“Tell me about yourself.” It’s\u00a0a simple request\u00a0in theory,\u00a0but it’s almost too open-ended for comfort. Do you start at the beginning? How much do you leave in? When can you stop talking?<\/p>\n
While no two job interviews are the same, this is\u00a0a question\u00a0job seekers can\u00a0come to expect in pretty any\u00a0interview, so it’s best to brush up. As you research the\u00a0company<\/a>\u00a0and getting a sense of\u00a0how much you should be\u00a0aiming for in terms of compensation<\/a>, make sure you practice your answer to this question.<\/p>\n Here are the rules for what to say when an employer says “Tell me about yourself.”<\/p>\n 1. Do not start from the beginning.<\/b><\/p>\n The person sitting in front of you doesn’t care right now about where or when you were born. They also don’t care where you live now (unless they ask that, specifically). What they want to know is that you can clearly articulate where you are now, professionally, where you’ve been and where you want to go. Aim to speak for about 3 minutes.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Start with your current position.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Ideally, you want to offer some description of where you’re currently at in your life. You could say something like “Right now I’m a project manager at Google where I handle x, y and z. I’ve been there for the last four years; I started out there as a junior project manager in x division and then saw an opportunity to get more into the people side of things, which is where I am now.” You want to find a way to highlight\u00a0the experiences and skills that are going to be most significant for the hiring manager when they\u2019re thinking about this particular position and this company. Remember, this is also your chance to talk about why you jumped from job to job, which can often be a positive thing — i.e. “When I was at Facebook, Google poached me…”<\/p>\n 3. Be positive.<\/b><\/p>\n You don’t want to give your potential employer a reason to think you’re negative or downbeat. Smile when you’re speaking. Bring some enthusiasm. Don’t be afraid to\u00a0smile. This is your shot to bring your resume to life, so be lively!<\/p>\n Related:\u00a06 Tips for Networking in 2018<\/a><\/em><\/b><\/p>\n 4. Make eye contact.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n The person interviewing you wants to see what kind of conversationalist you are. If you’re staring down at your resume or glancing behind the person’s head, you’re going to give off a bad impression. Make sure to speak to the interviewer naturally, making eye contact and showing some emotion.<\/p>\n 5. Speak slowly.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n If you rush through all of your achievements and experiences, it’s going to be hard for the hiring manager to follow. Slow down. Take a breath. Not only will this help the hiring manager follow you, but it’ll give you more time to mentally prepare as you speak.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0How to Address a Cover Letter With No Name<\/a><\/em><\/b><\/p>\n 6. End with something forward-looking.<\/b><\/p>\n The way you end your response should something like, “I’m really passionate about [topic\/problem] and that’s why I’ve decided to apply for this position.”<\/p>\n 7. Ask if there was anything you could have better clarified.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n When you finish speaking, be sure to ask if there was anything you said that wasn’t clear. This could sound something like: “So that’s pretty much where I’m at. Hopefully I haven’t missed anything!” or “Is there anything I mentioned that didn’t make sense?” This signals to an interviewer that you’re a good communicator and turns the chat into more of a conversation. In more practical terms, it gives the interviewer a chance to ask questions that they might have kept in their head.<\/p>\n As you practice, think of this as your “elevator pitch” — something that can be delivered succinctly and that touches on some of the valuable skills and experiences you’ve had.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Tell me about yourself.” It’s\u00a0a simple request\u00a0in theory,\u00a0but it’s almost too open-ended for comfort. Do you start at the beginning? How much do you leave in? When can you stop talking? While no two job interviews are the same, this is\u00a0a question\u00a0job seekers can\u00a0come to expect in pretty any\u00a0interview, so it’s best to brush up. … Read full-story <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":25349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,65],"tags":[163,153],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6200,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions\/6200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}