Art of Interviewing Ever had this question or a similar one before?

Let's face it, interviewing is stressful enough without having to answer silly interview questions. Unfortunately though, many interviewers, because of habit, lac of !re!aration time, !oor training, or even la"iness, often as these questions. #f those, one of the most challenging is the often used '$ell me about yourself' interview o!ener. What a lot of my HR acquaintances ask me about this question is 'What do they want to know?' Answer this question in terms of the s ills and e%!erience required for the !osition. $his question is all about you as an em!loyee, not about your !ersonal life or whether you're a dedicated s!orts fan. Answer it by describing your best attributes relevant to the &ob. 'e s!ecific and use e%am!les to su!!ort your claim. $he goal is not to summari"e your () or resume because the interviewer already has a co!y of that in front of them. *ee! your answer to +,- minutes and don't ramble. .on't seem at a loss for words or lac of ideas, instead have a !re!ared answer that you can confidently deliver. Interviewers also thin it is im!ro!er, a sign of your lac of !re!aredness, or even rude, for you to answer their '$ell me about yourself' question with a question of your own li e, '/hat would you li e to now?' If you are !re!ared, and seriously thin ing about ma ing a career change, you will have a !re!ared and thoughtful answer to this question 'E0#1E you begin interviewing. Have a good idea of what youd like to say before you start talking! .on2t &um! into your answer immediately , you need a few seconds to figure out what you are going to say in your mind. 3o !ause for a cou!le of seconds before s!ea ing. I suggest you learn to answer this question with a three,!art, !re,!lanned mar eting statement that can more or less be re,used from interview to interview.

Part one of that three,!art mar eting statement is always a one,sentence summary
of the candidate's career history. 0or e%am!le4 'I am a 5roduct 6anager with 7 years e%!erience wor ing for medium to large organi"ations the I$ sector both in the U* and abroad.8 9ou get the !icture: your whole career needs to be condensed into one sentence that enca!sulates the most im!ortant as!ects of your career, the as!ects that you want to leverage in order to ma e your ne%t career ste!. 0ew candidates seem to be able to condense a career into one sentence, but it can be done.

Part two of the !re,!lanned mar eting statement will be a one, maybe two,
sentence summary of a single accom!lishment that you are !roud of that will also ca!ture the !otential em!loyer's attention. It immediately follows your initial career summary sentence from above. $his accom!lishment should be one that the em!loyer will be interested in hearing, one that is easily e%!lained or illustrated, and one that clearly highlights a bottom line im!act. /hen done correctly this will build interviewer intrigue about the accom!lishment so that they inquire further, giving you an o!!ortunity to further discuss a significant career success. ;ere2s an e%am!le4 '1ecently, as a long,term contract em!loyee at a medium I$ com!any, I was res!onsible for overseeing the develo!ment of .es to! 3ervices for high value customer accounts. I defined !roduct services and a rollout strategy for the o!erations, develo!ed a business !lan and successfully sourced funding. 5roduct was im!lemented on time and within budget, this has also !rovided com!lete customer satisfaction and re!eat business.8

Part three, the final !iece of the mar eting statement, is !robably the most fluid
one. It needs to be a one,sentence summary of s!ecifically what you want to do ne%t in your career. $he reason this third !art is difficult is that it needs to s!ecifically address what you want to do ne%t. A<. it needs to change from interview to interview to ma e sure it matches e%actly what the I<.I)I.UAL em!loyers will be interviewing you for. (ontinuing with the above e%am!le of one of my !ast candidates, two of his final sentences, which were used for two different em!loyers, follow4 '0or the ne%t ste! in my career, I would li e to move away from contract wor and find myself as a direct em!loyee of a large I$ com!any where I will be able to contribute my e%!erience in managing and overseeing the !roduct develo!ment life,cycle, as well as bringing forward ideas for new !roducts and subsequently leading the design, develo!ment and delivery of these !roducts.8 'ut for a second em!loyer, this ending was significantly altered because of the candidate's multi!le interests in differing o!!ortunities, to4 '0or the ne%t ste! in my career, I would li e to find myself as a direct em!loyee of a medium,si"ed firm that was loo ing to hire an in,house 5roduct 6anager so I could continue growing my career by managing new !roduct launches, and evangeli"ing initiatives with the sales team. I would also love to a!!ly my !ast team !ro&ect management s ills to managing a small !ro&ect team.8 $hese were two very different endings that !erfectly matched two very different em!loyer needs. (learly you can see why the first ending wouldn't have wor ed for the second em!loyer or vice versa. /ith some sim!le revising, the candidate made sure that each em!loyer heard that they were interested in doing e%actly what the em!loyer was interested in hiring them for. $hat revising is what ma es the third !iece fluid and

sometimes challenging, as candidates don't always see the need for being this s!ecific from &ob interview to &ob interview. 6ost tend to be generali"ed, ho!ing that a shotgun a!!roach will wor . 'ut it is those who get s!ecific in what they want from interview to interview, who get the best results. /ith some sim!le !lanning 'E0#1E an interview, you, the candidate, will quic ly reali"e the benefit of a targeted third sentence in these !re,!lanned o!ening statements, as em!loyers feel you are !erfectly suited to do &ust the &ob they are interviewing you for. If you ta e the time to !re!are this way as a candidate, it will be a!!arent to an interviewer that you are a !re!ared and serious candidate right at the beginning of the interview when you answer the '$ell me about yourself' question with this memori"ed, brief mar eting statement, which combines a career summary, an e%ce!tional accom!lishment, and em!loyer,s!ecific career goal as in this e%am!le4 'I am a 5roduct 6anager with 7 years e%!erience wor ing for medium to large organi"ations the I$ sector both in the U* and abroad. 1ecently, as a long,term contract em!loyee at a medium I$ com!any, I was res!onsible for overseeing the develo!ment of .es to! 3ervices for high value customer accounts. I defined !roduct services and a rollout strategy for the o!erations, develo!ed a business !lan and successfully sourced funding. 5roduct was im!lemented on time and within budget, this has also !rovided com!lete customer satisfaction and re!eat business. 0or the ne%t ste! in my career, I would li e to find myself as a direct em!loyee of a medium,si"ed firm that was loo ing to hire an in,house 5roduct 6anager so I could continue growing my career by managing new !roduct launches, and evangeli"ing initiatives with the sales team. I would also love to a!!ly my !ast team !ro&ect management s ills to managing a small !ro&ect team.8 (learly you can understand how the candidate who o!ens with this ty!e of !re!ared res!onse to the '$ell me about yourself' question will ma e a significantly better first im!ression than a candidate who res!onds by answering, '/hat would you li e to now?' 5lus candidates who !re!are in this manner are ty!ically more confident at the interview's start, ma e a substantial and !ositive verbal first im!ression, give a clear indication of their interest in ma ing a career move, and force the interviewer to get !ast the icebrea er questions to the !arts of the interview that will hel! both !arties begin the !rocess of seriously determining if this is a solid match. As you can see, these three sim!le ste!s , summari"ing what your e%!erience is as candidate, sharing an im!ressive career accom!lishment, and then summari"ing what would be an ideal ne%t career ste! for you, one that matches what the em!loyer is loo ing to hire , are the eys to beginning your interview with a com!etitive advantage. (andidates who ta e the time to do this significantly im!rove their initial verbal im!ression, get their interview off to a confident and focused beginning, and more often than not get called bac for second interviews, or better yet, for offers of em!loyment with em!loyers who are im!ressed.