The "Tell me about yourself" interview question is a critical, often anticipated opening that requires a concise, tailored, and strategic response to set a positive tone for the rest of the interview.
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hey i'm abby and welcome back to the
lifeworkbalance youtube channel today i
want to talk to you about one of the
most common openings to any interview
the question is tell me about yourself
this question makes interviewees stumble
even though it's something that they can
easily prepare for and likely anticipate
and expect to start the interview so how
do you answer this in a concise and
strategic way stick around and i'll tell
you how before we do that please go
ahead and hit that thumbs up button if
you're looking forward to today's video
and if you haven't already please go
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well as the bell so that you can receive
life work balance advice delivered
directly to you every sunday when it
comes to interviewing you need to
prepare yourself to answer this question
tell me about yourself it is highly
likely that this will be the first
question that you are asked during an
interview if you're not asked the
question tell me about yourself you will
likely be asked a variation of it like
tell me about yourself and why you
applied for this position tell me a
little bit about yourself
tell me about your experience why don't
you tell us a little bit about yourself
and why you're a good fit for this job
so while there may be variations of this
question you can expect it to be the
opening to every interview that you
participate in as someone who has
interviewed for many jobs and has been
on the interview panel
this has hands down been the easiest
question to expect in all of the
interviews that i've been a part of but
regardless of that it doesn't mean that
it's easy to answer and most people
really struggle when it comes to
answering this question if you haven't
already i do have a short less than five
minute video that discusses the do's and
don'ts of answering this question so if
you haven't already watched it i've
linked to it in the description box
below and i've added it to a card up
above in order to prepare yourself to
answer this question the first thing you
need to do is review the job posting
while you're reviewing the job posting
select three to five key aspects of this
job whether it's responsibilities tasks
or overall duties of this job and then
you want to be able to link your current
and previous experience to those three
to five items ultimately you will be
describing your highlights as related to
this position it may even be helpful to
write out the highlights of each of your
previous jobs so that you can easily
find themes and connections between your
previous experience and this new
position after you've gone through your
previous experience and the job posting
that you've applied to it's time to
start crafting sentences that relate to
those three to five highlights from the
posting as well as those highlights that
connect from your previous experience
now i recommend while you're crafting
your answer to this question
that you tailor it specifically to the
job that you're applying to
so do not under any circumstance create a
a
generic pitch that you will use to your
answer tell me about yourself that's
more of your elevator pitch that's
something that you would use in an
informational interview or while you're
networking however you do not want your
generic elevator pitch to be used as
your answer to the question tell me
about yourself so while you may be using
your elevator pitch as guidelines or a
template to create your response to this
question you do not want it to be a
generic memorized pitch
you will want to make sure that you have
these three to five highlights from your
experience somewhat memorized but you
don't want to memorize your entire
answer to this question because you
don't want it to come off sounding
robotic and rehearsed
you want your response to this question
to be conversational and flow easily
so that means that you're likely not
going to memorize the entire thing you
will also want to structure it in present
present
past and future formats
so this means what are you doing right
now so your current position or your
current training and education
what have you done in the past to
prepare you for this position
and where do you want to go
and as a part of that where do you want
to go how does this organization and
this position fit into that so while
you're describing your present your past
and your future
you will be able to incorporate and
intertwine your highlights from your
experience and show how it matches with
those three to five key aspects of the
job posting that you've reviewed
now i've mentioned this in my other
video about the do's and don'ts of how
to answer this question but i feel like
it's important to reiterate here
do not
just verbalize your resume
if you've gotten this far
to the interview process
it's likely that everyone that you're
interviewing with has reviewed your resume
resume
even if it is a brief review on their part
part
so do not spend this valuable time
just reviewing all of the items on your resume
resume
you want your answer to this question to
feel like a conversation to feel like a
story that you're telling them this is
your first opportunity to convince the
interview panel that you are the best
fit for this position
imagine that this is your only
opportunity to convince them of this
that is how seriously you should take
answering this question your answer to
this question sets the tone for the rest
of the interview it's also important to
remember to keep your answer to this
question brief now i've talked with
other career coaches and interview
strategists about how to answer this question
question
and the feedback about length to this answer
answer
actually varies pretty dramatically i've
heard people say that your answer to
this question should be between three to
seven minutes long that is way too long
it also shouldn't be 30 seconds your
answer to this question should be about
one to two minutes maybe three minutes
depending on the interview
but the sweet spot for answering this
question is at that 90-second mark i'm
going to start a timer right now with
this video that will time 90 seconds and
three minutes and you will see how long
it actually feels for that type of
answer for that type of question in the
interviews that i've been in where the
answers to this question have been three
minutes or longer the interviewers are
typically beginning to look at their
watches and are just expecting every
answer to all of the future questions to
be long-winded you do not want to start
your interview off with that sort of
tone and that sort of expectation you
want to be seen as organized concise and
well-spoken you do not want to be seen
as someone who rambles
shares too much information and can't
manage their time appropriately so your
timing to this question is essential to
your overall success in the interview process
process
now i know i'm not providing you with
very specific guidance on how to answer
this question
and that's because your answer to this
question will vary significantly based
off of your experience and the position
that you're applying to
however i do recommend following the
format of present past future
that will help you organize your
thoughts so that you can share the
information that you have about your
experience and how you best fit for this
position in the most strategic mindful
way once you've crafted your response
and you know what types of things you
want to share in your overall answer to
this question
i highly highly recommend practicing
your answer to this question
this does not mean just rehearsing it
silently in your head
it also doesn't mean just practicing it
out loud looking at yourself in the
mirror in the bathroom i
i
fully recommend recording yourself
answering this question
you will be able to not only tell how
long you talked so
so
try to keep it at that 90 second mark
but you will also be able to hear what
it sounds like from an interviewer's
perspective now i know you may cringe at
the thought of hearing your own voice if
you've recorded yourself
but it is great feedback for yourself to
be able to re-watch yourself answering
these questions
you will understand your timing better
you'll understand your tone you'll be
able to watch your body language it will
be very helpful for you to be able to
watch yourself answer these questions
but don't be too hard on yourself if you
hate the way that you sound or you feel
like you look awkward on camera the
point of recording yourself is to just
give yourself valuable information so
that you can have the most effective and
strategic answer to this question and
future interview questions
now the other thing that i want to touch
on in this video
before i wrap up is what about the
personal stuff
that is often a question that i am asked
when i'm helping people strep when i'm
helping people structure their answers
to this question
you likely do not want to share any
personal information
with your answer to tell me about yourself
yourself
you don't need to share information
about when you were born
if you're married how you named your cat etc
etc
however if you have personal information
that directly relates to this position
feel free to share it because having a
personal connection to the position or
the organization will likely help you so
for example
i likely would not share in the answer
to this question that i enjoy going to a
specific type of gym
however if i am applying to work at that
specific type of gym then i would likely
describe how i'm a member how often i go
what i like most about that gym
and that would really show the hiring
team that i am committed and loyal to
their organization i am passionate about
it and i'm excited to work for them not
just for the paycheck but for the other
aspects of what working for that
organization means to me
so just to recap when you're answering
this question you want to keep it brief
about 90 seconds is the sweet spot
one to two minutes is on average okay
three minutes is the upper limits and
pushing it
do not share any personal information
unless it relates directly to the
position that you're applying to
and when you're crafting your answer you
want to do two things the first is craft
it using the present past future format
and then you also want to craft it by
pulling your highlights
that relate to about three to five of
these specific items from the job
posting that you pulled during your
review prior to this interview
and finally
once you've decided how you might answer
this question record yourself and
practice answering it
watch it back
just gather data about how you look how
you sound what the words sound like how
it sounds and looks all together and you
can really use that to refine and
fine-tune your answer to this question
so i hope you found this video helpful
if you have any questions comments
thoughts or ideas please put them in the
comments box below as i've mentioned in
all of my previous videos i love
receiving comments i look at them all
and i respond to them all individually
so if you leave me a comment i will get
back to you as soon as i'm able so again
if you have any questions comments
thoughts or ideas please throw them in
the comments box below if you enjoyed
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