if you're paralyzed in interviews and can't figure out how to answer the interview question tell me
about yourself you're not alone so keep watching this question trips up so many people i'm going
to share how to structure your answer important do's and don'ts and a foolproof example answer
hi i'm Amri Celeste i'm an hr recruitment specialist and a career coach with over nine
years hiring experience a client once asked me why is this question asked why don't interviewers ask
for exactly what they want to know the purpose behind phrasing this question as open-ended is
exactly that it opens up the candidate to speak unrestricted and it helps the interviewer get a
sense of you and your approach if they were to ask a closed or boxed in question about specific areas
of your cv or experience such as how does your educational achievement add value to this role
they would get a much shorter and closer response structure there are many ways to structure your
answer to this question one way is to start off with your current role and then go backwards
through your career highlighting key points this is easy to remember because you're starting with
where you are currently you can also start with relevant education but if you do this
link it back to relevant areas in your career so that you're linking it back to the job that you're
interviewing for fairly quickly also include what drew you to this company role or industry
how long should my answer be i'm afraid to say that there is no solid rule for how long or short
you should speak but with the structure i've given earlier you're giving a career overview
and because you're only highlighting key areas of relevant experience you should be able to
summarize this without boring the interviewer i would say if you're still speaking after a few
minutes it's worth pausing and asking would you like to know more but make sure that by
then you've covered all the relevant areas and key points in your career history what the interviewer
doesn't want is a full five-year breakdown of everything you did in every role relevant or not
since the birth of your career and they certainly don't want your whole life story
also don't include personal things like political affiliations sexuality marital status i know
this may sound obvious but when people are nervous personal things tend to slip out i've
seen this many times and you don't want to be assessed against any of these things for a job
you need to show that you have good judgment and that means knowing what not to say
because the interviewer is going to try to imagine how you might interact with clients or colleagues
depending on the role how to answer keep your answer succinct and relevant
your goal is to be memorable so you're only highlighting relevant areas of your career so this
doesn't mean that you would skip periods of time where you worked in roles that weren't relevant
but you can skim them easily by saying something like then for three years here i worked at various
admin roles at company x and company zed but the most relevant details about myself would be in my
current role and steer the conversation back to key points and relevant experience fairly quickly
if your interviewer wants to know more they will ask you or you can say if you'd like to know more
about any of the areas i mentioned please let me know a common mistake is trying to include
everything and speaking for such a long time that your interviewer doesn't remember any of it the
hardest thing can be deciding what to include and when to stop speaking if you find answering
interview questions a struggle you'll be pleased to know that i have created a guide for you packed
with 20 example answers to difficult interview questions for your job interview
including questions like why should we give you the job what is your greatest weakness and how
do you handle pressure at work i also cover the types of questions that you should be asking your
interviewer at the end of your interview show your personality i know there's a lot of advice about
not getting personal and keeping things strictly professional and while you don't want to come
across too familiar or over friendly there's nothing wrong with including a hobby you like
or coming across enthusiastic if that's your personality you just don't want to go overboard
you can share why you're passionate about that role or industry or company or a hobby you
have that's related to the role so let's say for example you were interviewing at l'oreal and you
had a youtube channel where you gave beauty advice because you love it include that it might not be
your professional history but it illustrates your passion and it's a hobby that is relevant
people enjoy talking to humans not robotic scripted candidates so i always recommend
injecting a little bit of life into your interview remember you could be neck and neck with another
candidate and they could be just as skilled but they won't have your personality and that could
put you over the top stay positive try to steer away from too many negative points in your answer
not all interviewers are created equal and you don't know how your interviewer will handle
anything that is too personal or traumatic your role in your interview is to create an atmosphere
that makes you memorable for the right reasons when your interviewer or manager remembers your
interview they should remember how enjoyable it was they should feel positive and associate that
positivity with you answer confidently remember that if you have an interview you were likely
selected out of multiple other candidates and you may have already had to go through a phone
interview or multiple previous stages where they decided that they felt that they could see you
in that job remember if you're interviewing face-to-face they've already seen your value
based on everything you've already done so project confidence sit up straight smile make regular eye
contact pause and think for a few seconds before you start talking to collect your thoughts then
speak confidently about your career no one knows it better than you do so do you feel like this
is a difficult question or have you struggled with it in the past let me know in the comments so i'll
give you an example answer to the question tell me about yourself and then i'll explain why it's
such a strong answer so an example answer might be i've always had a passion for connecting with
people i graduated university with a degree in communications and i found that very useful when i
moved into sales i was able to utilize that when i developed what i now consider to be my key skills
of new business development client relationship development and meeting my targets under pressure
overall i've spent the last seven years in sales my most relevant and recent position is as a sales
manager for company a where i manage a team of five brilliant sales execs i really enjoy what
i do there i manage all aspects of team leadership including one-to-ones development sales training
daily huddles and keeping the team motivated and coaching them through rejections and how
to handle them all the while continuing to bring in revenue myself so even though i manage a team
i've never lost my passion for selling because i wanted my team to see me leading by example in
fact last quarter i exceed my target by 10 and my team by 15 however after dedicating seven
years i'm now ready to take the next natural step into head of sales which is what attracted
me to this position i immediately felt i could add value based on my previous experience and
was attracted to your company because i noticed your values include passion and accountability
which matches with my personal ethos along with your impressive growth over the last two years
this answer is about a minute and a half and it hits various points your passion for what you
do and how it tied into your education how you utilize your education at the beginning of your
career which shows your dedication to your industry your loyalty to your company your
respect for your sales team again your passion for what you do you're making it a theme throughout
your answer your duties and your dedication for continuously developing and supporting your team
your motivations to leave what attracted you to the role and two areas that attracted you about
the company indicating that you've done your research on the company values and
other areas so to recap make sure your answer is structured and you start with the most important
relevant key highlights of your experience in skills try not to make your answer longer than
a few minutes don't share personal information such as marital status and political affiliations
show your personality or passions you have that are relevant to the role keep a positive tone
answer confidently if you found these tips helpful and your job hunting then subscribe
and i will help you on your journey to the right role thank you so much for watching i do hope
that you got value from this if you did tap like and i will see you soon goal is to be memorable
so your goal is to be memorable why you're passionate about that role or industry or company