Practice Your Answer Before The Interview
As a final tip make sure you go practice everything you plan on saying when the interviewer asks, what can you tell me about yourself?
Nothing comes out perfect the first time, and you dont want to appear nervous and stumble when they ask.
So Id recommend grabbing a piece of paper and writing down the key points you want to talk about in your answer. I like to write them in bullet format.
Then, use your smartphones voice recorder app to record a few practice answers and see how you sound.
Dont look at your notes as you give your answer. The idea is to try to remember what you want to talk about without reading off the paper. Then glance at the paper AFTER to make sure you covered everything.
Keep practicing until you can give a smooth answer without forgetting anything important.
Note: If youre having a phone interview, you can use notes/bullet points to help guide you through your answer. Nobody can see you on the phone, so take advantage!
Conclude By Explaining Your Current Situation
Finally, the best way to finish your story is to bring them up to speed on your current situation.
Why you wanted to apply for their job, what youre looking to do next, etc.
For example you might end your answer by saying:
and thats why I wanted to interview with your firm. This position seems like a great opportunity to advance those skills I just talked about, and continue building my career and challenging myself.
Elaborate On Professional Experience
For all the experienced candidates, it is vital to mention all the particulars of your previous work experiences and all that you learned and achieved during that time. Talk about the internships and workshops you have attended. While giving your introduction in an interview, the evaluator keenly notes your educational and work experience details. On the other hand for freshers, your educational background and ECA are a big asset.
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Make And Maintain Eye Contact
Make eye contact with the interviewer and maintain it through your introduction. This shows the interview is your main focus and that the interviewer has your full attention. If you have a panel of interviewers, make eye contact with every person on the panel. When someone speaks to you, shift your eye contact to show the speaker they have your attention.
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Tips For How To Introduce Yourself At A Job Interview
First, when you enter to go to the reception area and introduce yourself stating your name and the purpose of your visit when you are at the interview. Here are some key notes to keep in mind when you go to the job interview.
1. Greet the interviewers:
After entering the interview room, you should offer to shake hands, if the interviewer doesnt offer their hand first. Greet the interviewer with Good Morning, Good Noon or Evening and a simple Hello. You can also use it like its a pleasure to meet you or any other greeting. You should always carry a graceful smile, and be assured to make eye contact and greet all the interviewers sitting on the panel.
2. Answering Tell me about yourself:
Mostly recruiters or hiring managers tend to start the interview with a lightweight question like Tell me about yourself. This is asked to make the candidate comfortable and help them to answer the upcoming questions easily. You can practice this answer in advance from home. The answer should start with your name, education, location you are from, your experience or skills and then you can say about your family. Answer this job interview questions with clear and precise language and confidence as this is the first question you answer. You can also find many video tutorials to practice this answer.
3. Sit with posture and Confidence:
4. Add family details, if asked for:
The candidate should be comfortable speaking about family background and provide necessary details.
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At A Networking Event:
Most people at networking events are just as uncomfortable as you are, even if they seem like seasoned pros. This is when you really have a chance to practice introducing yourself to a bunch of willing strangers. No one likes standing around by themselves, so practice approaching and introducing yourself at these type of functions. Follow these easy steps to get started.
Dont Regurgitate Your Resume
It may be tempting to nearly read off your entire resume, but dont. You can generally mention where your career started, some jobs along the way, and your most current role, but now is not the time to list them one by one or to talk about every task you had at each job. As we said before, keep it succinct and about 30 seconds long.
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How To Introduce Yourself In Four Steps
Consider the context of the introduction. Adapting your self-introduction for the situation youre in is imperative. An introduction that is professional at a job interview is considered boring on a first date.
Additionally, speaking as casually as you might on a first date is inappropriate when interviewing for an open position.
Before speaking, the first step is to understand the context of the scenario youll be introducing yourself in and adjust your approach accordingly.
Examples of self-introductions situations include:
Job interviews
What do you like about working here?
What are the biggest challenges Id be facing in this position?
How will I be trained?
How do you evaluate success in this role?
How To Answer Tell Me About Yourself
How you respond to the Tell me about yourself question can set the tone for the rest of the interview. Overall, when you practice your answer, you want to tell a great story about yourself that you can share in no more than two minutes. In your response, do the following:
1. Mention past experiences and proven successes as they relate to the position.Begin by rereading the job description. Take note of the required skills that you have, and identify recent stories that demonstrate them . Ideally, you should draw primarily from recent professional experience however, volunteer work can also support your narrative while demonstrating a commitment to your community.
2. Consider how your current job relates to the job youre applying for.Is it a more senior role? If so, explain how you are taking on more responsibilities in your current position. If you are making a lateral transition to a role with different skills, describe how your current skills translate into the new position.
3. Focus on strengths and abilities that you can support with examples.When you start building the script of each example, focus on details and outcomes that you can quantify if possible. For example, stating that you improved customer service is less impactful than increased customer service response rates each quarter by 1015%. If you dont have the exact information, estimate a realistic value.
Present, Past, FuturePast, Present, Future
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Tips On How To Introduce Yourself In An Interview
How recruiters perceive you as a candidate depends on how well you introduce yourself. Self-introduction is crucial because it not only lets interviewers see your personality and presentation skills but also provides you with an opportunity to directly interact with employers about your skills, experience, and other achievements. Here are the top campus placement interview tips on how to respond to the “tell us about yourself” question.
1. Greet Your Interviewers
Greeting the interviewers is an excellent way to begin your self-introduction. Next, express your gratitude to the interviewers for calling you for the job interview. The first part of your self-introduction should be about who you are and where you live. For instance, you can say, “My name is Leonardo, and I am from San Francisco”.
2. Let Your Interviewers Know About Your Educational Background
Without expanding more on your personal details, talk about your educational background if you are a fresh graduate. Tell your interviewers the name of your school, college/university, and the academic degree you have. State your Cumulative Grade Points Average if you think it is worth mentioning otherwise, refrain from discussing grades. You should also mention the projects you have completed, if any, and the certifications you have acquired related to the position for which you are applying.
3. An Alternate Approach for Seasoned Professionals
4. A Line or Two on Your Passions and Hobbies
5. The Vital Closing Statement
Be Prepared To Take Charge Of The Interview
Interviewers may be in positions of power, but that doesnt mean most are good at interviewing. In fact, many interviewers struggle with it. They overestimate their intuitive sense of you and make snap judgments. They may overvalue things like how articulate you are, your assertiveness, and even your technical chops without really asking the questions that will determine how fit you are for the position.
If the interviewer isnt asking the right questions and assessing you in a way that lets you show your best angles, be prepared to step in and demonstrate your strengths.
Most interviewers ask questions unrelated to real job requirements. As the person being interviewed, you need to take control to ensure youre being evaluated properly. This starts by asking the person to describe the job in terms of real objectives and challenges. Then you need to describe work youve done thats most related.
Preparation is the key to knocking your interview out of the park. Take time to rehearse your answers to popular interview questions. Stay positive, smile, and try to relax. Youve got this!
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Why Interviewers Use Tell Me About Yourself
When the interviewer asks you, Tell me about yourself, what is he trying to achieve? Well, for the interviewer, its an easy and open-ended way to start the conversation.
His ultimate goal for this interview is to find out enough about you to decide if youre a good fit for the job opening that he is being paid to fill. In most cases, he wants to like you. His life will be easier if he can find a great candidate quickly. However, he is also on guard because a bad hire will reflect poorly on his judgment and possibly be a mark against him when it comes time to ask for a raise or promotion or bonus.
He is hoping that this question will get you talking. This question is almost always asked first, perhaps right after some chit chat about traffic and the weather.
Your answer to this question will dictate the interviewers first impression of you and will set the tone for the entire interview, letting you lead with your strongest selling points.
Highlight Impressive Experience And Accomplishments
As you tell your career story, explain key accomplishments youve achieved, work youve done, skills youve learned, and key career moves youve made.
Were you promoted? Thats always a great sign and worth mentioning.
Did you accomplish something significant like solving a big problem for your last employer? Thats great to mention, too.
Did you build new skills or overcome challenges? Get specific! Tell details.
But random impressive facts arent enough. You should be thinking about how this ties in with the company youre talking to.
You should always research the company before going into the interview. Study their job description in particular so you know what skills THEY care most about.
What does this particular job involve? Is there a lot of leadership? Talk about your experiences leading , how it went, what you learned.
Does the job involve a high level of technical skill? Talk about how you learned and advanced in that area through each step of your career!
You need to tailor your answer for, tell me about yourself, for their job description and their needs. Try to talk about experiences and qualifications that are relevant for this job youve applied for.
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How To Introduce Yourself At A Job Interview
Maddy Price / The Balance
First impressions can play a major role in how an employer perceives you as a candidate. What you say during the first phase of the interview can make a difference in the outcomein a good way or in a bad way. You don’t want to come across as awkward and lacking in social skills. Rather, you’ll want to show that you have the professionalism and communication skills to be an asset to the company if hired.
Some hiring managers may even make a decision to reject a candidate based on a poor first impression. For instance, showing up late or checking the phone throughout the interview, can lead the hiring manager to perceive a candidate as having an inability to make a commitment, meet deadlines, focus, and follow-through, which are not qualities that will impress an employer.
Little things make a big difference at this stage of a job search. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to interview manners and to think through how you will introduce yourself during the job interview.
Review these simple steps for introducing yourself, with examples of what to do and say to everyone you meet during the hiring process, so you can make a positive impression.
Be Aware Of Your Body Language
As you introduce yourself to new people, monitor your body language. Non-verbal communication can convey how you feel, so you want to ensure it provides a positive representation. As mentioned, consistent eye contact and smiling can help you appear engaged while speaking with others. Standing or sitting up straight can also make you seem more confident when speaking, which can help you establish trust with interviewers.
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How To Introduce Yourself Examples:
Not every situation requires the same approach when youre meeting someone for the first time. While youll keep certain elements the same, youll want to tweak a few things for each interaction to ensure you make the best possible impression. Below, youll find four common scenarios and exactly how you can be on top of your game in each.
A Simple Formula For Answering Tell Me About Yourself
Lily Zhang, Manager of Graduate Student Professional Development at the MIT Media Lab and a writer for The Muse, recommends a simple and effective formula for structuring your response: present, past, future.
- Present: Talk a little bit about what your current role is, the scope of it, and perhaps a big recent accomplishment.
- Past: Tell the interviewer how you got there and/or mention previous experience thats relevant to the job and company youre applying for.
- Future: Segue into what youre looking to do next and why youre interested in this gig .
This isnt the only way to build your response, of course, and you can tweak it as you see fit. If theres a particularly potent story about what brought you into this field, for example, you might decide to start with that past story and then get into what youre doing in the present.
Whatever order you pick, make sure you ultimately tie it to the job and company. A good place to end it is to give a transition of this is why Im here, Dea says. You want to be absolutely certain your interviewer is left with the impression that it makes sense that sitting here talking to me about this role.
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An Example Of How To Describe Yourself
First of all, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. Its my privilege to apply for the position of Senior Accountant. I hold an accountant qualification certificate and the Elementary Accounting Computerisation certificate. My experience has helped me develop substantial knowledge of the role and industry, and I excel at tasks like account reconciliation, cost accounting and tax assessments. I can work under pressure, have good multi-tasking abilities, as well as excellent organisational and interpersonal skills. With high-level written, and fluent conversational English skills, I can work independently in an international environment.
Respectful of the importance of time management, I always maintain a good work-life balance. I believe Im competent for the position and the right cultural fit for your company.
For more job interview advice, visit our job interview tipshub.
Stand Out By Tailoring Your Answer To The Company
The end of your interview answer is a big opportunity to customize your answer for the company and job youre interviewing for.
When you talk about what youre looking to do next in your career, try to mention whatever you see this company providing for your career
That shows them why youre excited about their job, which will help you get hired!
Before we move on to more tips and a HUGE mistake to avoid, heres one more example interview answer for this question.
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Practice But Dont Memorize
Youre bound to hear tell me about yourself on just about every interview.
So, all you have to do is practice your answer a bit!
Grab a friend and do a quick mock interview.
Keep in mind, though, that you shouldnt memorize your answer. Sure, it might seem like the safer option, but if you end up forgetting something on the interview, you might mess up your entire answer.
Instead, come up with a general idea of what youre going to talk about, memorize the structure, and just wing the rest on the interview.
