How to Never Screw Up the Question “Tell Me About Yourself” Again:

Your terrible answers are destroying your interviews

April 20, 2023

Read time: 3 minutes

Hey there 👋 - it's Abbhi

Welcome to Career Confidence 🤝 

👋 to everyone reading this newsletter and gaining confidence in your career.

Today I'll be discussing how to answer "tell me about yourself" to ace your next interview. Highly requested from you all last week :) 

If you find this helpful, please forward it to your friends to help grow the community

If you were forwarded this email join our community by clicking below:

My Weekly Spotlight: 

Had a busy weekend filled with dinner plans and hanging out with friends. I celebrated Tamil New Year with some friends which was lots of fun. The last few weeks I conducted 30+ sales calls. So this weekend I created a program guide for prospects. And I've filled up ALL my personalized coaching spots for the next month. 

P.S. I moved my Weekly Aces to the bottom of this week's edition, so scroll to the bottom to check them out (& see a pic of me and my friends pretending as Columbia students 👀)

Wanna Pick Next Week's Newsletter Topic? 

Take 3 seconds to vote and majority wins 👇

No vote = No input this week 😭

Wanna get country specific tips? 

Take 3 seconds and tell me where ya at these days👇

If you want location specific tips, give me your input. 

Alright, let's dive how you ace the question: "Tell me about yourself" 

❌ Most Jobseekers Screw Up This Question

"Tell me About Yourself" 

You ever screw this one up? 

I sure have... 

I've talked about: 

  • My hobbies

  • My personal story

  • And even repeated my resume

This is NOT what you should do... (most of the time)

It's okay if you've done this too. 

Some hiring managers like when you discuss your hobbies. Play it by ear. 

For most of the time though, you gotta change your ways...

So let's dive in... 

👇

This is One of The Most Important Questions in Any Interview

They don’t wanna hear…

  • A 10 minute response

  • A copy of your resume

  • Your hobbies and interests

They do wanna hear…

  • The value you’ll bring to the role

  • Your relevant experience

  • Your results

"Tell me about Yourself" really means:

"Tell me about how your experiences & motivations make you the best fit for this job"

I know I know... Don't you wish they just asked the question like that???

Welp, they don't. So we'll have to decipher it ourselves. 

1/ Start with Your Value 

Hook your reader into your story.

Start with:

My career wins have focused on [relevant topic to the role]. This is one of the reasons I’d be a great fit for [role you’re interviewing for]. 

Then highlight your wins...

2/ Highlight Your Wins & Results (relevant to the role)

Discuss what you do (in 1 sentence), then your 2-3 projects (with results) that are relevant to the role.

Speak to the top skills & experiences the interviewer is looking for.

Then highlight your future with them...

3/ Speak About Your Future with the Company

Tell them what you’re looking for in a role.

And align that to the role you’re interviewing for (show excitement).

End with...

That’s my summary, if you’d like to dive deeper into any areas, let me know”

Make Sure You Answer:

  • What do you do?

  • What are your biggest wins?

  • What will you bring to this role?

  • Why are you a great fit for this role?

Key here: Don’t bore your interviewer

And Don't Focus On... 

  • Your pets

  • Your hobbies

  • Where you live

  • Your astrology sign

  • Every detail on your resume

P.S. I'm a Sagittarius if ya wanna know 😎

So... 

You still not sure where to start?

Let's use everyone's favorite AI tool... 

🥁🥁🥁

Steal this killer prompt that I used to get my answer 80% complete: 

(Copy paste this) 

I’m interviewing for the [Product Marketing Role] for [Google].

This is my resume [copy in resume]

Max length: 2 minutes talking

Answer “tell me about yourself”

  • Step 1: Start with Your Value in one sentence (30 seconds of talking)

  • Step 2: Highlight Your Wins & Results (60 seconds of talking)

  • Step 3: Speak About Your Future with Them (30 seconds of talking)

Tone: Conversational and excited.

Make sure you answer:

  • What do you do?

  • What are your biggest wins?

  • Why are you a great fit for this role?

End with: That’s my summary, if you’d like to dive deeper into any areas, let me know. 

Here's the result... 

Is it perfect? 

Absolutely not. 

Is it better than most people's answers? 

HELL YEAH. 

Does it need some personal touches? 

100%. 

But if you're not sure where to start... This is your golden ticket. 

I'm curious... 

I'm a 'HELL YEAH' personally. And if you are too... 

It's usually only open to my coaching clients (lucky you). 

Alright alright... 

Let's dive into this week's aces (I've got some mind-blowing ones so don't miss out)... 

👇

Abbhi's Weekly Aces:

  ⛏ Job Search Tool:  Tool that helps you match your resume to your target job

🎯 Job Board: Helps jobseekers find remote jobs globally

📈 Trend: Top 12 fastest growing industries in the U.S and how to break into them

📊Statistic: 30 mind-blowing stats that'll help you ace your interviews & land offers

P.S.

If you’d like more help, I’ve got your back:

  1. Start landing job offers with my 1:1 coaching program and go from 100s of rejections to 2-3 job offers in ~ 4 months. I've created a new program guide to walkthrough my entire program. Get instant access here. [My coaching program is FULL, apply to be on the waitlist]

  2. Optimize your LinkedIn with my 20 page guide: It's gotten jobseekers 10-15 DMs per week from recruiters & hiring managers.

👉 Thoughts on Today's Issue?  

Picture of the week 

Shoutout to me and my friends pretending to me Columbia students this weekend 👀

And if you've got a moment, I'd love to hear what you thought of this edition of Career Confidence. Send me a quick message - I reply to every email!