One of the most common prompts at an interview is, “Tell me about yourself” Interviewers ask this to get the ball rolling on getting to know you and most importantly gain a perspective on how you view yourself.

Some interviewers may rephrase this prompt by saying, “Give me a brief introduction about yourself” or asking “How would you describe yourself?” 

Although this seems like a simple question as you are just talking about yourself it is easier said than done. It can be challenging to decide what to highlight about yourself within a short time frame, so it’s best to prepare an answer beforehand.

In this article, we will discuss why potential employers want to ask this question and how to provide the best possible response to it!

Why do employers ask this question?

Well, most employers just have a quick scan through your resume before they select you for the interview. When the interviewer asks about you, they don’t want to hear what you wrote on your resume but rather your personality, interest, and skills that are not listed in your resume.

From there, they can get a clearer picture of the person you are and gauge how well you will fit into the company and the team you will potentially be working with.

Outlining your involvement and activities

You can express the relevant interest in the position you applied for by outlining the involvement and activities that took place in the past, where you want to be headed presently, and where you see that direction bringing you in the future. Highlight the key learnings you have gained what you think you will gain from each phase, and how you think these skills and goals can help you in your personal and professional growth. This will help interviewers have a better understanding of your attitude and show them that you are constantly progressing and improving yourself. 

Another question commonly asked is “what do you think are your weaknesses?” This is usually asked with a follow-up question of “how do you work on these weaknesses?”

Present

You can start by sharing your current situation. Like sharing about what you are up to most recently.
If you are currently working, state your job title, job responsibilities, and projects you have recently worked on. Share about your current work experience and talk about how the skills you have can contribute to the new role you are applying for. Express how certain traits you already possess can contribute to your work ethic as well. It is good to share the current direction you are heading in, in terms of your goals and the kind of growth you are currently looking to work towards!

Past

Once you have covered the recent plans and events, you can segway into incorporating a few things about your past. You can talk about what piqued your interest to want to pursue a career in the chosen field in the first place. List one or two things you have learned about the chosen industry thus far, as well as the skills you have picked up along the way

Future

Lastly, talking about your future helps employers find the correlation between your personal goals and how it aligns with the goals of the company. Even if it is as simple as being able to stay at the job position for at least 2 years, can be in alignment with the company’s wants as well.

Be sure to conduct your research beforehand, so you know the company’s values, mission statement, and job description. By addressing the company’s goal and how your values align with them, you are showing that you are a good match and you are serious about the job by already doing the research beforehand as well as being well-prepared for the responsibilities of this role.

If you have just freshly graduated and have not had any experience prior to the interview, you can definitely be open about it but more importantly, talk about the skills you would want to pick up and learn from them.  And there you go, here are some tricks that might be helpful in your interview! Hope this article helps in you acing your interview and wish you the best of luck!

Here are some common questions you can also prepare for!:

1)     How would you describe yourself in 5 words?

2)     What are some of your weaknesses?

3)     Why do you think you are a good fit for our company?