How would you describe yourself?
Fernando Espinosa
LinkedIn Top Voice. Expert in providing executive search, professional recruiting solutions, and best experiences for companies and people. Enhancer of clients' employment brands and mentor of people.
When candidates are asked: "How would you describe yourself?" - What do they usually answer? What are they expected to answer?
During my career of 25 years in the recruiting industry, placing candidates at the VP, Director and Manager-level in Mexico and Latin America, I have seen that one of the most common questions that candidates struggle with during a job interview is: How would you describe yourself?
I have interviewed thousands of candidates in my career, and whenever I have asked that question, I see that many of them don’t know how to describe their best qualities, expertise and knowledge in a summarized way suited to the positions they are applying for.
I believe one reason this happens is because a large number of candidates don’t have an interview strategy for the jobs they are pursuing. Having the right interview strategy allows candidates to spend the time, effort and resources necessary to have better chances to fulfill interviewers’ expectations.
One aspect of these candidates’ interview strategy is based on investing real quality time to dig deep within them so they can acknowledge, recognize, understand and value all the qualities, competencies, talents, abilities, experience, training, education and skills that they bring to the table.
When candidates haven’t done their homework and are not well prepared for an interview they usually look for a quick answer to describe their qualifications and many times they end up mentioning only some basic personal attributes like the following ones:
“I am passionate about my work”.
“I am a married person with 2 children”
“ I am a dedicated hard working individual”
“I am a very responsible and honest person”
“I am ambitious and driven”.
“I am highly organized”.
“I’m a people-person”.
“I’m a natural leader”.
“I am results-oriented”.
“I am an excellent communicator”.
Even if those statements are true, they all have in common that they fall short in describing all the candidates’ qualifications compared to the most critical job requirements. As a result, many of them end up not fulfilling the expectations of the interviewers. The value added of one individual for a potential employer can’t be summarized into a couple of adjectives and/or attributes.
When a company has an open position that they would like to fill, they have expectations of what they are looking for. Therefore, when the interviewers asks candidates to describe themselves, their overall expectation is to receive an answer that somehow matches the most critical aspects of the knowledge, traits, skills, abilities, competencies and conduct the interviewer believes are required to succeed in the role. Some interviewers even expect to receive some quantifiable results in those answers that demonstrate how the candidate’s use their best attributes to drive success.
It is very well known that for many candidates, interviewing is one of those activities that they think they know too well, and as a result, many times, they don’t feel the need to put in any effort towards a systematic attempt at improving. It has been well documented that the lack of adequate preparation for an interview is one of the greatest faults found in the interviewing process.
Therefore, we believe that if the candidates develop a simple strategy and polish their interviewing technique it would likely yield them much better results. Candidates need to be prepared to face both structured and unstructured interviews. They need to be ready to be concrete and laser focused, if need be, especially considering that interviewing nowadays takes place in an atmosphere filled with a sense of urgency and the time allocated to the interviews is often very limited.
A key component of the interviewing strategy for the candidate is to be able to properly share all the information needed by the interviewers so they can assess if that candidate is the right fit for a role. For that purpose, we recommend the following 3 actions for candidates to improve their chances to address this answer in a way many companies expect them to do:
1.- Candidates need to dedicate quality time to understand who they are and what value added they bring to the table way in advance. Trying to discover that, AND share it during an interview is many times a big recipe for disappointment.
Candidates will need to invest time and resources to also realize that they are the result of the interaction of many internal and external factors as follows...
Internally:
a) They are the result of how they perceive their self-worth; how they perceive their identity and how they feel about themselves (self-esteem).
b) They need to acknowledge or at least be aware that they are the result of their physical, chemical, psychological, and biological influences. Their genetics, gender, body type, biochemical properties, health and their physical and mental conditions.
c) And last but not least, that they are the result of their preferences, their behavioral actions, attitudes toward life, cognitive competencies and feelings.
Externally:
d) They are the result of the impact of the environmental systems (school, workplace, society, culture, nature) and how they decide to incorporate this impact in their lives.
e)They are the result of the impact of people in their lives ( Parents, bosses, family, teachers, peers, pastors, coaches, neighbors, media personalities, history legends, etc.,) and the importance and power they give them in their lives.
f) They are the result of the impact of emotional anchors. How negative examples (Job loss, divorce, physical and verbal abuse, death of a dear one, moving, etc.,) and positive examples (Work within a great company, live within a happy family, become a hero, achieve an amazing goal, win the lottery, etc) affect them, and how they process and integrate them in their lives.
In summary, to be able to properly describe them, candidates need to acknowledge that they all are the result of how they live the impact of all those factors, how they process their interactions and also acknowledge the existence and importance of all those factors in their life.
If they understand these and other elements, they might be better prepared to know who they really are, their potential and communicate all of that in an interview in a summarized and digested way so they can relate the most critical aspects of their experience, technical knowledge, education, training and personal and emotional traits to be the best possible fit for the requirements, needs and expectations of a potential employer.
2.- Fully understand the job requirements of the position the candidates are applying for.
Candidates need to invest time to understand the job they are applying for its requirements. If they don’t know or understand the details of the experience, technical knowledge, competencies, education, training, knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics that are required for the job they are applying for, they are in a big disadvantage to get it. It is the candidates’ responsibility to learn as much as possible about the position they want before participating in any interview.
When candidates know what is required that gives them a better chance to find out where they can contribute and prepare to discuss why they would be the ideal person for the role.
3.- Familiarize with the company and all the information related to it before having an interview.
Candidates also need to learn as much as possible about the company they are applying for. When candidates take the time to do some research, not only they can get a better feel for what the company is looking for and how they will fit in, it will also help them stand out from the other candidates. Most decision makers, HR and Talent Acquisition executives and professionals prefer candidates who are familiar with their company and is more likely that they will be impressed those candidates that went the extra mile and did the research.
It is recommended that, before any interview, candidates at least know what a company does, their values, their market, their leaders and what is trending. Actually, many hiring managers almost always ask what candidates know about the company in order to assess their interest level and industry knowledge. If candidates don’t have a good answer to this question, it tells the hiring manager that candidates don’t really care much about the company and they might just be seeking any job.
When candidates know what the companies do, their values, markets, leaders and overall speaking what exciting things are happening with them, not only they can further impress the hiring managers, but candidates also will have much better information to decide whether or not that is the right company for them or not.
Nowadays, with all the information that is readily available on the internet and in social media, candidates have a great opportunity to learn and properly communicate in a summarized way, who they are, their potential as well as learn as much as possible about the jobs they are applying for, and as a result, they could have better chances to be the best match for a potential job and find the right career opportunity for them.
Medical Device Industry - VP, Director of Operations, Plant Manager
5 年Perfectly said
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5 年This is well thought out and expressed Mr. Espinosa. The advice given applies not only to individuals seeking employment, but also to sales and marketing professionals with goods and services approaching an organization. The more you know, the better the outcome, which is a win-win for all involved.
CFO-Controller-COO Creating Value through Strategy and Business Operations | LION | ONO
5 年Great article! I've already design a short sentence in order to synthesize my background and skills, also included in my profile.
Supply Chain Executive / Global Sourcing Leader
5 年Great article! For myself I like the REEP answer. In 2 -3 minutes cover 4 areas that tell specifics about yourself and your background as it relates to the position for which you are applying. R for current RESPONSIBILITIES. E for past EXPERIENCE. E for EDUCATION and professional certifications. And finally P for PERSONAL attributes which make you a great candidate.
Operations Manager at Fender Music
5 年Thanks Fernando, your article is right to the point. It’s so very important to research the company you look to work for not only for the interview but also to insure it is a good fit. In my present job search I am being very selective as my last choice was much different than I expected.