When The Interviewer Says, “Tell Me A Little About Yourself”

It often happens that you go blank when someone, out of the blue, asks you questions like where do you want to eat tonight, or which is your favourite movie, and the most daunting question of all is ‘could you tell us a little about yourself?’. A bead of sweat starts to trickle from our foreheads when an interviewer asks us this at a job interview. We have all been there and also messed up in our own unique ways. 

There isn’t really a right or wrong answer to this question. We just need to have the right approach to it. While this might look like a lame question to you, it is important to recruiters for multiple reasons. The most obvious reason is that most of the time, recruiters are busy interviewing a long list of applicants and thus might not always get a chance to go through your resume. Another reason is to test how well you can demonstrate self-confidence. 

Although this question sounds an easy one to answer, we always find ourselves blank and anxious, because how can you even narrate your whole life story in an interview? 

Remember it’s like telling a story about yourself, only professionally. You can start by summarising your career like your educational qualification, the year you started working, your work experience, what your job role has been over the years and the name of the companies you have worked for. 

You can then swiftly move on to narrating a project you must have undertaken or an anecdote of your work experience in the past that directly relates to the job or job role you are applying for. This will convey to your interviewer why you are the right person for the job in question. 

You can then conclude by stating reasons why you chose to apply to this company and why you think you will be a great fit for it. 

There are certain things you need to stay away from mentioning. You must keep in mind that your interviewer is asking you this question to get to know you professionally and not to develop any sort of personal relationship with you. 

So it is highly unlikely for them to be interested in knowing which movies you enjoy watching or which are your loved travel destinations. While sharing little bits of your personal life is fine as long as you manage to connect it to some professional quality of yours, its best to not dive into it. However, if you feel that sharing a specific thing about your life will put you in a positive light, go ahead and do it. 

You can also mention your professional qualities and talk about the extra skills and qualifications you possess and how they can bring added value to the table if given the job. This will also make you memorable and help in your recruitment. 

You must also mention what your long term goals are and what you expect from the future. The clear and crisp you stay, the more interested your interviewer will be. Ensure you keep your answer to this question short and yet absolutely clear and firm. This also shows that you know what you are doing in life and are confident about it. 

So the next time you appear for a job interview, these suggestions will definitely have your back and you will no longer mess up answering the question.