Hey everybody, it's Andy, with this week's Tips for Work and Life.
Today we're going to tell me about yourself.
This one goes out for all those people on my Tips for Work and Life Subscription List
and my YouTube subscribers who have pelleted me with emails and comments asking to please
shoot this video, well this one's for you.
We're going to have some fun with this today.
I've got three great techniques you can choose from.
You can pick, which ever one best suits you, but before we get into those techniques, I
want to talk a little bit about this question, why it's so awful and give you some context
around it, so that you can prepare your responses.
Now, this question is terrible for a couple of reasons.
The first one is related to the employer.
First off, it's lazy, it's ineffective and it doesn't guarantee the employer that they're
actually going to get the information the need to make a good determination about whether
or not you're a good fit for the company.
Great interviews design well thought out questions that elitists specific information that allows
them to make those determinations, but the second thing, the second terrible thing about
this, it's even worse for you because it puts you in jeopardy of falling over one of the
greatest trip wires in the job interview.
The number one reason why you do not get hired, in fact, I shot a video on the number one
reason on why you do not get hired, I'm not going to keep you in suspense, but that reason
is, your inability to map your fit and value and qualifications and skills to what the
employer needs at the moment.
Think about what's happening when you're in a job interview.
You know you're fabulous.
I know you're fabulous.
The employer has even said you're fabulous by inviting you in for the interview.
They've also said the same thing to all the other candidates that are qualified that are
interviewing, but only one of you or maybe a couple of you are going to get hired, so
he or she who best maps their skills and qualifications to what the employer needs is going to be
the person that they hire.
How do you know what it is that they need?
Let's get into those techniques.
The first one and my favorite one, is to simply ask, so I would rather it when they ask you,
"Please tell me about yourself," my favorite response is, "Hey, Mr. Lazy Interview Man,
my background is lengthy and diverse, is there any particular part of my background you'd
like me to discuss, so that you can make a determination about whether or not I'm a good
fit for your company?"
Simply ask.
Now, I know there are a whole bunch of you out there going, "Oh no, Andy I can't answer
a question with a question, that's just bad form.
I was told never to do that."
That's ridiculous.
It's fine to answer a question with a question, if you need clarification.
They've likely asked you this question at the very beginning of the process or the very
beginning of the interview.
They dumped you into a wide open field.
It's okay for you to ask for some guidance, that's all you did.
It only took you ten seconds to do that.
What's worse than you answering a question with a question, is you spending ten minutes
talking about something that's fabulous about yourself, that they don't care about or has
nothing to do with helping them determine whether or not you're a good fit for what
they need.
Now the more important thing we should focus on when you ask your questions and this goes
for any questions you ask of any kind at anytime in the interview, whether you ask them in
the beginning, the middle, or maybe batched up at the end, whenever you ask a question,
you need to be able to anticipate the possible responses, the possible outcomes.
What could their replies be?
Now, the beautiful thing about this particular question that you've asked for clarification,
is there's likely only two responses, so when you say, "Is there a particular part of my
background," their response is going to be, yes there is or no there isn't, so let's take
both of them.
If they say, "Yes there is a particular part of your background, here it is," you're golden,
just jot the notes of what they asked for and give your responses and tell your stories
about how your qualifications meet those things and what you did in your work history.
Beautiful.
That's the best scenario, but they might say, "No, there's not any particular part."
Now, you're no better or worse than we were 30 seconds ago, right before you asked the
question, so here's your pro tip on how to handle that.
Always bring in the job description.
Anytime you go in for an interview, physically print the job description and bring it in
with you.
If you ask that question and somebody says, "No, there's nothing in particular," then
pick up the job description and say, "Okay, Mr. Lazy Interviewer Man, it looks like based
on your job description, that you're looking for these skills and qualifications and the
roll has these responsibilities, so I'm going to share my background as it relates to the
job description, so that you can get some insight to determine whether I'm a good fit
or not for your company."
That's another option in the event they don't ask for anything specific, but at least that
way, you can have some comfort in knowing that you're giving them information that they
need.
Now, for those of you who simply refuse to ask the clarifying questions, so option two,
another one, is then simply go right into the pro tip technique, pick up the job description
and say, "Okay, if it's all right with you, I'd like to share my background as it relates
to what I think is called for in the job description."
That's another option.
You can go right into that if you don't want to ask the clarifying question.
I know some of you are out there saying, "Well, I don't want to ask the question and I don't
have a job description.
There wasn't a job description," or maybe the job description was so thin that you don't
really have a good idea.
Well, I've got something for you too, but we're going to make one little assumption
here.
If you are in a job interview, I'm going to assume that you have some inkling of what
the job entails, otherwise you shouldn't be sitting there, so, grant us that, that you
have some kind of idea about what the job entails, so if they say, "Please tell me about
yourself," and you don't want to ask for clarification or you do ask for clarification and they say
no and you don't have a job description say, "Okay, well, I'd love to tell you about myself.
I assume that the job entails this and that these would be skills that would be good for
you to know that I have, so that you can make a good determination about whether or not
I'm a good fit for your company, so I'll share my background as it relates to that."
Now, you've given them your assumption about what the job entails and what you think are
the important skills that you need to have.
If you are incorrect, there's not an interviewer out there who wouldn't stop you say, "Actually
Mr. Smart Job Candidate, that's not entirely true, let me clarify that for you.
Here's what the job really entails and here are the skills that we really need to assess."
Now, you've got the information you need, you just got it a different way.
If they don't stop you and they don't say anything after you give them your assumption,
then take some comfort in knowing that you're on the right track and off you go.
That's how I would handle the, tell me about yourself question.
There's three things.
Ask the question.
Is there a part of my background that you'd like me to share or you can use the job description
and say, "Based on the job description, I'd like to share my background as it relates
to this," or if you don't have the job description and you don't want to ask the clarifying question,
then say, "Here's my assumption about what the job entails and the skills that are required
in order to be successful," and let them interrupt you or not and off you go.
I've given you these techniques, what I haven't given you are how to really package up those
responses and those stories, but I have to two great giveaways to do that.
In the description, there are two great giveaways.
One is an ebook, called Ace Your Job Interview - Master the Best Answers to the 14 Most Effective
Job Interview Questions.
I've got the 14 Most Effective Job interview Questions, 43 variations of those questions,
why the employer asks them, what the employer is looking for and the very best responses.
I also have a fantastic job interviewing webinar called, Ace Your Job Interview, sorry, Three
Keys to Ace Any Job Interview.
This job interviewing, coaching is one solid hour of everything you'd want to know on how
to answer and ask questions in a job interview.
You're welcome to take both of them.
The links are in the description.
If you enjoyed this video, give me a like, a comment and a share and if you're watching
it anywhere other than my YouTube channel or the Tips for Work and Life Blog, hope over
to the blog for more on this subject, more job interview questions, everything you want
to know about your career and job searching, all kind of downloads and all other kinds
of goodies as well.
Until next week, have a great one.