Tell me about yourself consider this
Many many people apply for the same position and you want to stand out
So being able to answer these five most difficult interview questions will certainly improve
Your chances of getting your dream job
Recently, I have actually been hiring for a position here at go natural English
And so I have had some experience on the interviewers side of things
Of course
I've had plenty of experience on the interviewee side of things and I can tell you I've made my own fair share of mistakes
But I've learned along the way and I did something pretty fun
I reached out to some of my old bosses and asked them for their advice on
how to answer the most difficult interview questions in English and also some of their tips on things not to
Do and be aware that sometimes there are cultural differences
so you may have an interview in English but in a different country and
These particular difficult questions and great answers are for North American culture
I want you to tell me in the comments which one of these five questions is the most difficult for you for me
It's numbers four and five after sharing the most difficult five questions and answers for interviews
I'm gonna run through a quick tip list of the top ten things that you can do to improve your
Chances at acing any interview. So make sure that you stick around till the end to catch those tips. Tell me about yourself
Tell me about yourself
Well, I was born in Oklahoma in
1984 I
Enjoy going to church every Sunday and my favorite meal is bacon
I
Spent my early 20s traveling the world teaching English. So now I have a wealth of experience
interacting with international students and
Understanding how people in different cultures communicate with each other. Tell me about yourself
Tell me a little bit about yourself many people answer this question in ways that are totally unrelated
To the job at hand. So be careful don't start with too many personal details like where you're from when you were born
this is not exactly a
Biography and we don't want your whole life history
We just want to know about you in relation to this position
So before the interview
Make sure that you prepare by connecting your life story to the job and just share some key points that combines
Your life your experience and the job and be aware that in the United States. We actually have
Non-discrimination laws which makes it illegal for the interviewer to ask
About your religion your marital status and your age among other things
So avoid sharing those pieces of information as well. Why do you want this job? Why?
Well, I have been unemployed
for about a year and
Well, my husband's getting pretty annoyed with me. Just hanging around the house all day. So I really needed this job and
I have a lot of debt
So I really liked that this job pays well
and I love the flexible schedule because I
Need to be home to watch my special on HBO
First I've done a lot of research about this company
I've explored your websites and even looked at your Google reviews and what I love is that
students give you such high reviews
I wanted to work for a place like
This because I - many people talk about themselves and they're selfish interests in the job
Do not say that you're just looking for a job that you need money or you like the fact that there's a flexible schedule
Those are all selfish reasons and while they may be true. Keep them to yourself at this point. You want to impress the interviewer?
With the fact that you have researched the job that you know a lot about the company
And it is your dream to work there. Even if it's not really your dream at least come up with a few reasons
Why you like that company and if you don't like the company then maybe look for a different job
Always think from the point of view of the interviewer and the company, how can you benefit them?
Remember, it's not what they can do for you
but what you can do for them and this job interview is an opportunity for you to impress them and
They certainly don't care about how badly you need this job. All they care about is how you're gonna make their lives easier
So impress them with that tell me about your work experience. Oh
Well, you know, I mean I've done a few things here and there but nothing too special
I'm just a nice gal to work with
Because I speak Spanish and Portuguese. I was able to increase enrollment from students from Latin America by
28 percent while I worked in my previous school
A lot of people are just humble and don't brag enough here, especially
women women speak up about your
Accomplishments, this is not the time to be shy this is not the time to be just humble. You need to highlight your accomplishments
especially if you can add numbers into your
Accomplishments how many Awards did you get? How many new customers did you acquire?
what percentage did you grow sales by these are just some examples to get you thinking but this is the time for you to
share about how amazing and accomplished and
experienced you are
But make sure that you're honest and not over embellishing things here. What's your biggest weakness?
I
Don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of well, okay. Let me be honest it is
Impossible for me to be on time. But sometimes you just can't control it. You don't know when you're gonna see an old
On the way to work and you just want to stop and chat for a while. So I guess that's my I
Would say that historically my biggest weakness has been questioning myself too much
I
like to put a lot of effort into my work and I want to make sure that I'm doing it right so I learned to
overcome this weakness by setting up regular
appointments with my
Superiors to get feedback. No one really wants to talk about their weaknesses
So if you say that, you don't have any weaknesses. It just comes off as trying to hide something
So don't say that. You don't have any weaknesses. I mean, you're not perfect
Are you when they ask you about your weaknesses?
Make sure you're honest, but not too honest seriously, some of you are a little bit too honest
Now this is still an interview so you need to respond in a strategic way
You want to say something that could be perceived as positive
for example
my weakness is that I'm such a hard worker that sometimes I forget to take a break for lunch and
I can get burnt out. So I really need to be careful that I'm pacing myself
Okay, so that's honest, but yet you're saying that you're a hard worker. So that's actually a good thing
So that's just an example, but I encourage you to come up with something. That is a positive weakness
But still sounds real. Why did you leave your last job?
Tell me
Why did you leave your last job?
Well, let me tell you my last boss was a real
That's right. I couldn't take any more of seeing her. Ugly face
it was a
Hellhole working in that office. It was hot. There was no air conditioning and it smelled like
Well, I'm leaving my last job even though it's been an amazing opportunity
I feel like it's time for me to grow in my career in a new more
Challenging position and so I've been looking for ways to grow in my career
this is like if you're on a date and you keep talking about how horrible your
Ex-girlfriend is nobody wants to hear that especially your potential new employer
They don't want to hear about how horrible your old boss was
They don't care and it just makes them feel uncomfortable and it makes them think that you're gonna talk in that same way about them
so
cut out
any negative talk about your previous employer if they ask you why you left your last job or why you are going to leave your
current position say something like you're looking for a challenge or you want to grow maybe you've hit a
Ceiling or a dead end and your current position and you're a very ambitious person, right?
so you want to continue to grow your career in a new way this kind of answer is both honest and
Positive always always always end on a positive note
I have to share a lightning round of 10 top tips to help you with your next interview. Are you ready?
Let's jump in some of these may seem obvious to you, but they are very important
speak
professionally avoid slang do not use any kind of profanity and
avoid words that are fillers like like and
Make sure that you silence or completely turn off your cell phone
If it does ring do not answer it during your interview do not respond to text messages during your interview
Do not touch the phone unless it is to silence it or turn it off
Don't play with your hair or your teeth or your skin or anything during your interview
Keep your hands in your lap or just in a neutral position
Do not answer questions that were not asked if you want to volunteer additional information about yourself
Do in a way that's related to the question that was posed to you
If you get completely off-topic you're going to sound like you weren't paying attention to what they asked you do
not lie on your resume or your cover letter because it's easy to forget your lies and
Obviously lying is bad. Don't dress inappropriate if you're in doubt, err on the side of
conservative and professional during the interview do not focus or even ask or even hint about
The pay or the benefits or the time off that will come later if they want to consider you for the position
Don't avoid eye contact
You need to have good confident eye contacts obviously look away at times
But make sure that you are making good professional eye contacts. Also have a nice strong handshake
practice with a friend with a family member or even on your own but make sure that you
Express yourself with your body language in a confident manner
If you're not confident about yourself, no one else will be either one of my old bosses told me I hate interviewing
It's funny to think that even the interviewer finds it to be an anxiety
Producing experience. They're taking time out of their busy days to give you an opportunity
So just make sure that you make it easy on them and an enjoyable experience and if you can do that
Then I'm sure you will ace your next interview
If you have an interview scheduled
Make sure to practice your answers repeat them at home on your own and you could even record
Yourself to hear how you sound and get another perspective even better practice was a friend a family member or another
Colleague who could help you to improve your confidence with your answers
Make sure that you feel confident and comfortable getting your answers in English during your interview smile whenever possible
Make sure that you at least look positive and comfortable even if you feel extremely anxious and uncomfortable
make sure that you show interest in the job and
When the interviewer asks you if you have any questions make sure that you have at least one or two questions
Specific to that job or that company that you're applying for and be able to describe what you want in your professional future
So that the interviewer can really see that you're a good fit for that job in that company now
I want to invite you to make sure that you sound professional when you're in your interview
Here are 12 words that make you sound
Smarter right away when you use that up here. We have conversation killer
Phrases or topics that you want to avoid and not bring up during an interview or really any situation
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Lesson to help you with your confidence and fluency in English