Each one is geared towards a particular position and interviewer.
Each answer is customized to match the requirements for the position – and that really is the root of answering this question.
Interview answer to tell me about yourself that you might give to a to Finance Manager:
“Throughout my career I have remained successful by making well thought, calculated decisions based on the needs of my employer. I possess a unique approach to solving problems though good old fashioned common sense. I’m certain that if I were to join your team, I would thoroughly enjoy working with you and your colleagues in migrating your financial management system to a new Open Systems based platform.”
Interview answer to tell me about yourself you might give to a human resources manager:
“Throughout my career, I have always worked well with a wide range of people of varying skill sets. It has been a strong point of mine to always involve several people in my decision making process. This style of collaboration has made me a very effective manager in every company I have ever worked and I strongly believe that it’s the people of any company that are the most valuable resource.”
Interview Question – Tell me about your self – Answer you might give to a Sales Manager:
“Any company I have ever worked, whether I was in sales or not, I firmly believed that every company must be focused on sales. Many positions I have held were in customer service where we supported a team of sales representatives. Really, without sales, no one in the company would have a job – there would be no company. I’m very interested in working with your team to push your sales to the next level.”
Interview Question – Tell me about yourself – Answer you might give to a CEO:
“The only reason I have ever been successful in my career is because I always look at the bottom line. It’s been my nature to come up with creative solutions to the toughest problems – problems that make most people squirm. It does not matter what the challenge is, I have my own internal performance guidelines and standards that always lead me to victory in the end. I don’t know the meaning of status quo.
I firmly believe that any company that does not welcome change will eventually fade away. I would definitely relish the opportunity to work with you and your company to become more in tune with marketing your products via social media and achieving the overall goals of your organization.”
Each of these interview answers about tell me about yourself is a little different that I have previously taught. Generally, I recommend keeping your answer a little shorter than this, but that does not mean these answers are wrong. It just means that there really isn’t one perfect style of answer for this question.
Ultimately it’s you who needs to decide what you feel comfortable with. If you’re not comfortable with this style of answer, then don’t use it. Remember, this question is all about you and if you can’t answer it naturally, it just won’t work.
