The primary time I used to be prompted with “Inform me about your self” in an interview, I reeled off a canned spiel about how I like serving to individuals – I used to be optimistic it could impress my interviewer. However after my cliched reply triggered a disillusioned look on her face, I panicked.
I ended up rambling about how “enjoyable” I used to be, citing my time because the lead singer and guitarist for a Blink-182 cowl band within the sixth grade as compelling proof. Evidently, I didn’t get the job.
Because the previous saying goes, you by no means get a second probability at first impressions. So to nail your interview, discover ways to reply the query, “Inform me about your self.”
What Interviewers Actually Need to Know
Should you’re within the technique of interviewing for a brand new position, you understand how tough it may be to discover a distinctive and compelling reply to this widespread immediate.
“Inform me about your self” may be very open-ended but one of the in style methods interviewers begin the dialog. This reply has a huge effect in your interviewer’s first impression of you and might form all the dialog.
To achieve some perception on the easiest way to answer “Inform me about your self”, I requested Claire McCarthy, a recruiting supervisor at HubSpot, about the easiest way to answer the immediate.
“There isn’t any superb reply to ‘Inform me about your self,’” she says, “however I all the time encourage candidates to create a worth proposition for themselves that touches on a few issues.”
In line with McCarthy, the best worth proposition covers:
- Your motivation
- The precise challenges that excite you
- What you possibly can convey to the desk
- Why you wish to work for the corporate you’re interviewing at and why now
- Why this job is an effective match
Armed with McCarthy’s recommendation, we’ll assist you develop a powerful, cohesive worth proposition that solutions all of those questions.
The right way to Give The Finest Solutions to ‘Inform Me About Your self’
- Be sincere.
- Inform a narrative.
- Weave in private particulars.
- Describe what motivates you.
- Clarify what varieties of challenges excite you.
- Spotlight your most related expertise.
- Spell out why you wish to work on the firm you’re interviewing at.
- Illustrate why you wish to work for them proper now.
- Show that you just’d be a great match for the job.
1. Be sincere.
A very powerful factor about answering this query is being sincere.
Should you begin your interview by embellishing particulars about your expertise or mendacity about your expertise, you’re setting your self up for failure.
Even when the hiring supervisor doesn’t notice it in the mean time, they’ll possible detect inconsistencies in a while.
It’s onerous sufficient to get this query proper, don’t make it more durable on your self. As an alternative, skip the video games and convey your full self to the interview.
2. Inform a narrative.
Consider this query as a possibility to inform the interview a brief story about your self.
Simply as a narrative has a transparent starting, center, and finish, yours ought to too – besides you’ll be masking the previous, current, and future.
All through your reply, you’ll weave in a number of components that can spotlight your expertise, motivation, and future targets.
3. Weave in private particulars.
This step requires a fragile stability.
You’ll wish to weave in private particulars about your self that can assist hiring managers uncover what drives you and have a holistic view of who you’re.
Nonetheless, you don’t wish to do a deep dive into your private life.
So, solely spotlight private particulars that tie again to an expert ability or aim. For example, you would possibly point out your love of storytelling from early childhood and the way that led you to start out a profession in content material creation.
4. Describe what motivates you.
One of the crucial vital (and customary) traits hiring managers sometimes search for in candidates is their intrinsic motivation. Analysis suggests intrinsically motivated staff produce the next high quality of labor than extrinsically motivated staff do.
So if you happen to can recount a private anecdote that proves you’re a craft-driven skilled, and never simply somebody who’s enamored by the corporate’s profitable inventory choices, you’ll instantly seize the hiring supervisor’s consideration.
To take action, lead off your worth proposition like this:
“As I method my five-year anniversary working within the content material advertising area, I’ve discovered lots about myself. Extra particularly, I’ve realized I really feel probably the most fulfilled after I can craft gripping tales that truly assist and encourage individuals.”
5. Clarify what challenges excite you.
Hiring managers don’t usually rent candidates to keep up their group’s established order. They rent candidates who will problem it and propel their group to better heights.
To point out you could be a catalyst on the group, communicate to the challenges in your business or this explicit position that excite you, similar to the instance under:
“In the present day, we each work in an business the place numerous manufacturers battle for a restricted quantity of consideration, saturating our area with mediocre content material. It’s by no means been more durable to chop via the noise. However this doesn’t intimidate or discourage me. It truly excites me as a result of it forces me to maintain innovating and discovering new methods to attach with an viewers.”
6. Spotlight your most related expertise.
When you clarify what challenges pique your curiosity, you possibly can then naturally segue into the way you possess the required expertise to beat them and excel on the position, like the instance under:
“There’s a fierce battle for consideration in content material advertising proper now, and it has pushed me to grasp each my writing and analytical expertise. Information drives selections in our business, and I do know if I wish to make an impression on a group, I have to be each a inventive and a strategist. Fortunately, my capability to adapt has allowed me to select up the required expertise to precisely extract insights from information and weave them right into a compelling story.”
7. Spell out why you wish to work on the firm you’re interviewing at.
Highlighting your most related expertise will seize your hiring supervisor’s consideration. However to really impress her, talk how your ardour and expertise align with the corporate’s pursuits and targets, like the instance under:
“That’s why I feel I’d be a high-impact worker right here – you care lots about doing two issues proper: making goal, data-driven selections and telling nice tales. I consider I can assist you get higher at each of these items.”
8. Illustrate why you wish to work for the corporate proper now.
After you spell out why you wish to work for the corporate, delve into why you wish to work for them proper now.
This exhibits that you just took initiative to be taught in regards to the firm’s most up-to-date updates, and the hiring supervisor will certainly be aware of your proactiveness. Try the instance under:
“That is additionally top-of-the-line instances to work at HubSpot – I used to be at INBOUND in September and was impressed with all of your new product launches. It’s clear that HubSpot is doubling down on innovation and strives to propel to the highest of the business. I’d be pumped to be part of that.”
9. Show that you just’d be a great match for the job.
To pack a punch on the finish of your worth proposition, present the hiring supervisor the way you’ve used your expertise to enhance your present group by quantifying your accomplishments.
These earlier experiences will show your price and qualify you as the worker who can take the group to the following stage. Cap off your reply with one thing like this:
“And because the top-performing content material strategist at my present firm, the place I’ve doubled weblog views and grown our e mail subscription checklist by 40% in just one 12 months, I feel I may assist you develop a killer content material technique, write a few of the greatest tales in MarTech, and construct an much more loyal viewers than you boast now.”
What To not Do When Requested “Inform Me About Your self”
Simply as there’s an extended checklist of issues you possibly can say when answering this query, there’s additionally one for errors you must keep away from.
When answering “Inform me about your self,” don’t:
- Wing your reply – Memorize the important thing factors to hit in an effort to guarantee a concise reply each time with out sounding rehearsed.
- Focus in your private life – Given the context by which this query is requested, focus in your skilled journey as a substitute your private one.
- Focus on contentious subjects – Matters like politics, faith, and intercourse haven’t any place in an interview, a lot much less throughout this query.
“Inform Me About Your self” Pattern Reply
Altogether, a powerful reply to the “Inform me about your self” immediate would seem like this:
“As I method my five-year anniversary working within the content material advertising area, I’ve discovered lots about myself. Extra particularly, I’ve realized I really feel probably the most fulfilled after I can craft gripping tales that truly assist and encourage individuals.
In the present day, we each work in an business the place numerous manufacturers battle for a restricted quantity of consideration, saturating our area with mediocre content material. It’s by no means been more durable to chop via the noise. However this doesn’t intimidate or discourage me. It truly excites me as a result of it forces me to maintain innovating and discovering new methods to attach with an viewers.
There’s a fierce battle for consideration in content material advertising proper now, and it has pushed me to grasp each my writing and analytical expertise. Information drives selections in our business, and I do know if I wish to make an impression on a group, I have to be each a inventive and a strategist. Fortunately, my capability to adapt has allowed me to select up the required expertise to precisely extract insights from information and weave them right into a compelling story.
That’s why I feel I’d be a high-impact worker right here — you guys care lots about doing two issues proper: making goal, data-driven selections and telling nice tales. I consider I can assist you get higher at each of these items.
That is additionally top-of-the-line instances to work at HubSpot — I used to be at INBOUND in September and was impressed with all of your new product launches. It’s clear that HubSpot is doubling down on innovation and strives to propel to the highest of the business. I’d be pumped to be part of that.
And because the top-performing content material strategist at my present firm, the place I’ve doubled weblog views and grown our e mail subscription checklist by 40% in just one 12 months, I feel I may assist you develop a killer content material technique, write a few of the greatest tales in MarTech, and construct an much more loyal viewers than you boast now.”
Framing ‘Inform Me About Your self’ as ‘Pitch Your self’
“Inform me about your self” is perhaps one of the dreaded prompts within the historical past of interviews.
However if you happen to perceive why hiring managers prod candidates with it, you possibly can flip your reply into your pitch.
From there, construction your worth proposition the best way we did above and also you’ll make a powerful first impression.
Editor’s Notice: This submit was initially printed in Nov. 2018 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
