The Mysterious Secret of "tell us about yourself"
If you've ever interviewed for a job (meaning, if you've ever been an adult), you've heard someone say "tell us about yourself." Ewwwww... possibly the most evil job interview question ever devised by the darkest hearts of humankind. You can't escape once the question is on the table. And the value of every minute you spend in that room depends on your response.There are a number of decent online articles written on this subject -- some good advice out there. I'm going to add to some of it and overthrow the rest. If you want to read what others are saying, do a Google search on the phrase.
Now, you know the question is coming. Doesn't matter whether you like it or not. Even though you know they are going to use this question probably more than your resume or anything else to decide whether or not to hire you. It's still coming. And if you come up with your answer on the fly, you will fail. There is no excuse for you not to prepare an answer in advance. We saw this with Ms. Limelight (pictured), eliminated from the competition in Who Wants to Be a Superhero? She couldn't come up with an answer to a very similar question thrown at her by Stan Lee.
Anyway, here are my tips, above and beyond the experts:
- You're done in two minutes, even if you're not done. And save ten seconds at the end to ask the interviewers whether you missed any info they really wanted.
- Don't tell them what's right in front of them. If it's on your resume, you might say it's there (as long as you're quick about it), but do not repeat it.
- Stay away from anything in your background that is controversial -- charitable activities of a political or religious nature come readily to mind -- because even when you do something for humanity, someone who interviews you might not like the company you're keeping when you serve society, and shut you out for it.
- Find a way to be interesting anyway.
- Stay away from your feelings on past work, unless it's a feeling of satisfaction on a job well-done. Any other feeling is risky, and might be interpreted as a sign of boredom or dissatisfaction or something else they don't want. Stay close to the facts.
- Find a way to be interesting anyway.
Labels: education, office space
posted by Ron @ 3:20 PM
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