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!

Career Tip

Always bring a fresh copy of your resume and cover letter to an interview, and be sure it is the version you sent to that particular company.  In fact, I always recommend that candidates find out how many people will be interviewing them and bring at least that many copies, if not a couple of extra in case additional interviewers are invited.  Providing a nice clean copy of your resume and cover letter to the interviewers not only ensures they have the "pretty" version instead of one from the Applicant Tracking System, but shows your level of preparation.  To your job search and interview success!

Your Resume is a Marketing Brochure!

Always think of your resume as a marketing brochure, never as a duties and responsibilities list.  Your resume must market you towards a specific position and show how you have been of value to your past employers.  It is never just a general career document.  Remember, companies look for keywords and key phrases that relate to the position they are hiring for, and the explanation of how you used those skills, software, competencies, career-related acronyms, etc., in your bullet points under each position.  To your job search success!

Taking Notes in an Interview, it’s a Must!

There are a few books and bloggers out there that claim you shouldn't take notes during an interview.  I am here to tell you that advice is wrong.  While you don’t want to sit and take notes constantly as if you are copying the interviewers every word, you can take notes on the most salient points of the conversation, including skills and tasks they most want from a candidate, salary info, benefits, your managers management style, and what they think the most important part of your job will be ultimately.  You cannot possibly remember every part of an interview conversation without taking a few notes on the most important facts.  Not having notes will keep you from writing the best possible thank you note, and it will mean you have no reference of information for the next step of the process, often a second interview.  Take notes, the interviewers expect you to, and having them will help you to make the best decision for your career.  To your interview success!

If You Are Early You Are On Time

The title of my article is an old military adage and very concisely communicates that to merely be on time means you will get started on your task late.  This applies to both a person’s job search and their career.  When you get that coveted interview you want to put your best foot forward, and arriving right at the start of, or late to your interview certainly won’t make a good impression.  Starting out to your interview early with a plan to arrive 20 minutes ahead of schedule can ensure extra time if you get caught in traffic, enable you to check over your outfit and pre-interview notes one more time, and to feel less rushed and less nervous. 

In your job/career, getting to work a little early can help you as well.  How about not having to drive over the speed limit, risking a speeding ticket, just to make it to work on time?  How about not having your boss or coworkers mad at you again for being late?  Imagine the feeling of getting ahead of your work for the day and maybe even being able to leave a little early on occasion without feeling guilty?  Perhaps you will miss some of the rush hour traffic or get a better parking space.  Regardless of the benefit, you will definitely avoid the hurried and stressed out approach that everyone else takes who doesn’t make a little extra time for their commute.  Start your day out a little earlier and reap the benefits of more peace and calm in your life!  To your job search and career success! 

Interview Tip: Dealing with Illegal Interview Questions

Interviewers are often inexperienced and will ask illegal questions out of ignorance, not due to an underhanded motive.  Questions that seek information about your age, national origin, religion, marital status, race, gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities are TYPICALLY illegal and can be giant red flags within an interview situation.  Most of the time illegal questions are more about having a conversation versus trying to discriminate against you, and your task unfortunately, is to determine whether they are being discriminatory or are merely uninformed.  So, if you decide the person interviewing you “doesn't know any better” what should you do?  1)  Answer the question just like any other interview question.  2)  Tell them it is illegal for them to ask such a question.  While certainly we don’t want to be put in this situation, it may be best if you really feel they are just ignorant of what is permissible, to answer the question.  The moment you point out the inquiry is illegal you will scare the interviewer(s) and most likely lose the job.

If you are unsure as to their reasoning for the question, ask them “why do you ask?”  This could bring up a red flag on their end, but their answer should offer you more insight as whether the question could be discriminatory in nature.  Here are a few things that can help you pinpoint the potential for bias in interview questions:

--Multiple illegal questions are asked.

--They aggressively ask illegal questions.

--Explanation they offer about “why” makes you uncomfortable.

--They act insulted that you inquired as to why the question was asked.

Since most of these queries are innocent enough, answering them like any other question will pay dividends in the end, especially when you may not mind providing the information anyway.  If you suspect you are the victim of discrimination in an employment interview, contact an attorney that specializes in employment law or your local Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) office.  As always, to your job search success! 

Practicing Your Behavioral Interviewing Skills

Reading books and looking at website's are a great way to learn more about behavioral interviewing, but how about creating answers ahead of time?  This is something interviewees often don't think about, and then suffer the inevitable inability to answer several simple behavioral questions in an interview.  You know these questions well - they start with the following:

"Tell me about a time when..."

"Give me an example of..."

"Describe a time when..."

Try developing some scenarios of how you have handled issues or created successes in the past within the workplace.  From increasing profit and revenue, developing new business, and cutting expenses to supervising staff, managing inventory, and participating in project teams, you have many examples to offer that typically haven't been considered.  Start by looking at your resume and determining if you can supply more detail within the interview about specifics cited in each position’s bullet points.  Utilizing existing lists of behavioral questions available online and in books and those you have already been asked in interviews can help you create an entire collection of answers.  Here are 12 typical questions to get your started:

--Describe a time when you worked under a great deal of pressure or tight deadline?

--Tell me about a time when you were a member of a great team. What role did you play in making the team great?

--Tell me about a time you had to multitask?

--Tell me about a time when you were creative in solving a problem?

--Give me an example of a time when you had a disagreement with a coworker and how you resolved it?

--Tell me about a time when you suggested a better way to do something at work?

--Describe how you handle crises? Describe a particular crisis that you handled well?

--What would your last boss/manager say about you?

--Give me an example of when you were given a task to accomplish without any real direction from your manager?

--Describe what motivates you?

--Tell me what you know about our company?

--Why should we hire you?

Why come up with these examples in the middle of an interview.  Preparing 20 or more answers ahead of an interview will allow you to concentrate on questions that you truly cannot anticipate.  To your interview success!