"דערצייל מיר אַ ביסל וועגן זיך": ווי צו ענטפֿערן דעם קשיא?

In fact, this question is a test of the applicant’s communication skills, so composing an answer on the go is very risky. But if you manage to get the employer interested in the history of your career path, it will help a lot in answering all subsequent questions. “Telling about yourself is a key part of the interview. It gives you the opportunity to convince interviewers that you are perfect for the position,” says Judith Humphrey, founder of a staff training company.

Executive coach and consultant Sabina Nevaz, who has worked at Microsoft for 14 years, explains that she prepares her clients to answer this question in the first place. “By talking about themselves, the candidate gains control over the interview process and can focus on those aspects of their career that are especially important to a new employer.”

To prepare a decent story about yourself, you will have to make a lot of effort. Here’s what’s important to pay attention to.

Don’t make common mistakes

The interviewer has probably already read your resume, so don’t retell it again. “It’s not enough to say: I have such and such experience, I received such and such education, I have such and such certificates, I worked on such and such unusual projects,” warns Josh Doody, a former hiring manager and coach who trains clients. negotiating wages. Most job seekers talk about this, but this is the easiest way. We instinctively start listing everything that is already on our resume.”

When you take the easy way, you miss out on the opportunity to tell something new about yourself. “You should not“ throw out ”a mountain of information about yourself to the interviewer,” emphasizes Judith Humphrey.

State the main idea clearly

Humphrey recommends building a story about yourself around the main statement, giving three proofs for it. For example: “I am confident that I have good entrepreneurial skills. I have considerable experience in this area. I am interested in this position as it will give me the opportunity to develop my skills.”

In order to somehow stand out from the rest of the applicants, you need to convince the interviewers that your arrival will increase the efficiency of the workforce. It is important to know in detail in advance what tasks your future team is solving, and to say exactly what managers want to hear.

“For example, you are interested in the position of a marketer. You find out that your new team is looking to be more active on social media, cites Josh Doody as an example. — When at an interview you are asked to tell about yourself, you can say: “I am very interested in social networks, I have been using them for 10 years, both for professional and personal purposes. I am always looking for an opportunity to bring the idea to a wide audience using new platforms. I know that your team is now looking for new opportunities and is trying to run an advertising campaign on Instagram. It would be very interesting for me to take part in this.”

Please note that you have said a lot about yourself, but all this information is directly related to the goals and objectives of the working group that you want to join.

By immediately outlining the main idea of ​​your story, you show the interviewer what to look for first. Sabina Nevaz gives this example of a story about herself: “I would say that I have three qualities that have played a particularly important role in my career, and they will be very useful [in a new position]. I’ll give you an example. In 2017, we faced a crisis – [a story about the crisis]. The problem was [that]. It was these qualities that helped me to cope with the crisis – [in what way]. That is why I consider them my strengths.”

The two most important pre-preparation points

Your task is not just to list the facts of your biography, but to tell a coherent story about yourself. It will have to be worked on beforehand.

To tell a good story, first ask yourself what career accomplishments you are most proud of and how those accomplishments highlight your strengths. Which of these qualities will be useful to you in the future?

Don’t be banal. “Anyone will say that he is smart, hardworking and able to achieve his goals. Instead, tell us about your unique features, about those qualities that distinguish you from others, Sabina Nevaz advises. “Why are they so important to your new job?”

How to collect more examples of your achievements? “I recommend that my clients talk with colleagues, partners, friends before the interview – they will help you remember interesting cases that you might have forgotten about,” Nevaz suggests.

It is equally important to understand why the company is looking for an employee for this position at all. “In fact, in the interview you are asked:“ How can you help us? If you come prepared, you already know what your future employer needs,” Josh Doody is sure.

What is this preparation? Doody recommends that you carefully study the job description, search the Internet for information about the company, try to find blogs or videos of your future colleagues. “Your goal is to understand what the company does, what goals it pursues, what difficulties it faces on the way to achieving them,” he emphasizes.

Don’t drag out the story

“To prevent the audience from losing interest, try to make your story take about a minute. In less time, you are unlikely to have time to say everything important, but if you delay, your answer will more likely begin to look like a monologue, ”recommends Judith Humphrey.

Of course, it will take a developed emotional intelligence to understand how interested the listeners are. Try to feel the mood of the audience. It is important that interviewers have a clear understanding of your main idea. The incoherent story “about everything” shows that the applicant does not have a whole idea of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbhimself.