Interview tips and tricks -Tell me something about yourself

Hello everyone. I will be doing a series of articles on interview hacks. What to say, what not to say, what clothes to wear, the body language, etiquette so on and so forth.

Today, the focus would be on a quintessential question.  Tell me something about yourself. This is a question with which the interviews usually start and believe me, this is the best question to manoeuvre the Interview to your advantage.

Always pre-prepare the answer to this question. No one wants you to rattle off your resume, they have already seen it. They want to know what you think of yourself and what do you want others to think about you or perceive about you.

If you are a fresher then answer this question with your current academic achievements, then move to non-academic achievements, your key attributes, and how you have leveraged them, rounding it off to a reference to your family and your dream of success.

If you think, you can do justice to this extempore, you are sadly mistaken. However good you may be in articulation, if you aren’t prepared you will go all over the place and end up rambling.

The answer to this question should be to the point and within 2 minutes so you can communicate all that you want them to know

This is your sales pitch so be ready with a 45-seconder, a 60-seconder and a 120-seconder. Leverage it as you so deem fit.

If you are an experienced professional and are asked to be taken through your profile. Start with achievements related to key performance indices or KPI followed by achievements in earlier roles.  Education and marks here are redundant.  They want to know what you have been up to and what value-add you can bring to their organisation.

Let’s discuss a few examples on the way to answer this question:

For first-time job seekers a.k.a freshers

Good morning mam, sir. I am xxx yyy with educational qualifications in the field of economics. My favourite read is xxxx by Dr Manmohan Singh(any economist) where he outlines….aabbbccc…xxyyzzz., I am a go-getter, self-motivated person who wants to be a valuable asset to any organisation who gives me a chance to work with them. As a student, I have been a consistent top performer and I also have been an organizer of Aabbcc events/ class representative/ member of placement committee/ winner of sports meet/< highlight achievements which show them that you are a well-rounded personality> .

Don’t oversell yourself. Limit your answer to a maximum of 2 minutes with a logically built-up and well-rehearsed introduction. Start from recent, move to highlights, touch upon your family background, round it off with personality traits, and close it with a smile.

Trust me if you get this right, the probability of being selected increases manifold. No one is expecting you to know about work since you are a fresher and would only have academic knowledge..the assessment is based on the thought process of the candidate and his/ her attitude and aptitude to learn and excel.

Articulation and conversation skillset is important for roles in the domain of sales and marketing, relationship management or client facing roles. For other roles or job profiles, even if your command of the English language isn’t that good but you come across as a logical person, you are likely to be selected.

Now let us discuss how an experienced person could handle this question.

What is important to be highlighted are your key achievements till date. Start with your recent role and go backwards from there. A maximum of 2 achievements per role is to be highlighted so in totality 4-5 key achievements are to be stated followed by your skill set. End the introduction with a reference to your academic credentials.

let me share an example.

I am ABC presently working as yyzz in xxyy company for the last yy years. I have been a consistent performer and have achieved 125%+ of my sales targets for yy geography year on year. I have been felicitated by the CEO twice on my outstanding achievements. I am a visionary leader and manage a team size of 6. Despite leading a high-performing team, I am one of the few managers who enjoy a zero attrition. Before this role, as a product consultant, I had many firsts to my credit like product aabb contributing zzyy million  dollars in annual revenue, and product ccdd contributing to xxyy million dollars in revenue yearly. I have a pleasant disposition, a positive outlook along with a problem-solving approach. I am looking for a green field role in the area of semiconductor sales and therefore have put across my candidature for the role.

The above example has the role explained, key KPI’s highlighted, skill sets enumerated and the fitment to the current role alluded too. All put across in a conversational but logically thought-through manner.

Just one last tip, try to end your answer with a tidbit which you would want them to question you further on, as in something outstanding in academics, a key highlight of your career or a specialized skill set that you want to be questioned on.

So think about it and prepare your answer to this question… do reach out to me to discuss and share your thoughts on the probable answer to this question. All the best for your future endeavours.

 

Pic courtesy: www.freepik.com