How to Answer | Tell Me About Yourself in an Interview

[Music] in any interview you attend there's one question that you never miss out and that is tell me about yourself in my experience as a hr expert where we support organizations who are looking to recruit our employees i've interviewed over 1 000 professionals and majority of them being senior professionals so this is one question i know that stresses many professionals even those senior professionals who've attended many interviews so today i'm going to help you on how to approach this question so that you can be able to convince the interviewer that you're the right person for the job and that you even know what you're talking about and the reason why this question is very important especially for you as a professional is because it sets the tone of the interview if you ask any manager who has ever interviewed or any hr manager who does interviews now and then they'll tell you if you get this question wrong the probability of you recovering later on in the interview is very very slim you know so this in interview question of tell me about yourself it sets the tone of the interview so i'll give you tips on how to answer this question and even you i'll give you a sample not just tips but example how if you know if i was in your position how do i go about answering this question but before i give you the tips i want us to look at the reason why this question really stresses most of us and why do we fear this question even if we know that just like the question of how much do you want to be paid we sure do expect this question and yet it stresses us so the first reason why majority of the professionals are stressed by this question is you don't know what to focus on you're wondering paminas has asked me tell me about yourself do i talk about my professional life or do i talk about my personal life then the other reason why you might be getting fearful when asked this question is because you don't know also how much to say so whenever i'm coaching candidates senior professionals they asked me permanence am i required to talk for one minute two minutes do i go talking until five minutes are over so again that's also a main concern and i'll help you to know how how much time should you spend on this you know enough when do you get to see that you've given enough information and lastly there's also the issue of do i repeat what is in my cv do i just talk about what is in my cv you know i've even seen candidates who come to the interview room and they they already have a copy of the cv so do i refer to the cv or do i tell them whatever comes to my mind so those are the challenges you might be facing and i'll help you answer those ones i'll give you clarity on where you should be able to focus on so having understood what stresses you when it comes to this interview then the question is how do you approach this question how if you have an interview coming up next week or even maybe you could be watching this because you you have an interview coming up uh in the next few hours how do you answer this question now what you need to know is that just like any other presentation you should always have an introduction have a body and have a conclusion so for this question then what is the introduction for the introduction you state your name then you state your qualifications so if i were in your shoes i would say thank you for inviting me for this interview my name is feminaz rainena i have a masters in human resource management i also have a higher diploma from the institute of human resource management and i've also undertaken some financial management courses so i'm a certified public contact just state your name and then your qualification you don't have to say where you got this qualification you don't even have to stay there yet why because the person interviewing they already have that information in your cv and they've been looking at your cv then having stated that then you go to the body and the body this is where you spend time and what do you talk about so there are two things to talk about here or there are two approaches here you focus on your work experience so you're talking about your work experience there are two ways to go about it so if you've been in one industry one sector so for example let's say you've been in hr throughout then i'll tell the interviewer for the last 10 years i've been working as a human resource management professional and i have gained the following skills and talk about training i can talk about recruitment i can talk about performance management i cannot talk about the labour laws if it's an accountant i'm interviewing a senior accountant they can talk about budgeting they can talk about costing they can talk about financial analysis they can talk about financial reporting all those kind of things okay so you are stating you are summarizing the skills that you gained without that within that period of time there's also the other aspect where you could have worked in different industries and they've all given you different experiences so if that's the case then for your body for your experience you talk now about the experience that is relevant to the job that you are being interviewed so you can say when i was working for this organization for the three years i was there i was involved in abcd so those are the two approaches either either give a summary of your work experience give a summary of your skill set or pick the organizations that are relevant to the job that you are being interviewed this is where you spend the time this is where you expound as much as possible and if you're talking about work experience then you're talking about things you've done that are similar to the job that you are being interviewed interviewed for so before you even enter that interview room you must have looked at the job description the job advert and really internalized it so that you really understand what they are looking for so after you say that then you conclude so remember i said you have the introduction where you state your name and your qualification and then the body you talked about your work experience either in summary form or you broken it down to only those companies or institutions that are similar to what you are being interviewed and then you conclude and conclusion just means thank the interviewer and if you have the confidence you can even tell them what interests them what interested you in this job that you are being interviewed for so answering that question is as simple as that you don't need to go to a lot of details remember this question is just but an eye opener it's the same case if you meet me in town and we haven't talked for the last three months i'll ask you oh hi how has been live it doesn't mean now you tell me pamina sit watch let me tell you oh this is what has been happening my sister is doing these uh these also are the challenges i'm facing no you will nobody say things are okay i'm trying my best it doesn't take more than a minute but maybe if it's a closer friend maybe you can give them more details so it's the same case remember this is a professional setting this is just but an ice breaker and the advantage of you spending a lot of your time talking about your experience in the body is that you set the tone so if the interviewer picked one or two things that you said that are important to them because they're in their job description then they can ask you oh jane or john please expound you say that um you used to deal with the government as one of the stakeholders tell us how was that experience even the questions they're asking you they're coming from the answers that you gave them and that way it will be very easy for you to be able to even handle their interview very well so that's the way you handle it so for those who aren't paying attention this is the way i'll dance if someone was asking i was looking to interview me let's say for a customer service job where we all know what it takes to be in customer service so i would say thank you very much for inviting me for this interview my name is pamina swailena i'm a customer service professional i've worked in customer service for the last 10 years within that period i've worked for three institutions and these are the skills that i've gained i've been able to learn how to manage customers [Music] i've also been able to do reporting i generate various reports for my manager i've also been able to learn how to handle different customers customers who are happy customers who may not be happy with our service i'm also i've also been able to learn how to be proactive and even be able to meet the customer needs even before the customer has expressed those needs and the offices have worked they've been very busy offices i've been able to my i've been i've worked in places where i've handled a minimum of 15 customers a day up to a call center where i used to make over 100 calls in a day that has taught me it has taught me to go they need to go that extra mile i was attracted to this position because i can see you're a fast growing organization you're in the i.t sector you are well known and the position where i am currently it doesn't give me that room much room for both and that's why i'm here for the interview thank you for inviting me and you just stopped there you don't just say i knew i grew up in kitare i'm the first born we now move to mumbasa i mean you don't put all those information keep it as simple when you're done just to thank the interviewer and you stop so over and above you knowing the format to take when answering this question there's some things i would want you to always have in mind and number one always keep it professional so unless someone asks you something personal then for example don't talk about family but if i ask you or do you have a family then you can answer so but it shouldn't be part of your introduction on to my second point when someone counters you they'll ask you something what they are trying to do it just to see whether her duty asks for this i do re ask you answers you know for example my colleague is telling me she went for an interview somewhere and she said there is no noise she wants to work for this organization is because it's fast growing and then the person who is who was interviewing said so if you aren't fast growing you'd then be looking for the opportunity so it's not like this person really really really means that but what they want to do is to see that uh or is your answer well thought out or you were just saying something you had already asked and they want to see are you real on what you're talking about and if that comes up then be stand your ground be polite don't feel the pressure don't feel the stress and you can either diffuse the situation by making it a joke like you can tell them yes madam will agree with me that we are looking to go in one way or another or you can complement them you can tell them yes actually you've been someone that i've been looking up to and i know you put a lot of work for the organization to be where it is and i believe you'd also want to work with people who are also ambitious so that's why i would want to work with you so either diffuse the situation or make it comical make a right heart at the moment yeah don't start asking them you you don't you want to grow into that way you are looking for other people to make your organization successful so it's not it's not an opportunity for you to have a back and forth with a interviewer the other thing i would encourage you to do is that please make sure that you get the introduction right make sure you get this answer right why because as i had said it it sets the tone for the rest of the interview anyone who has interviewed they will tell you we know the candidate will whether a candidate is suitable for a job within the first one minute so if you come talk and within one minute i'm not feeling i'm not feeling you then what happens is people you just interview you for the sake of it but they've already ruled you out and it's the same you might be telling me paminas one minute is not fair i'll tell you it's very fair even for you if you go and you're watching a youtube video and it doesn't capture your attention the first one minute two minutes what do you do you go to another video or you go to other things it's the same case with the interviews that answer you answer and tell me about yourself we really determine the rest of the internet and like i had said also when you are done it's not a chance now to look under the table or to start touching your hands at the table or to start fixing your address when you tell them thank you for inviting me for the interview either with a compliment or you tell them the reason that attracted you for this position just keep quiet and maintain eye contact that's it and lastly there's no set time you can answer this question one minute you can even answer 10 minutes it just depends on the content that you have as long as you're not repeating yourself as long as you're not giving more than is required saying more than is required then i would say it's okay if you can take too many three minutes obvious if you're a fresh graduate you i don't expect you to tell me about yourself when you take five minutes but however if you are a manager i would expect you to have more information about who you are so it depends on uh where you are in life and because this channel we are more looking to empower the senior professionals for me i would say the sweet spot is between three minutes to five minutes and you could also be paying attention to the body language of the people who are interviewing you if you see that they are starting to disconnect they've had enough then that's the time to conclude and then wait for them to ask you another question so next time you're facing this question remember the introduction remember the body and always complete thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Perminus Wainaina

Views: 909,399

Keywords: how to answer, how to answer tell me about yourself interview question, perminus wainaina, perminus wainaina interview questions, perminus wainaina corporate staffing, job interview question, job interview questions and answers, job interview questions and answers for first timers, perminus, wainaina, common interview questions and answers, types of interview questions, common interview questions and answers for freshers, interview questions to ask

Id: rnGQTYTKKs0

Length: 15min 52sec (952 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 23 2021