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Talent Trade Tidbit - "Tell Me About Yourself"
Groan. Eye roll. Heavy sigh. Aren't we all sick of this question? All the same, there IS a right way, and a wrong way to answer it...
Transcript
Hi, this is Stephanie Maas.
Speaker:Today I wanna talk to you about one of the most outdated, but still commonly asked interview questions.
Speaker:The tell me about yourself.
Speaker:I love when hiring managers tell me that that's their opening question.
Speaker:Stop asking it.
Speaker:It's so stupid.
Speaker:But let's just say that they still ask you how do you prepare and how do you.
Speaker:Effectively answer this question.
Speaker:First of all, keep in mind you are in an interview situation, so the answer has nothing to do with you personally.
Speaker:Not trying to be mean, but we don't care if you're a cat person or a dog person, or if you like long walks on the beach or sunsets or margaritas on Fridays.
Speaker:If we don't care, we're not interested.
Speaker:What we want to know is.
Speaker:What have you done specifically?
Speaker:What have you accomplished?
Speaker:How have you accomplished, and is that fit with what I am looking for?
Speaker:Now, it's gonna be tough to answer because what if you haven't had a chance to say, Hey, what are you looking for?
Speaker:What's gonna be important to you in the next hire?
Speaker:But you gotta do the best you can with your current.
Speaker:Information that you have, and it needs to be timely, meaning it needs to be concise.
Speaker:The reality of is after about two minutes, even the best listeners in the world get mental a, d, d, they just can't stay with you.
Speaker:So this should be an answer that you have rehearsed, you've timed, and always ends with a question.
Speaker:So for example.
Speaker:If someone said, well, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Speaker:Again, I'm not talking about if I'm on the dating market, which I'm not, but if I was in a professional interview situation, my answer would sound something like this.
Speaker:Well, I'm excited to say I just celebrated my 17th year in executive search with my firm.
Speaker:I have consistently been in the top five producers over the last five years, and I give a lot of that credit to a couple different things the firm has taught me.
Speaker:Number one, I'm very consistent with my follow up.
Speaker:I work a specific niche.
Speaker:Touch everybody in my database four times a year to see, number one, what's new in the market and has there been anything new or different in their personal situation that would change their professional situation.
Speaker:Number two, I'm also really excited that my firm has really taught me a lot about ethics and serving my clients.
Speaker:So when I do get a search assignment, I have a 94%.
Speaker:Fill rate.
Speaker:So when my clients put me to work, they can rest assured that I'm gonna bring them the best available talent to the market.
Speaker:And then thirdly, I'm also very thankful that as a top producer in my current firm, they have put me on a lot of special projects to better our current internal recruiting program as well as the future and the growth of our current organization.
Speaker:I'm just curious.
Speaker:You know, and this might be a weird how to transition to the question, but you should have three or four questions prepared.
Speaker:So after you give your spiel, then you follow up with a question.
Speaker:So that's a little bit about me.
Speaker:I'm just curious, tell me, as you look to fill this role, what are gonna be some of the most important aspects or attributes of the higher you're looking for?
Speaker:Does that make sense?
