Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself! – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

“Tell me about yourself” is a question, usually posed at some point in an interview. In Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? Don ‘t Let That Question Stop You Cold we discussed the fact that interviewers use the interview process as a vehicle to eliminate your candidacy. Every question they ask is used to differentiate your skills, experience, and personality with that of other candidates. And we also discussed the process of preparing for the interview and how to handle the question.  To review that discussion, go here.

But remember, one size does not necessarily fit all.  Yes, your core skills, competencies and value to the company remain the same.  But there is a slight difference in perspective, depending on who’s asking the question. For different people, with different roles in the company and therefore different perspectives  on qualities which will be reassuring to them, you should retain your core “elevator pitch” but pivot slightly to address the main concerns of a person whose role shapes his or her outlook and the qualities he or she is focusing on.

When Asked by Different People?

The HR manager or CEO of the company or the Departmental Head can ask the same question and your answer should vary slightly since the expectation of each such person is different.

When asked by HR Manager, who is all about people skills, your response should include something like this: “My career has been characterized by my ability to work well with diverse teams. I seek out opportunities to involve others in the decision-making process. This collaboration and communication is what has enabled me to achieve success in my department. People are the most valuable resource of any organization.”

When asked by CEO, who is all about the bottom line, your response should include something like this: “I have achieved success in my career because I have been focused on the bottom line. I have always sought out innovative solutions to challenging problems to maximize profitability. Regardless of the task or challenge, I always established benchmarks of performance and standards of excellence. I have never sought to maintain the “status quo.” An organization that does not change and grow will die. I would enjoy working with you to help define new market opportunities in order to achieve the organization’s goals.”

So, prepare, define your competitive advantage, think “elevator” pitch, and adjust your pitch every so slightly, depending who’s asking the question. Then go in and dazzle them with your capabilities! Good luck! And please write and tell us how you do or if you have any other thoughts to help with this process.

( If you think you may need some help clarifying and preparing any of your answers, go to Advancing Women Portfolios, email advancingwomen@gmail.com or call toll free: (888) 565-4627. We would love to hear from you and we will be happy to help.)

To read the whole post, go to Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself! – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

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Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

“Tell me about yourself” is a question, usually posed at some point in an interview , which can send cold shivers up and down your spine, if you’re not prepared to give the right answer.  In a nutshell, the right answer should be succinct, differentiate you from the swarm of other candidates, and highlight your value to the company for whom you are interviewing.

Purpose of the Question:

There is a purpose to asking each and every question in the interview.  Although the set of interview questions varies from industry to industry and position to position, interviewers use the interview process as a vehicle to eliminate your candidacy. Every question they ask is used to differentiate your skills, experience, and personality with that of other candidates. They want to determine if what you have to offer will mesh with the organization’s mission and goals.

Your Elevator Pitch

Before arriving at any interview, you should have prepared and internalized what many of us call “an elevator pitch”.  This is a description of yourself, your unique competitive advantage and your value to a company which is short enough to be delivered to someone whom you or one of your advocates…..your spouse or colleague, perhaps.. run into and have the opportunity to pitch on the elevator, somewhere between the 10th and the 3rd floor. Three to five sentences would make a good elevator pitch, so they’d better be good ones, whetting the appetite for more.

Defining Your Competitive Advantage or Unique Selling Point

Long, long before this, you should have spent some serious time figuring out what is unique about yourself…. your unique selling point… what makes you different from others… and you’d better have one. Not only that, you’d better be able to quantify it. ( If you’re a little foggy on this, or are afraid you’ll melt into the crowd, instead of standing out, it might be a good investment for you to develop a career portfolio that demonstrates the positive results of your career in a graphic manner which you can then share with others like the person who is interviewing you.)

Avoid This Type of Answer

Try to avoid a too general answer and one that focuses on what you are looking for.  For example: “I am a hard-worker who is good with numbers. After I worked as a financial analyst for a few years, I decided to go to law school. I just finished and now am looking for a new challenge.”  Trust me, they don’t care what kind of challenge you’re looking for: they want to know “what’s in it for them”, so……

Instead, be specific and quantify, something like this:” I began developing skills relevant to financial planning when I worked as a financial analyst for three years. In that role, I succeeded in multiplying the wealth of my clients by carefully analyzing the market for trends. The return on the portfolios I managed was generally 2% more than most of the portfolios managed by my company. After two promotions, as the manager of a team, I successfully led them to develop a more efficient and profitable strategy for dealing with new accounts”.( Give the numbers; better yet, show them in a graph.) “My subsequent training in the law, including tax law and estate law, gives me an informed view of what types of investments and charitable gifts would be most advantageous for your clients.” ( If you have a a career portfolio that demonstrates graphically the success you’ve had, now is the time to whip out your Blackberry or iPhone and share it with them.)

Preparing for the Answer:

Follow the steps outlined below to ensure your response will grab the interviewer’s attention.

1. Provide a brief introduction. Introduce attributes that are key to the open position.

2. Provide a career summary of your most recent work history. Your career summary is the “meat” of your response, so it must support your job objective and it must be compelling. Keep your response limited to your current experience. Don’t go back more than 10 years.

3. Tie your response to the needs of the hiring organization. Don’t assume that the interviewer will be able to connect all the dots. It is your job as the interviewee to make sure the interviewer understands how your experiences are transferable to the position they are seeking to fill.

4. Ask an insightful question. By asking a question you gain control of the interview. Don’t ask a question for the sake of asking. Be sure that the question will engage the interviewer in a conversation. Doing so will alleviate the stress you may feel to perform.

There you have it – a response that meets the needs of the interviewer AND supports your agenda.

When broken down into manageable pieces, the question, “So, tell me about yourself?” isn’t overwhelming. In fact, answering the question effectively gives you the opportunity to talk about your strengths, achievements, and qualifications for the position. So take this golden opportunity and run with it!

( If you think you may need some help clarifying and preparing any of your answers, go to Advancing Women Portfolios, email advancingwomen@gmail.com or call toll free: (888) 565-4627. We would love to hear from you and we will be happy to help.)

To read the whole post, go to Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself! – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

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Small Biz Survival: Presenting 11 ways to do more from OpenBeta OKC.

Last night, Becky McCray presented at OpenBeta event in Oklahoma City’s for Internet professionals, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts. Becky’s topic, in her words: “Every growing small business runs into a crunch time, that time when the work is pouring in faster than you can afford to hire help to do it. How do you get out of a crunch without hiring?”

I’d like to share some of Becky’s ideas with you because, in these tough times, I think it helps to brainstorm about how a small business can cut back and still make it through to the end of the tunnel.  Also, to ward off panic and possible discouragement, I think it helps to remember that all of us small business owners are in the same boat, battling the giant waves that are trying to wash over us.  And, it is reassuring, I think, to be reminded that there is a support system out there, if we just focus on who they might be and call on each for help.

Becky’s was  a lightning talk, of 20 slides, intended to be shown for only 15 seconds each. To see them go here. Her ideas were drawn from several of her previous blog posts, including 10 Ways to Delegate Without Hiring Staff which I’m sharing with you below:

Becky says :”If you are “it” in the business, who can you delegate to?

1. Family. This is where we all seem to start. Let the kids do age-appropriate tasks. Recruit extra family members to contribute. With family, it is especially important to match the person to the task, give extra support, and check back often. In other words, follow the rules for effective delegating.
2. Local professionals. Give up the bookkeeping, ad design, collections, and photocopying. Turn to your local accountant, printer, attorney, or office supply store. Look around your town for more resources. Ask them what else they can do for you.
3. Delivery. This is an advantage of being in a small town. Many businesses still deliver, cutting down your errand list. Also, in a small town, there’s probably “a guy with a truck” who can do some delivery driving at a low cost. Can’t get it delivered locally? Go online and let them ship direct to you.
4. Suppliers. Ask them to do more, like pre-cut materials, suggest items that require less prep work, or even loan you experts or temporary staff.
5. Nonprofit services. Check with your Small Business Development Center, Chamber of Commerce, economic developer, technology center, college, vo-tech, and public schools for free or low cost services. You might be surprised what you find.
6. Utility Companies and Cooperatives. Many offer special services for businesses and individuals, but you have to ask to find out.
7. Online service providers. You can arrange for almost every business service online. Make a special effort to find fellow small-town pros.
8. Interns. Allow students to help out for low pay or no pay. Start with your local college, high school and vo-tech, but don’t overlook the big state universities. Even if they are far away, they place students all over.
9. The Computer. Automate as many tasks as possible. If you answer customers emails, become an expert in cut and paste. Ask the nearest 14 year old expert for more ideas.
10. Customers. You probably have some raving fans out there who would love to be actively involved in the business, even for a short time. Match their skills against your list of tasks. Phone calls, deliveries, office work, prep work or even clean up may appeal to them.

That’s the first ten ideas from Becky. Now it’s up to you to share your ideas and your stories.

Reprinted with permission from Small Biz Survival, www.BeckyMcCray.com.

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