Career Guidance On How To Answer Tell Me About Yourself In A Job Interview

Career Guidance On How To Answer Tell Me About Yourself In A Job Interview If you have been facing interviews you must have come across a few goto questions that interviewers love to bring on the desk. One is guaranteed to be asked is: ‘Tell me about yourself’. Today at career guidance, we shall find out how to answer this question and make your way towards your dream job.

It sounds such an easy question, right? But you cannot tell your life story on an interview and tell about your hobby as a stamp collector. There, the interviewer is looking for something slightly different.

With good preparation, you’ll be able to give the interviewer what they’re looking for so that you stand out ahead of others and be one step closer to your dream job.

A potential employer is not interested in knowing your birthplace or what is your favourite pet or how many pets you had. They are interested in your working life. It’s the best way for them to know you and gently take you towards the interviewing process.

Always remember at the top of this list of interview questions and is universal is “Tell me about yourself”. And often the first question to be asked and also paves your chance to make a first impression as well.

This question (or a certain variation like “Tell us about your background”) is asked in almost every job interview and many job searchers do not like it.

Here we tell you how to approach positively towards the question, “tell me about yourself”.

Mention your biggest accomplishments : It’s essential to have a few of your biggest achievements listed before going in. Employers would like to hear stories that point to a specific and relative product or an accomplishment, experience, might be even a failure they can fathom your talent against their perceived requirements.

If you are a recent pass out then don’t worry! Take an example of your extracurricular activity or a project you were a part of. If you’re applying for a job in media then you could mention working at a student newspaper or at the radio station. This is also the best time to discuss your volunteer experiences, it tells about the seriousness of your character and your commitment to helping the community.

Always remember the S*T*A*R approach It’s important to not only list a success story and leaves it. That’s why this tested approach to ‘STAR’ is so successful. Though it’s used for several behavioral questions it can also really help you structure your answer here as well.

STAR is an acronym for 4 key concepts: Situation: Set the scene for your story. For instance, the time you worked together as a group or solved a problem.

Task: Next, tell about your responsibility within the mentioned situation.

What was needed from you? Might be you had to complete a group project under a strict deadline and had to tackle some issues.

Action: You next describe how you finished the task. It could be that you were the project manager and went an extra mile to develop high-

quality work, besides having little time to do it. It’s essential to focus more on what you did instead of what your co-worker or team.

Result: Finally, you have to explain the outcome or result of the project.

Did you really learn anything from it? You have to emphasize your achievements and how the experience helped you to frame your personality.

But remember, there are a couple of things to consider whilst using this technique. It’s essential to speak specifically instead of in general terms.

You have to include how many people were in your group, how much time you had before the deadline and then tell about your success. If you keep speaking of generic term then the example will not impact much.

Also, you should know how to tailor the answer to a company. Always try and match your answer to the job description given and the values which the business upholds Conclusion: The best way to finish your answer is to explain why you’re keen to join the organization and why you are interested in the position. Remember it’s always them and not you. It’s important to always have the interviewer’s interest at the forefront of your mind.

Moreover, you’ll have to stress that the position appears to be in line with your plans and career goals. It proves that the candidate has done his or her homework and that you’ve also well considered the requirements needed for the role.

Also, make sure to go through your answer several times before attending an interview. It shouldn’t sound too rehearsed but natural. If you have well sorted your reply, then you will start it well.

Always remember that you will have time later to look into your resume for more details and fill in any gaps. Don’t try to give too much information or your interviewer will begin to tune you out.

A good interview is always a conversation, not a monologue. Keep it short, reasonable and give your interviewer a chance to get into and ask questions.

Practicing your answer, again and again, would be the key to success, so take help of a mirror and a stopwatch, or get the advantage of an interactive practice tool inside our interview training system.

With this, we conclude our discussion on career guidance tips for the day. And keep looking into this space by career advice for more career tips, news, and updates.