Tell Me About Yourself

“Tell me about yourself”,  is definitely one of the most common questions that we will ever hear in a job interview no matter what type of position or sector you are looking in. How then, do we give the potential employer our career background in a nut shell – without going on and on? Basically, we tell a brief story about ourselves to give them a brief history with the employer actually wanting to know more. Using the ‘KISS theory’ (keep it simple silly), we should always resort to short, concise stories rather than the wordy useless fillers of Hum’s and Awes!

• Begin with why you enjoy the work you do.

• Stress what your career accomplishments have been thus far.

• What are you looking forward to accomplishing?

• Know what to leave out.

Competency based interview questions are also known as behavioral-style interviews. These questions offer an opportunity to actually demonstrate the skills, profiencies, and abilities you have developed so far in your career. Competency –Based vs.

Traditional Interview Questions Traditional interview questions are broad, allowing the candidate to select an example of a work situation that fits the question asked by the potential employer. These types of questions generally always start with “How would…,” “How can…,” “What would…,” “What experience…,” “Have you ever…,” “How would you handle…,”

Note: Please see Cerc Staff for important reading materials to expand on this theory such as, Tell Me about Yourself, Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career, by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D. and 201 Knockout Answers to Tough Interview Questions – The Ultimate Guide to Handling the New COMPETENCY-BASED Interview Style by Linda Matias.