Answering The Dreaded "Tell Me About Yourself" Question

The “tell me about yourself” question creates great stress in a job interview, but it doesn’t have to anymore.  Clients say, but what do they want to know?  How long should the answer be?  Let’s think about it from their (the interviewers) perspective.  The interviewer isn’t looking for just a short presentation of your resume highlights that lasts for all of 15 seconds, nor do they want a 20 minute oration on your entire life’s story.

While that “resume highlights” portion must be in the answer, you also want to offer up a few personal tidbits about you (hobbies that show an active person or volunteer work you perform), and pre-answer a couple of questions the interviewer will ask anyway.  For instance:  Why are you looking for a new position?  Why did you choose to apply for this job, with our company?

Create an answer with multiple facets that tell about you and your career, giving the interviewer a peek at your personal life, and then answering questions you know will be asked.  To your job search success!