How to Answer Tell Me About Yourself—Job Interview in English

Hi, I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your Confident English Wednesday

lesson.

This week we are focused on one of the most popular topics on the Speak Confident English

website.

It's also one of the most common questions I receive by email or from my students, especially

those who are looking for a new job, trying to advance their career, and use English.

So today we are focused on: Tell Me About Yourself.

We're getting very specific on just this one question because it's the most common question

in a job interview and maybe even the most important.

Both native and non-native English speakers search all over the Internet to find out how

to best answer this question and there are some fantastic examples and resources online.

But today I want to focus on one specific thing: 3 dos and don'ts of how to answer this

question.

Today's lesson actually comes from my own experience.

Yes, I've interviewed for jobs before in my life but I've also been an interviewer many,

many times.

And in that experience, I've seen some really wonderful interviews and some not so impressive.

I don't want you to be in that second group, so I'm going to share with you exactly what

impressed me as an interviewer, what helped make someone memorable, and what is important

for you when you interview for your next job in English.

Now very quickly, before we get to the lesson I do want to let you know that I have a super

special download for you today.

It's a step-by-step workbook that will help you think about how to best create your unique

answer to this question.

We'll talk a little bit more about the workbook as we go through the lesson.

But after you watch this video, make sure that you visit the online lesson so that you

can download the workbook and prepare, practice, and perfect your answer to Tell Me About Yourself.

So the first don't in today's lesson is: in this question, don't tell your life story.

Yes, the interviewer is asking you to tell her or him about yourself but they don't want

to you know where you grew up or all of the travels you've taken in your life.

They don't want to know about all your time at university studying.

They want to know one thing: are you the right person for the job.

And they want to get an immediate idea about whether or not you are.

So this question helps them understand that immediately if you answer it correctly.

Now that doesn't mean there's a right or a wrong answer.

But it does mean there is a correct way or method to answering it.

The key is to think about this specific job that you are interviewing for.

And then thinking about your entire experience, your work experience, your accomplishments,

the skills that you've gained and choosing the things that are most specific that relate

directly to this job so that you can show you are the right person, that you have the

right qualifications, expertise, strengths to perform well and be the best person for

this job.

Now if you've never talked about your accomplishments, your strengths and that feels uncomfortable,

maybe it's not something that's common in your culture, that is okay.

I know it feels strange and awkward at the beginning but that is exactly why I created

this workbook for you.

To help begin the process of brainstorming and thinking about what should you say, what

could you say?

What is part of your background, your expertise that could be important to highlight in this

question?

Don't number two: don't repeat your resume word-for-word.

Honestly, this just isn't impressive.

Your interviewer will most likely have a copy of your resume directly in front of them and

they've probably read a little bit of it, so they don't need you to repeat everything

to them.

Again, remember, the key of this question is are you the right person for the job.

So everything you say in the response to this question should be those skills, those areas

of expertise that will make you the right person for the job.

They should directly connect to that position.

Think of it as an opportunity to highlight the most important things about you and what

you want the interviewer to know the most so that he or she can make the right decision.

This is only the first question.

There will be many more questions in the interview where you will have the opportunity to expand

your answers.

But here you want to give an overview and highlight the key points.

Now in the online lesson, I have given you some good and bad examples so that you can

what I'm talking about when you answer this question.

And I've give you several more examples in that step-by-step workbook.

And don't number three: don't speak for too long.

Again, this is only your first question.

You're just getting started with the interview.

Your answer to this question should be about 2 to 3 minutes long, no longer.

This is your introduction, so you want it to be brief, you want it to be clear, and

you want it to be succinct.

If you know me, you know that I love that word succinct.

It means saying everything you need to say and nothing more.

Now the only way to make sure that you answer this question in the best way possible is

to prepare.

Yes, prepare before you go to the job interview.

Know what you want to say.

Practice it.

Say it out loud.

Time yourself to make sure that it's not too short (30 seconds is too short) but of course,

you don't want it to be too long either.

You want it to be just right and you want to sound natural and free and easy you communicate

in English.

The best way to do that is to practice with it, get comfortable with those words and the

language and what you're going to say.

So after you watch this video, after you download the step-by-step workbook to help you create

your answer, feel free to share it with me.

You can do that in the comments section just below this video.

You can also read comments from others to see their examples.

And I do read and provide feedback on all of them.

It's a great opportunity for you to begin that first step of preparing and practicing

so that you have your perfect answer to Tell Me About Yourself.

And with that, have a fantastic week.

Thank you so much for joining me.

And I'll see you next week for your Confident English Wednesday lesson.