I am a big fan of conducting interviews…
Which is a great blessing, since I’ve had to interview more people than I can count, for all sorts of positions ranging from entry level rank and file positions to key leadership roles, and everything in between.
And as far as questions go, the question “tell me a little bit about yourself” – which I deem the laziest question of them all – stands out.
This question is a bit tricky. Unlike how most professionals approach it, answering this question is much more than a mere formality. It’s not like asking a co-worker “how is it going” and expecting a quick “good and you?” while you’re passing each other down the hall.
Instead, this question is a delicate one. In fact, it can even be considered sinister. If I may exaggerate, it is almost like handing an electric saw to a drunk – it can ruin lives in an instant!
Exaggeration aside… I do think that this question can indeed be a trick question used to get the interviewer to disqualify themselves, rather than an honest question designed to start a conversation.
Fortunately, most interviewers who ask this question don’t actually quite know how to use it. They usually ask it because they are not prepared for the interview, which means, if you knew even the simplest technique for answering it, you would instantly ace the interview (or at least that portion of the interview).
Remember this: asking “tell me a little bit about yourself”, is not asked so that you can talk about your hobbies, your favorite ice cream, or even for you to present a verbal rendition of your resume. It is, instead, a way to get you talking. The wise manager will ask it, not because they need to learn about your material details, but because they want to get a sense of your personality, a sense of self-awareness. It can even be a good narcissism check.
The lazy manager, on the other hand, will ask this question, because they don’t have the slightest clue about who you are as a professional, and they haven’t – and they probably don’t ever want to – read your resume.
While the nuances of answering the first type of manager could fill a hard cover book, the second type of manager is trivial to impress. Luckily, for both of these types of managers, there is a safe way to answer this question…
All you really have to do to answer this question…
To answer “tell me a little bit about yourself” all you have to do is to repeat your “career narrative”. Do that, and you’re golden!
Unfortunately, most people don’t know what a career narrative is, and more often than not, people absolutely tank it when this question is asked. They even lose great jobs that they were a great fit for, simply because they bombed that one question. Some even get walked out of the interview after their answer to this seemingly trivial question bombs; it’s literally ridiculous!
Here’s why…
As we keep telling our students, an interview question is never just the surface question. There is a deeper question behind each question, and a reason why people are asking it. A reason that must be unpacked, understood and addressed. And as far as this question is concerned, what they are really asking is “who are you?”.
In the context of answering the question “tell me a little bit about yourself”, what the interviewer wants to hear is a succinct description of who you are, that is relevant to the job you’re applying for. And the answer can be as simple as repeating a formulaic sentence such as “I’m a passionate marketer & team player with 5+ yrs experience in crafting impactful campaigns in our industry, and I’m here to talk about your marketing manager position.”
Of course, what you say is considerably less important than how you say it…
One of the biggest mistakes people make in their career is not actually considering, and articulating in an effective manner, WHO they are. I cannot stress this enough: the WHO is far, **FAR** more important than WHAT, WHEN or HOW of what it is that you do. Yet, I often catch people deep into their job search, their networking, or their promotion plan… and I can instantly derail them by asking a simple WHO question.
This is because, not one of these “professionals” have actually considered their career narrative, which is – from a psychological perspective – the CHIEF reason why people get the jobs they get.
More importantly, the few individuals who do have a half-baked answer to a who question such as “tell me a little bit about yourself”, are not actually answering the question. Most people are merely – and transparently – parroting something they read somewhere that they think the interviewer wants to hear.
Their lips speak an answer, but their eyes don’t believe it…
This condition is quite prevalent in people who are pretending to be something they are not; like rank and file employees pretending to be managers or managers acting like they have more authority than they actually do. You can see that they don’t believe a single word that comes out of their mouth, while simultaneously, secretly, they are begging for you to buy into the reality they wish about themselves!
Remember: Most professionals are simply winging it when it comes to having a clear, effective definition of their career narrative. And as a result, they have this deep, dreadful feeling that others will one day recognise them as the impostors they are, and their farce career will end, leaving them bagging groceries or greeting Walmart customers for the rest of their life.
This paralysing subconscious fear keeps them from exploring their career narrative objectively, and learning to use terms that work in the marketplace (note: not buzzwords but Language of Value terms).
Without going through this honest, objective process, you cannot develop an effective career narrative, period. And without an effective career narrative, this fear of failure permeates everything you do, limiting your job search, your promotions, and your networking.
The bad news is: Until you figure out your career narrative, you’ll be forever limited to the whims of hiring managers and HR professionals in your professional development. You will be at the effect end of every job interaction and be pushed around by market forces.
The good news is: There is a proven, step-by-step formula for developing an effective career narrative that gets people’s brains on your side. It can be done with an exercise that takes less than an hour. You need to do it only once. And once done, you can use it to forge the future you want.
The best news is that, this works regardless of your past experience, your credentials or market conditions. It is not about your past. It is about your future.
But… Before you can explore what a career narrative is and whether or not you can develop a powerful one that serves you, I need to ask you a serious question…
Which do you believe?
Does your past define you? Or do you define your future?
Ponder that.
Not in some gimmicky sense, but for real. Think whether or not you believe that you are defined by your past education, credentials and experiences… or if you believe that you are capable of defining yourself, right now, as you chose.
Only if you prefer to live in a world where you define your future, rather than your past, you’ve come to the right place.
We might be able to help…