Tell Me About Yourself
BY WENDY ALEXANDER

Best Answer To 'Tell Me About Yourself' Questions During An Interview

It's a Common question and here's the best way to answer

I'll want to talk about a very common question and often the first question in an interview, which goes like this - tell me about yourself

Many people go on a big waffle or major tangent about their professional experience and every educational certification since kindergarten, and that is important

You want to outline your professional experience, your skills, particularly your achievements, at least two or three achievements so people can see the value you bring

But many people forget to add something personal about themselves and here's why it matters

So in today's crazy job market, people want to see your emotional intelligence

They want to see your fit into a company team

That means they want to see some humanness about you

They want to know your story, the story of you

So it's not about simply being a professional robot which is one of the most off-putting things imaginable

I worked with a client recently who got feedback after a couple of interviews saying that he came across as too slick, too professional

The interviewers said they couldn't relate to him

They couldn't see how my client would easily fit in with their company teams and culture

So that was feedback given directly to him and he was quite taken aback

I said to him, yes, you do need to come across as professional

You do need to outline and answer that question with some professional information, but it really makes a difference when you make a connection to the interviewer by including some personal information or a bit of personality or a little bit of human being

That can be anything from volunteering to your hobbies, to a little bit about your family, to what you do on the weekends, to things you love doing that helps you de-stress

All of those things add a touch of the personal about you in your answer when you’re asked that question - tell me about yourself

And you'll be a lot more relatable to the interviewer, they'll see how you fit into their team culture and their company culture as well