So Tell Me About Yourself- The best answer to that interview question

 

So tell me about yourself.

 You submitted the resume and you waited patiently and finally, you got that phone call, and now you got the interview. You are sitting across the table and the hiring manager smiles and asks you the question...Tell me about yourself. 

In addition, you panic. Moreover, you do not know what to do. You do not know what to say. You start to stutter. And halfway through the conversation you say to yourself,"Ugh! I blew it! Why did I even say that?

  You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Usually that hiring manager makes up his or her mind in the first three minutes during the interview.

Do you make a good impression? So today I'm going to share with you from a CEO perspective, from a hiring manager perspective, from an employer perspective, what is the best response to the question

"Tell me about yourself."

 You see, we have interviewed thousands and thousands of potential applicants and I cannot tell you how many times I see people kind of struggle with this question but there are incidents that we are very impressed with the response.

This is not theory. We have taken some of the best replies, some of the best responses to this question. 

I am going to teach it to you, and by the end of this blog you are going to walk away with the exact formula exactly what do you need to say and how to say it.

I am also going to give you a little script, a little template, so next time when you are asked this question you know exactly what to say. 

Now let me give you a couple keys first. 

Key number one. 

When the hiring manager is asking you the question

"Tell me about yourself," they are not actually asking about your whole life story.

They are not asking about your parents, your background, and your dog's name, and what kind of cat do you have. It is not about that.

So when people hear that question, they think,” Oh, let me tell you my life story! “And twenty minutes into it, you have not talked about anything important. Therefore, what they are actually asking is what you are bringing to the table. 

So from now on, when you hear the question, “tell me about yourself “I want you to make the mental switch. That equals what value could you bring to the company?

What problems can you solve for the company?

That is what they are asking. Moreover, you should not go on and on and on

About all your background and all of that. No. Do not do that. 

Key number two.

Be yourself, but be your best self. See, one of the mistakes people make here is they believe in the interview, “well, I just want to be myself”. Yes, you want to be yourself,

however, you want to be your best self. 

You want to be authentic; you do not want to be fake. Nevertheless, it does not mean that you just share everything. This is the first time you just sitting across the table from a hiring manager, it is like a date. 

Right? You are just getting to know each other. This is like a coffee date. So make sure that you present your best self. Lead with your strong foot forward.

Therefore, when they are asking you the question, everything you share, any statement that you make, you always want to tie it back to what's in it for them. 

 What is in it for them? So let me give you an example. Let us say someone is hiring and you are applying for a social media manager position. In addition, the hiring manager is asking you, “well, so tell me about yourself." 

A typical response, someone might say, “well, you know, I um, I-I-I grew up with social media and, um, I've used social media for a long time my whole life actually. Therefore, I am very familiar with it. 

And just about three years ago, I thought to myself well, maybe I could actually make a living doing this. Therefore, I started playing around with it, and, um, take on a couple clients here and there and I've worked with a couple people, uh, and then, now, you know,

I am planning to get married and my fiancé told me, you know, I should get a stable job.

So here, I am, and, I am looking for a company that offers good growth potential, good growth opportunity.

Moreover, this place is not too far from my home. It’s good; it's only a ten minute drive."

You see the problem. Like this, all me me me me me .It's all about that person,

What they need and all of that stuff. Bad idea.

Now, how do you feel if you are the hiring manager?

When you ask that question? If that is the answer that you get. So, instead of rambling on about that, about my background and all this stuff, what I want, no. 

If you turn it into a benefit, what is in it for them, what is in it for the hiring manager?

What could you say? I am going to give you a simple formula.

Write this down. 

Three S. 

First step is success.

Now here is a script that you could use.

"I have been blank". Or, "my background is blank". So, let me demonstrate.

Let us say it is the same position, social media manager that you are applying.

First, success. I have been. I have been doing social media for the last three years Specializing in helping companies and entrepreneurs growing their Facebook fan page. In the last three years, alone I have helped dozens of clients in over ten different industries. In addition, on average I have been able to help my clients to really increase their engagement and grow their fan page by three to five hundred percent in less than six months.

That is what I am passionate about. In fact, I have listed some of those clients. That I have worked with on the reference letter. You see how that works.

You are talking about your success but without bragging. It is more to demonstrate and highlight your skillset. What are you good at? That is number one, success. 

 Step number two is strength. 

In addition, here is the script."My strength is" or "my real strength is" fill in the blank.

My real strength is my ability to truly understand what your audience wants. I pride myself on my reputation to creating engaging and compelling content that I know your audience loves and wants to share.

That is the second step.

My strength is blank. 

Third step situation. 

Meaning, how does that apply to the position that you are applying. How do you apply your background, your strength into the new company, the new opportunity?

Situation, "what I am looking for is", fill in the blank. 

What I am looking for is a company that I could add value to, that I could produce a positive return on investment for.

Where I could join a strong team. Is this what ABC Company is looking for? You see. At the end, you ask a question. 

Whoever asks a question controls the conversation. Therefore, you want to ask a question. And now the hiring manager will be like "okay, yeah, I guess that's what I'm looking for",

Alternatively, "no that's not what we're looking for". 

And you got from there Just because you are in an interview it does not mean that you do not need to sell.

The next question you might have is well; does that mean that I have to memorize a script of some sort? Moreover, the answer is yes. 

You do not want to go in unprepared. In fact, you want to write it out, practice it, and rehearse it many times.

Therefore, when you are in front of that potential hiring manager, you are ready to go. You need to memorize it and say it many times so it comes across very natural.

The last thing you want is to panic and stutter and you do not know what to say. You do not want to do that. 

If you want to equip yourself with practical business knowledge, if you want to learn how to communicate with conviction, so you can finally get the respect that you deserve

and attain your goals. 

I am glad that this blog has helped you with confidence to face the interviewer head on.

See you on the next blog.