinking about making a move, one of the keys to standing out during your interview is practice. It's not enough to show up and do your best to get through it anymore. By preparing ahead of time for the types of questions that will be asked and sketching out your answers, you won't have to worry about forgetting the main things you wanted to say or worse, drawing a blank.

 

To help you get prepared, each week we go over another popular interview question and break it down to figure out the best way to answer it. So, here you go, the Interview Question of the Week:

 

 

Question:

Tell me about yourself

 

Why it's a trap:

This is usually one of the first things an interviewer will ask. While it isn't a exactly a question and you should have seen it coming, it still manages to catch many people off guard. I think that the challenge here is that it is difficult to know how to answer such a big question briefly. Your goal is to touch on the main points of your career and give the interviewer an idea of who you are.

 

The best answer:

The most important thing about answering this question is to write it out ahead of time and practice. If you fumble through this question, it will seem as though you weren't prepared at all. A great way to answer this is to tell a story about who you are and how you got to this place in your career. Dry facts about your previous work history and training are great, but they are easily forgettable. As humans, we remember stories and we're usually pretty good about attaching a story to a person in an effort to remember something about them. Use this to your advantage and help the interviewer remember who you are and why you are a great candidate for the job.

 

For example:

“I have always been an overachiever, which is why I naturally gravitated toward a career in Sales. I love the competition and the drive to be a leader in my company. Throughout my early education and my college years, I worked hard to stand out academically. My first job in Sales was working with (company name), and during that time, I worked hard to be the top on my division. One of the highlights of my career was (some type of achievement).”

 

The goal is to link the high points of your training and relevant work experience into a short story that leaves the interviewer with an idea of who you are as a person and what is important to you. Remember that this isn't the time to talk about how many kids you have or your passion for stamp collecting. Although, if you have a hobby or outside passion that is interesting, feel free to add that into your story.

 

 

What do you think about this question and answer? Are there other questions you would like to see answered here? Let me know in the comments.

 

If you are looking for a job in Sales, visit SalesHeads for the best Sales job listings.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for SalesHeadsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.