I still remember my first interview. I was so nervous, I entered the room and the interviewer's first question was tell me about yourself. In my nervousness I said, Hi, I'm doing MBBS. The problem was I was an engineering graduate. It's true story.
I've given a lot of interview after that. And I've taken a lot of interviews too. And all of them have taught me this, that you always need to be prepared to answer. Tell me about yourself. Because the way you answer this question decides whether the interviewers will listen to you throughout the rest of the interview or will switch to their phones and pretend to listen to you.
Call me crazy, but I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did during my first interview. So today, by the end of this article, you will learn how to answer this question confidently, make a great first impression, and eventually land more job offers. So in today's post,
We're going to understand...
- First, what answer the interviewer wants.
- Second, I'll give you a formula to answer. Tell me about yourself for any job that you want to apply.
- And third, and the most important point, suppose English is not your first language. Then towards the end, I'll give you a few techniques and tell you how you can speak in English fluently.
But before that, if you like what I'm saying, make sure you hit that big fat share button. Because that tells me that I should make more article about career . Let's begin.
What does the Interview want to know?
Tell me about yourself. Whenever an interview asks me this question, I am like, I only don't know about myself and what will I tell you? But guess what? It is a trick question. The interviewers don't want to know about you.
They only want to know two things. Number one, they want to know what is most important to you. So if you start by saying, hi, I'm Bravi. I really like watching cricket. Last night I saw Koli hit 100.
But Sachin is still good. Then the interviewer will be like bye bye. Suchin might be important. Koli might also be important. But right now, at this moment, this job should be the most important to you.
And how do you prove that? By giving them reasons why they should choose you instead of 50 other people waiting outside. And the second and the most important point they want to know is whether you're fit for this job or not. See, why is the interviewer sitting there to hire someone, right? So they want to know if your qualifications, your experience, your attitude are fit for that role.
And that brings us to
The Tell me about Yourself formula
The tell me about yourself formula has three elements to it.
1. who you are?The first line should summarize your experience or your education, while you use some adjectives to define your personality. So if you're an experienced professional, a good way to start can be hi, I'm Priya. I'm an innovative HR manager with seven years of work experience managing all aspects of HR function, from recruitment to training to benefits for Fortune 500 companies.
Do you see how it is strictly professional and to the point? If you're a student, then you can say something like hi, I'm Varun. I'm a hardworking engineering graduate specialized in computer science engineering with an overall CGPA of so on and so forth.
2. Your accomplishments.
This is the place where you talk about your best work, something that you're proud of, but avoid using superlatives like, I am the best salesperson in this country because when somebody uses superlatives, not only does it show arrogance, but it also says that that person is ignorant.
So your next line should be a list of your accomplishments combined with proof of performance. For example, I have led the sales of my company for three years and had the opportunity to bring $3 million worth of new business during that time. So this statement is humble, talks about an achievement and adds a number to it, which makes it believable. You can even go on and mention your second best achievement. Now, in case you're a student and have no experience at all, don't worry, you can talk about the training you have received and how those skills relate to the job that you're applying to.
Along with my degree, I completed net, Java and SQL courses on courses. Learning these new technologies have helped me develop my final year project titled XYZ. It was during this project I discovered that I am a team player and I so on and so forth.
3. how you are fit for this job.
This is the last element of the formula, and this is what most people forget.
You need to end your answer by telling them why you are applying and how you are fit for this job. Don't say things like I'm having issues with my boss, which is why I'm looking for new opportunities. Hey, it might be true, but you don't have to be blunt about it. Plus, this line says that you're interested in a job, any job, and not this one in particular. So read the job description carefully and tell them how your skills are aligned to their requirements.
Remember, you have just 1 minute or 90 seconds maximum to answer this question. Don't war the interviewer by telling your life story. Also, if you have any further interview related questions, feel free to comment and ask me.
English Grammar Troubles
Now comes the difficult part what to do if you are wide about your grammar. See, more often than not, your interview is not going to be a grammar Nazi. So it's okay to make a few mistakes here and there. You can still get away with it as long as you use the following techniques.
- Be Confident and maintain good eye contact with your interviewer. See, I'm talking to you right.
Imagine if instead of looking at you, I start looking at that wall or the ceiling. Getting my point?
- Be Human whenever you are answering, don't talk like a robot and use a single tone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to be ritikrashan from my brain, Kimi Wani. I'm a child.
But use excitement to convey passion and slow down whenever you have to, because it makes your story more interesting. And third, remember, a good interview is a...
- conversation, not a monologue. So let your interviewer ask questions and listen to what they're asking or saying. If you take care of these three things, your grammatical mistakes, if any, will go unnoticed. See?
It's not a big deal. English, like any other language, can be learnt with practice. Now you will go get that job, and I will go and work on my next post about anything.
If you want to know what that is about, then make sure you you subscribe to my website newsletter and hit that share icon. I promise to see you again next post. Until then, keep fighting with English.
Writer: Md Sujan Miah
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