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 really like serving to individuals – I used to be constructive it will impress my interviewer. However after my cliched reply triggered a upset 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Because the outdated saying goes, you by no means get a second probability at first impressions.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
In the event you’re within the technique of interviewing for a brand new function, you know the way troublesome 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 well-liked methods interviewers begin the dialog. This reply has a big impact in your interviewer’s first impression of you and may form your complete dialog.
To realize some perception on one of the simplest ways to reply to “Inform me about your self”, I requested Claire McCarthy, a recruiting supervisor at HubSpot, about one of the simplest ways to reply to the immediate.
“There is no superb reply to ‘Inform me about your self,’” she says, “however I at all times encourage candidates to create a worth proposition for themselves that touches on a few issues.”
In response to McCarthy, the perfect worth proposition covers:
- Your motivation
- The precise challenges that excite you
- What you possibly can deliver to the desk
- Why you need 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 to develop a robust, cohesive worth proposition that solutions all of those questions.
How you can Give The Finest Solutions to ‘Inform Me About Your self’
- Be trustworthy.
- Inform a narrative.
- Weave in private particulars.
- Describe what motivates you.
- Clarify what varieties of challenges excite you.
- Spotlight your most related abilities.
- Spell out why you need to work on the firm you’re interviewing at.
- Illustrate why you need to work for them proper now.
- Show that you just’d be a great match for the job.
1. Be trustworthy.
An important factor about answering this query is being trustworthy.
In the event you begin your interview by embellishing particulars about your expertise or mendacity about your abilities, you’re setting your self up for failure.
Even when the hiring supervisor doesn’t understand it in the intervening time, they’ll probably detect inconsistencies in a while.
It’s onerous sufficient to get this query proper, don’t make it tougher on your self. As an alternative, skip the video games and produce 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 may spotlight your abilities, motivation, and future objectives.
3. Weave in private particulars.
This step requires a fragile stability.
You’ll need to weave in private particulars about your self that may assist hiring managers uncover what drives you and have a holistic view of who you might be.
Nonetheless, you don’t need 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 begin a profession in content material creation.
4. Describe what motivates you.
One of the vital vital (and customary) traits hiring managers usually search for in candidates is their intrinsic motivation. Analysis suggests intrinsically motivated staff produce a better high quality of labor than extrinsically motivated staff do.
So when you 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 strategy my five-year anniversary working within the content material advertising and marketing area, I’ve realized quite a bit about myself. Extra particularly, I’ve realized I really feel probably the most fulfilled once I can craft gripping tales that really assist and encourage individuals.”
5. Clarify what challenges excite you.
Hiring managers don’t usually rent candidates to take care of their group’s establishment. They rent candidates who will problem it and propel their group to larger heights.
To point out that you could be a catalyst on the group, converse to the challenges in your trade or this specific function that excite you, similar to the instance under:
“Right this moment, we each work in an trade the place numerous manufacturers combat for a restricted quantity of consideration, saturating our area with mediocre content material. It’s by no means been tougher to chop via the noise. However this doesn’t intimidate or discourage me. It really 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 abilities.
When you clarify what challenges pique your curiosity, you possibly can then naturally segue into the way you possess the mandatory abilities to beat them and excel on the function, like the instance under:
“There’s a fierce battle for consideration in content material advertising and marketing proper now, and it has pushed me to grasp each my writing and analytical abilities. Information drives selections in our trade, and I do know if I need to make an influence on a group, I must be each a artistic and a strategist. Fortunately, my capacity to adapt has allowed me to choose up the mandatory abilities to precisely extract insights from knowledge and weave them right into a compelling story.”
7. Spell out why you need to work on the firm you’re interviewing at.
Highlighting your most related abilities will seize your hiring supervisor’s consideration. However to really impress her, talk how your ardour and abilities align with the corporate’s pursuits and objectives, like the instance under:
“That’s why I feel I’d be a high-impact worker right here – you care quite a bit about doing two issues proper: making goal, data-driven selections and telling nice tales. I imagine I will help you get higher at each of these items.”
8. Illustrate why you need to work for the corporate proper now.
After you spell out why you need to work for the corporate, delve into why you need to work for them proper now.
This exhibits that you just took initiative to study in regards to the firm’s most up-to-date updates, and the hiring supervisor will certainly pay attention to your proactiveness. Take a look at the instance under:
“That is additionally probably the greatest occasions 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 trade. 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 abilities to enhance your present group by quantifying your accomplishments.
These earlier experiences will show your value 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 electronic mail subscription listing by 40% in just one 12 months, I feel I might assist you to develop a killer content material technique, write a number 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 listing of issues you possibly can say when answering this query, there’s additionally one for errors it is best to keep away from.
When answering “Inform me about your self,” don’t:
- Wing your reply – Memorize the important thing factors to hit to be able 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 – Subjects 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 robust reply to the “Inform me about your self” immediate would seem like this:
“As I strategy my five-year anniversary working within the content material advertising and marketing area, I’ve realized quite a bit about myself. Extra particularly, I’ve realized I really feel probably the most fulfilled once I can craft gripping tales that really assist and encourage individuals.
Right this moment, we each work in an trade the place numerous manufacturers combat for a restricted quantity of consideration, saturating our area with mediocre content material. It’s by no means been tougher to chop via the noise. However this doesn’t intimidate or discourage me. It really 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 and marketing proper now, and it has pushed me to grasp each my writing and analytical abilities. Information drives selections in our trade, and I do know if I need to make an influence on a group, I must be each a artistic and a strategist. Fortunately, my capacity to adapt has allowed me to choose up the mandatory abilities to precisely extract insights from knowledge 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 quite a bit about doing two issues proper: making goal, data-driven selections and telling nice tales. I imagine I will help you get higher at each of these items.
That is additionally probably the greatest occasions 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 trade. 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 electronic mail subscription listing by 40% in just one 12 months, I feel I might assist you to develop a killer content material technique, write a number 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” may be one of the dreaded prompts within the historical past of interviews.
However when you 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 robust first impression.
Editor’s Be aware: This put up was initially revealed in Nov. 2018 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
