How to answer ' Tell me about yourself ? " in a job interview

Job interview

They called you for an interview and don't know what to say.

You're sitting across the table and the hiring manager smiles and asks you the question...

Tell me about yourself.

You don't know what to say. Don't panic !

The best response to the question

"Tell me about yourself."


Key number one:When the hiring manager is asking you the question "tell me about yourself" they are not actually asking about your whole life story.
They're not asking about your parents, your background,and your dog's name, and
what kind of cat do you have.It is not about that.

So when people hear that question, they start to speaking about their life story.


They're actually asking you what are you bringing to the table.
what can you bring to the company?
What problems can you solve for the company?
That's what they want you to talk about .

Key number two: Be yourself, but be your best self.

- One of the mistakes people make here is

They believe they should be authentic,they don't want to be fake.

But it doesn't mean that you just share everything family details , health and children
They just want to know what benifit is there for them  for them?

So let me give you an example.

Let's say someone is hiring and you're applying for a social media manager position.

And the hiring manager is asking you,

"well, so tell me about yourself."

A typical response, someone might say,

"well, you know, I grew up with social media and, I've used social
media for a long long time like my whole life actually.
So I'm very familiar with it.And just about three years ago, I thought to myself
well, maybe I could actually make a living doing this.
So I've worked with a couple people, uh, and then, now, you know,
I'm planning to get married and my fiancé told me,
you know, I should get a stable job. So here I am, and, I'm looking for a company that offers good growth potential, good growth opportunity.And this place is not too far from my home. It's good, it's only a ten minute drive."

You see the problem?

The problem is "all about me me me
me me me me me me me me. I I I"

It's all about you,

The hiring manager is asking himself "what do i get from this ?
No benifit !

What could you say?

Simple formula.

Three Sss.

First, success.

Now here's a script that you could use.
"I have been ......".
Or, "my background is ......".

So, let me demonstrate.Let's say it's the same position,social media manager,
that you're applying.

First, success.

I have been doing social media for the last three years
and I specialize in helping companies and entrepreneurs growing
their Facebook fan page.
And in the last three years alone I have helped
dozens of clients in over ten different industries.
And on average I've been able to help my clients
to really increase their engagement and grow their fan page by
three to five hundred percent in less than six months.
And that's what I am passionate about.

In fact I have listed some of those clients
that I've worked with on the reference letter.

You see how does this work ?
You're talking about your success but without bragging.
It's more to demonstrate and showcase your skillset.

What are you good at?
That's that number one, success.

Second is strength.

And here's the script.
"My strength is ......" or "my real strength is ......"


My real strength is my ability to truly understand
what your audience wants.I pride myself on my reputation
to creating engaging and compelling content
that I know your audience loves and wants to share.

That's the second step.

My strength is blank.

Third, situation.

Meaning, how does that apply to the position that you're applying.

How do you apply your
background, your strength
into the new company, the new opportunity.

Situation:
"what I am looking for is ......".

What I'm looking for is a company that I could add value to.
I could produce a positive return on investment for.
Where I could join a strong team.

Is this what your company is looking for?


And now the hiring manager will be like

"okay, yeah, I guess that's what I'm looking for",

or "no that's not what we're looking for".




The next question you might ask yourself,
Does it mean that I have to memorize a script of some sort?
And the answer is absolutely yes.
You don't have to go in unprepared.
In fact, you have to write it out, practice it,
rehearse it many many times. memorize it

when you feel that you are saying it in very very natural
then you are ready to go.



Communicating with conviction  can help get the respect that you deserve.