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Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself!
Interview Question, "Tell Me Something About Yourself?" "Tell me about yourself" is the query, posted by one of the members and since yesterday I happen to go through many responses. I was just thinking?to give my opinion about the same. So, here I go. It's a question that most interviewees expect and it is the most difficult to answer as well. Though one could answer this open- ended question in a myriad of ways, the key to answering this question or any other interview question is to offer a response that supports your career objective. This means that you shouldn't respond with comments about your hobbies, spouse, or extra curricular activities. Trust me, interviewers aren't interested. To start with there is no correct answer to this interview question. I would lean in the favor of a quick reference to some personal traits that give a quick-view of who you are. From there one could move to a one sentence of any relevant education/qualification. There should also be a mention of employment history. Purpose of the Question: In one of my write-up "Across the interview table" I did mentioned that there is a purpose of asking each and every question in the interview. One cannot ask anything and everything. Again, set of interview questions varies from industry to industry and position to position. Interviewers use the interview process as a vehicle to eliminate your candidacy. Every question they ask is used to differentiate your skills, experience, and personality with that of other candidates. They want to determine if what you have to offer will mesh with the organization's mission and goals. What type of answer is Expected??? Try to avoid this type of answer: I am a hard-worker who is good with numbers. After I worked as a financial analyst for a few years, I decided to go to law school. I just finished and now am looking for a new challenge. Speak something like this: I began developing skills relevant to financial planning when I worked as a financial analyst for three years. In that role, I succeeded in multiplying the wealth of my clients by carefully analyzing the market for trends. The return on the portfolios I managed was generally 2% more than most of the portfolios managed by my company. My initiative, planning, and analytic skills were rewarded by two promotions. As the manager of a team, I successfully led them to develop a more efficient and profitable strategy for dealing with new accounts. My subsequent training in the law, including tax law and estate law, gives me an informed view of what types of investments and charitable gifts would be most advantageous for your clients. Preparing for the Answer: Follow the following steps as outlined below to ensure your response will grab the interviewer attention. 1. Provide a brief introduction. Introduce attributes that are key to the open position. 2. Provide a career summary of your most recent work history. Your career summary is the "meat" of your response, so it must support your job objective and it must be compelling. Keep your response limited to your current experience. Don't go back more than 10 years. 3. Tie your response to the needs of the hiring organization. Don't assume that the interviewer will be able to connect all the dots. It is your job as the interviewee to make sure the interviewer understands how your experiences are transferable to the position they are seeking to fill. 4. Ask an insightful question. By asking a question you gain control of the interview. Don't ask a question for the sake of asking. Be sure that the question will engage the interviewer in a conversation. Doing so will alleviate the stress you may feel to perform. There you have it - a response that meets the needs of the interviewer AND supports your agenda. When broken down into manageable pieces, the question, "So, tell me about yourself?" isn't overwhelming. In fact, answering the question effectively gives you the opportunity to talk about your strengths, achievements, and qualifications for the position. So take this golden opportunity and run with it! When Asked by Different People? HR manager or CEO of the company or the Departmental Head can ask the same question and your answer should vary. The expectation of each such person is different. When asked by HR Manager your response must be like this: "My career has been characterized by my ability to work well with diverse teams. I seek out opportunities to involve others in the decision-making process. This collaboration and communication is what has enabled me to achieve success in my department. People are the most valuable resource of any organization." When asked by CEO your response must be like this: "I have achieved success in my career because I have been focused on the bottom line. I have always sought out innovative solutions to challenging problems to maximize profitability. Regardless of the task or challenge, I always established benchmarks of performance and standards of excellence. I have never sought to maintain the "status quo." An organization that does not change and grow will die. I would enjoy working with you to help define new market opportunities in order to achieve the organization's goals." In each instance, we responded to the "needs of the individual." It is almost guaranteed that, when you respond appropriately to the diverse needs of the different managers, you will become the standard by which all of the other candidates will be measured. Conclusion: The question is very tricky and being the first question of the interview?one need to be a bit more careful in answering the same. This question can make or break the interviewer's interest in you. Looking forward to your comments and feedback Looking forward to your comments. Sanjeev Sharma You can visit my blog at: http://sanjeevhimachali.blogspot.com/
Latest News:Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news News 8 Red Cross blood drive in Orange News 8 and the Red Cross are teaming up again today for a 'Remembering 9/11 Blood Drive'. News Near You for Sept. 10 NEWS NEAR YOU HanoverThe annual winterization program in Hanover County is accepting applications from low-income, elderly or disabled homeowners and volunteers who want to help them. News by location Get local and national news updates via E-mail. Duke University School of Nursing will offer several graduate courses in Fayetteville in 2011. Participants will meet once a month at the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center at 1601 Owen Drive. Each course will involve online learning. News media giants tap new media to stay alive Traditional news media outlets are staving off their much-reported impending demise by learning to use the very social media tools that are supposedly clobbering them to death. News 8 Follows First-Year Teacher Throughout the school year, News 8 will follow Darryl Wende during his first year of teaching in a series of reports called "Making the Grade." News by location Get local and national news updates via E-mail. A small fire that someone set on a street in west Fayetteville may have been a ploy to get inside homes in the neighborhood, police said. News by location Get local and national news updates via E-mail. An investigator with the Consumer Product Safety Commission was at Fort Bragg on Thursday conducting tests inside a military home where three families were staying at different times before their babies died mysteriously. News Animation Goes Political: Knocks Pres. Obama Speech In New Video The Taiwanese NMA News animation videos are coming out with increasing regularity , and are getting more timely and news-worthy . In the past, they've been fairly fun in their bipartisan ribbing toward both political parties - but their latest Pres. Barack Obama video takes some sharp jabs at the Commander-in-Chief. News by location Get local and national news updates via E-mail. You had to feel good about how the rest of the state of North Carolina felt about Fayetteville and Cumberland County football this week as reflected in the first Associated Press high school polls. News by location Get local and national news updates via E-mail. Two men are accused of robbing a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint Wednesday night, off Rosehill Road. Site: news - Google News Adobe, Google on Apple's App Store Changes: 'great News' - PC World
MORE RESOURCES: Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for careers employment Explore Careers with a Future On Tuesday, Sept 14 North Island Employment (NIEFS) invites you to attend Exploring Careers with a Future, a career forum on the mining and oil and gas industries. DWS creates employment guide for women Utah women who are looking for advice on obtaining and maintaining employment now have a new guide: Utah Careers Supplement... Help Wanted-New Program Will Open Doors to Lasting Employment and Meaningful Careers for Adults with Disabilities in ... BMO Financial Group and JVS bringing successful pre-employment training and support program to Ottawa area - In 2001, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities (26 per cent) was more than 5 times higher than the unemployment rate for people without disabilities (5 per cent). This ratio has not improved. - Innovative pre-employment training program aims to shatter glass ceilings for ... Employment rates drop By: Brandon Brown Joblessness at highest rate since Great Depression In a poor economic state, it has been difficult for young people to find employment, and new statistics show August had unemployment at its worst since the Great Depression. ... Website links job seekers to careers The U.S. Department of Labor?s Employment and Training Administration has launched a Web portal to help job seekers match their current skills to new careers and find out what training is needed to transition from one job to another. New graduate careers web portal launch Mygraduatecareer.com is a unique new careers advice web portal that brings together the vast range of organisations and websites dedicated to supporting the under 25s ? all in one convenient place. Improving Employment Market Could Catch Executives off Guard With the pace of UK economic activity growing, albeit modestly, executive recruiters have become more bullish on the prospects for the employment market during the second half of 2010. Questions employers can't ask The rough economy has made many people desperate for a job. In their eagerness for gainful employment, many people may overlook improper interview questions. Students face graduating in wrecked economy By Tim Monzingo & Sara Corwin / Senior Staff Writer & Intern ? More than 14 million Americans are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With 2.9 percent of the country?s population looking for steady employment, college graduates face a bleak job market. When Thomas Wild graduated with a psychology degree from UNT, he, like other recent graduates, was challenged to find a job ... Big pay gap still remains between sexes The pay gap between the sexes grows substantially over the first ten years of a woman`s career, new research has shown. Site: careers employment - Google News DWS creates employment guide for women - Deseret News
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