In many cases, it's likely that your interviewer
hasn't had a chance to fully review your resume,
so your answer to "tell me about yourself"
is effectively your first professional introduction
and sales pitch.
If you answer it successfully, you
form a compelling first impression
that makes a potential employer want to learn more.
But if you make any 1 of the 5 mistakes listed in this video,
you could put off the recruiter and end up overlooked.
Make sure to stick around till the end for the best way
to structure your answer to this question!
Let's dive into the top 5 mistakes.
Mistake #1: Failing to adapt your response to the employer
and role at hand.
This is easily the most impactful mistake
that people make when answering the question,
and for good reason.
The question is, after all, "tell me about yourself."
So intuitively, most people end up
with some sort of canned response
about their career path that they use for every interview.
But this neglects the most fundamental principle
of marketing.
Know your audience.
Although your experience doesn't change from interview
to interview, the wants and needs
of the employers you're interviewing with do, even
if it's just slightly.
To avoid this mistake and make a successful pitch,
think critically about what skills or experiences would
be most appealing to the employer,
and plan to emphasize those.
If you're not sure what information would be the most
appealing, you're in luck.
It's all on the job posting.
Look at the requirements and skill sections
to find your angle, and then stick to it in order
to maintain a focused, professional offering.
And Pro Tip: Always end with an explanation
on what brings you here today.
For example, were you looking for something more than
in your past role?
Position this employer as a unique solution.
Before I move on, if you've watched this far,
give us a like and subscribe below
for our latest career advice!
Mistake #2: Repeating your resume.
Now, while this topic prompts you to share your career
highlights, it's not wise to essentially regurgitate
your resume job by job.
Doing so not only fails to tailor
your introduction to the job at hand, it's also not engaging.
It doesn't allow the employer to connect
with you on a human level.
Remember, you aren't just trying to get the employer
to buy into your experience.
You're also trying to make them like you
and invest in you as a person.
So instead of just repeating your resume,
tell a condensed version of your professional story,
aiming to focus on what you accomplished
and the tangible results, not just a list of your job titles.
And don't be afraid to speak about
your professional motivations and career aspirations.
Now, this can be tricky for folks who've either
had long careers or just starting out,
so in each of those cases, here's what I'd recommend.
If you've had a long career, it's
reasonable to explain any big career transitions
and how they've gotten you closer
to where you want to be before returning to what you achieved
in your most recent relevant job and what you're
looking for out of this role.
If you're at the beginning of your career,
focus on your education and your motivation
to join the company and the specific role.
WARNING: If you find yourself saying, "well,
if you have a copy of my resume..."
you're in a danger zone!
Regroup and laser in on the relevant accomplishments
to the job you are interviewing for.
Mistake #3: giving a chronological life history.
While you do want to tell a story in order
to capture your interviewer's interest,
it's critical to keep your response professional
and relevant.
So instead of telling a chronological life history,
force yourself to identify whether you
have a relevant reason for sharing details
about your early life.
Recounting your entire life story
does not consider the employer's goal
of linking your previous experiences to the company's
priorities.
It's fine to refer to a feature of your upbringing
if it's relevant.
For example, if you became a dental hygienist
because your mom was a dentist.
But in general, don't refer to your earliest years.
WARNING: If your answer begins with "I was born
in..." it's a danger zone!
Mistake #4: talking about controversial topics
or personal information.
This is in a similar vein as the last tip.
While building rapport with a potential employer is useful,
certain topics that are overly controversial or personal
pose more risk than reward.
You do want to connect on a personal level,
so if asked, be prepared to sprinkle
in some personal color, such as hobbies you're
particularly passionate about.
However, if this isn't asked by an interviewer,
it's not worth mentioning hobbies
in your initial response to this question, especially when it
comes at the cost of sharing other relevant professional
experience or making your response too long.
Religion, relationships, politics, health, and even
recent news stories should remain off the table.
If you do slip up and find yourself mentioning
some of these private details or controversial subjects,
aim to connect them to the topic of your career,
and then quickly move on.
WARNING: Any answer that begins with "my home life..."
is is a danger zone.
Mistake #5: Rambling.
The goal in answering this question
is to share your best pitch while seeming professional,
confident, and at ease.
And rambling can undermine the value of your response
by making you seem more nervous than you are and potentially
overwhelming the interviewer with information
so that they lose the key thread of why you're
a match for the position.
Instead, take no more than 2-3 minutes to answer.
It's better to err on the side providing
too little information rather than too much.
If the recruiter wants to know more,
they'll ask you to expand.
To achieve this, prepare a concise answer ahead of time.
This question is almost always asked
in an interview in one form or another,
and even when it's not, it benefits
you to prepare for it because it requires
you to think critically about the best way
to talk about yourself in relation
to the particular role.
The goal here is not to create a word-for-word response
that you can memorize because that can sound scripted,
and if you miss a word, it can really throw you off track.
Instead, consider bullet points or just thinking
through the overall arc of your response in a way
that you can easily retain.
Consider recording yourself, listening for areas
where you can tighten your pitch.
Sometimes we come across differently than we think,
and a recording can help to reveal that.
Pro Tip: Everyone is nervous in an interview.
If a lot of time has passed since the hiring manager has
spoken, take a breath.
Recover by saying, "wow, that was a lot.
I hope you can tell I'm really excited for this opportunity!"
It's better to show self-awareness
if you've caught yourself speaking quickly.
For more information on how to create confident body
language in an interview, I highly
recommend you check out this video right here.
The best way to avoid rambling is
to know how you want to structure your response.
So for my final tip, I'll leap into the winning response
format that I mentioned at the beginning of the video.
Use the present, past, and future format
to structure your response.
Start out with the present.
It's best to start here because this
is the most pertinent information to whether you're
qualified for the job.
Think about, where are you in your career right now
or most recently as it relates to the role
that you're interviewing for.
Share what you've been doing most recently
by giving a high-level view of your role
that includes your title, responsibilities, and projects
that you've worked on recently.
You want to try to show a relationship
with this work and the role that you're applying for.
If you're transitioning into a new role or industry,
this is a great time to mention certifications
you've completed, classes you've taken,
or personal projects that you've worked on.
So in that case, start with your most relevant experience
before shifting to your most recent role,
and be sure to highlight the transferable skills you
acquired that apply to the new role.
Then move on to the past.
Basically, this is where employers
like to hear a story of how and why you
got to where you are right now.
Begin with your motivation for entering the field.
You don't want to just provide a timeline for how you got here.
You want to focus on your first professional ambitions
for pursuing this career path, and this section
can change depending on how relevant your current role is
to the job that you're interviewing for.
If you're changing industries, it's
helpful to highlight the transferable skills you bring,
even when your previous role may not
seem relevant at first glance.
Wrap up by talking about the future.
This part of your response is a great opportunity
to get strategic with your answer
and align your personal goals with those of the company.
Aim to show that you've researched the company,
that you know what their values are and have read their mission
statement, and that you're specifically
well-positioned to fill this role.
By addressing how you support the employer's goals
and how their values align with yours,
you're showing them that it's a good match
and that you're invested in them.
The future statement is all about the why.
Why do you want this role?
Why are you passionate about this opportunity?
Speaking about what excites you about the role or the industry
could remind your interviewer why
they got into this business, which
makes you much more relatable and helps
to build that human connection.
And this strategy also creates a natural close to your answer.
You're inviting the interviewer to deepen the conversation
and shifting the focus to the topic at hand, the job.
For more in-depth examples of present,
past, and future statements, check out this video
on "Tell Me About Yourself."
All right - Let's quickly recap what we've covered here today.
Don't use the same response for every employer.
Instead, adapt your story for each opportunity.
Don't repeat your resume by listing each job title.
Instead, tell a professional story
that highlights your key accomplishments.
Don't provide a chronological life history.
Instead, start with the beginnings of your career,
and question whether you have a valid reason for mentioning
details about your early life.
Don't discuss controversial or personal topics.
Instead, stick to innocuous topics when building rapport,
like what you do for fun.
Don't ramble.
Instead, keep your answers to two to three minutes
by preparing ahead of time.
And finally, our bonus tip was to structure your response
using the present, past, future format.
If you found this helpful, please hit the like button down
below.
You can subscribe to our channel right here
for more career advice.
And for more tips, I recommend checking out this playlist
here.
Finally, for a video on how to answer the most
common interview questions, be sure to check this out.
I hope you found this information
on knowing how to avoid these common mistakes helpful.
Thank you for watching.