Knowing your story

So often I am sitting down with a candidate and I ask them to tell me a little about themselves, they smile, reach into their bag, pull out a resume and start reading to me from it. Like most professionals out there I can read, so I stop them, pluck the paper from their hands, look them straight in the eyes and say “No, don’t read me your story, TELL me your story”.

Reactions tend to be split, half laugh and start talking, the other half stare blankly at me, shift uncomfortably in their seats and then start rambling about something or other that has no flow and no real information.

No one should need to read from a piece of paper to be able to talk about themselves, especially when you know you’re going into a meeting to do just that.  Know how to tell your story, it’s yours, you don’t need to memorize anything or make things up, because it’s all yours and it’s real.

So what is an interviewer actually asking when they say   “Tell me about yourself” ?

• They want to learn about YOU, the real you, the one people on the street see and your friends get to know

  • Tell them about your interests, groups you’re involved in. Let them get a feel for who you are.

  • What makes you happy? Motivates you?

  • What do you value in other people? In a team you’re working with?

• Tell me how you got to where you are?

  • This is where you tell your story, start from the bottom but work your way up quickly, you don’t need to spend ten minutes on each role from 15 years ago.

  • Speak about your education and why you did what you did– it’s interesting to see how people’s focus has changed over the years.

  • Know your dates. Be able to tell your story chronologically and know what years you did what and where.

  • Don’t waste your precious interview time going through every detail of your first job, spend the time going into more specific details and examples of your most relevant experience.

Prepare:

• Review your resume prior to going into a meeting. Re-familiarize yourself with your dates.

• Think about how you want to address your moves from role to role in an easy to understand, positive and quick way.

• Think about relevant examples of your work for your more recent roles that show your expertise.

• Think about some of the biggest lessons you learnt from your roles.

• Practice how you will explain who your company is, what your team did, what you did and what the successes of those roles were in a clear, flowing and succinct way.

Remember, this is your story, your career, your life–you should be able to talk through it articulately and confidently.