SPEAKING

HOW TO ANSWER - TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF

A person's first impression of you is one of the most difficult things to
change, so you need to know how to accurately talk about yourself and
make the best impression possible. In this lesson, you will learn how to
answer the common job interview question 'tell me about yourself' so that
you always come across exactly how you intend to.

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF

Tell me about yourself is often one of the first questions you’ll be asked in a
job interview. Unfortunately, this question is a tough one to answer.

Does the interviewer want to hear about your childhood and what it was like to
grow up with three brothers, seven dogs and an obsession with Britney Spears?

Or, do they want a very detailed, point-by-point rundown of your CV?

Well, in all honesty, neither of these is a good approach.

So, what do you say!?

Let's look at how you can answer this question, and I’ll also highlight some
phrases you can use to really sell yourself.

GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF YOUR WORK HISTORY

The most important thing is to focus on work, not your personal life. I know it
might be tempting to try to impress the interviewer with an extravagant story
about your life, but hold onto those fascinating anecdotes till after you have
the job.
anecdote n - a short,
ANANANA
entertaining story about a
real incident

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What you should do is give the interviewer a brief overview of your employment
experience and talk about the roles you’ve done in the past that relate to the
job you’re applying for. The keyword here is ‘brief’. Just hit the highlights, like
the synopsis at the back of the book of your life story.

synopsis n - a concise
summary ANANANA
outlining key points
of a larger piece of work

You want to get the interviewer interested, but you're not going to reveal the
full story just yet.

If most of your work experience is in jobs similar to the one you’re applying for,
start at the beginning.

Tell them your job title, the company you worked for and what you did there.

Let’s imagine you work in HR (Human Resources). You could say:

My first job in the field was as an HR Assistant with GoWork, a large company in
Manchester.
My main duties were to support the managers with recruitment and assist with
monitoring staff engagement.
After two years, I was promoted to HR manager with the same company.
I led a team of three in that role, and I was responsible for ensuring we hit our
recruitment targets.

You can continue talking about your positions until you reach your most recent
one.

Now let’s imagine you’re applying for the role of a senior teacher.

In this case, you’ve only worked as a teacher for two years, and you had a
different career before that.

You should start with the most relevant position.

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For the past two years, I’ve been teaching Business Studies at the local high
school.
During that time, I’ve taken ownership of the two most senior classes and their
exam preparation.
I was drawn to teaching because I’ve always loved working with young people,
and I have a great rapport with them.

But, that was a career change for me.

I began my career in marketing, and I worked my way up to senior marketing

director over the span of ten years.

I feel that I have excelled in my role as a Business Studies teacher thanks to my

real-world experience in marketing combined with my passion for teaching.

Remember, if you’re a new graduate looking for your first real job, you don’t
need to talk about paid work.

Reflect on your journey through school, university, part-time jobs and even
volunteer work—show off the gems that showcase your awesomeness!

TALK ABOUT YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS

Additionally, for each job or experience you mentioned, you should talk about
one major achievement that you had there.

Focus on achievements that are relevant to the role you’re applying for, and be
specific if you can.

You could talk about your hard skills or hard achievements. These are things
like learning a new programming language or knowing how to operate a forklift.

But you can also talk about your soft skills and soft achievements. These things
are harder to measure but might involve using your communication skills or
solving a problem.

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Let’s take a look at some examples:

One of my major accomplishments was implementing a new accounting system
that saved the company approximately 70 hours a month.

Something that I am most proud of is that I was able to learn to use a new
software program and then teach my team to use it too.

My greatest achievement in the past year was beating the sales target by 14%
despite the difficult economic situation.

CONNECT YOUR SKILLS TO THE JOB YOU’RE APPLYING FOR

To finish off your answer, you should talk about the job you’re applying for and
how your skills or experience relate to it.

to knock one's socks off idiom -

ANANANA
to impress or astonish someone
completely, leaving them amazed

This is your opportunity to really knock the socks off your potential employer by
showing them exactly why you are the only person for the role they are trying to
fill.

Here are two examples:

The job advertisement said you’re looking for someone with strong sales skills.
My past achievements in not only meeting but exceeding sales targets mean that
I am sure I would be a valuable asset to the company.

I did some research on the company before coming to the interview, and I know
that you value dynamic employees who can make decisions quickly. I have had a
lot of experience with that as I have worked in a fast-moving tech startup.

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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF

Now let’s take a look at a full answer to this question.

This person is doing a job interview for the role of office manager, and the
interviewer has just said: Tell me about yourself!

I’ve been working as an administrative assistant for two and a half years.

My first job in the field was with Dorfshire Housing, and my main responsibilities
were organising and updating housing records for the local area.

One of my greatest accomplishments was implementing an Excel model to

automate updates to the database.
This saved a lot of time each month.

After a year, I moved to Barksdale Housing, a private company, where I have

been working as a senior administrative assistant.
A

I oversee the records management there and look after a team of two.
I’m proud of the development of my leadership skills during that time, and I’m
thankful for the support of my current employer, who helped with this.

I understand from the job advertisement that you need someone who could
update your existing records management and help lead a team of four through
the changes.

I’m sure that with my experience and creativity, I will be able to make positive
changes for you.

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QUIZ!
Choose the correct answer for each question.
1) How can you impress the potential employer with your answer?

a. by emphasizing your hobbies and interests

b. by showcasing your creativity and artistic abilities
c. by explaining why you are the best fit for the specific role they are trying to fill

2) When are you likely to be asked 'tell me about yourself'?

a. when hanging out with friends

b. at the beginning of a job interview
c. after you get a new job

3) What is the most important thing to focus on when answering the question?

a. personal life and hobbies

b. work history and achievements
c. educational background and qualifications

4) When talking about your work experience, you should tell the interviewer your job title, the company you
worked for and what you did there.

a. True
b. False

5) What are soft achievements?

a. achievements that are difficult to quantify

b. achievements that require little effort
c. achievements like learning new accounting software

6) How can you connect your skills to the job you're applying for in your answer?

a. by mentioning your hobbies and personal interests

b. by talking about the company's competitors
c. by explaining how your skills relate to the job requirements

7) Which of the following is NOT recommended when answering the question?

a. giving a detailed rundown of your CV

b. talking about relevant roles you've done in the past
c. explaining why you'd be an asset to the company

8) If you are trying to knock your interviewer's socks off, you are trying to ________.

a. impress them
b. give them socks
c. make them uncomfortable

The End!
1) c 2) b 3) b 4) a 5) a 6) c 7) a 8) a

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