How to answer “Tell me about yourself” question

     

It is only natural that interviewers get to know who they are interviewing. But for most job seekers, ‘tell me about yourself’ question is the hardest part of the interview.

So, what is the hiring manager asking?

In a nutshell, interviewers want to know how your experience is pertinent to the job you’re interviewing for. Responding to this request successfully comes down to three things:

Focus: Define what you do as it relates to the job, think about three to five past experiences that are relevant to the job at hand and try to quantify in terms of time, money or people. Then list three to five strengths you have that are pertinent to this job (experiences, traits, skills, etc.)

Script: Write out a script that includes the information you want to convey. Begin by talking about past experiences and proven success

Practice: Write down a script and practice until you feel confident about what you want to emphasise in your statement. Your script should help you stay on track, but you shouldn’t memorise it — you don’t want to sound like a broadcast news announcer or a robot.

You cannot afford to wing this answer.