“Tell Me Something About Yourself”

Introduction:

??????????Many of us have heard these words as the opening line for most of our job interviews. While some of us ace this question quite easily, many of us fumble with the jumble of a gush of thoughts. This fumbling results in a mumbo-jumbo of randomly chosen words, uttered in haste, partly out of anxiety, and partly out of excitement. We are well-aware of what needs to be said, as we are merely bound to introduce ourselves in response to this question. Still, we end up fumbling and uttering words that were not intended to be said at all. At the least, we struggle to find the right set of words that help in structuring and putting across a well-crafted opening as our introduction for the interview discussion. Yes, it is important to remember that every interview is a discussion – a dialog, not a monologue. This calls for a granular look at how significant it would be to begin with a confident self-introduction, besides having taken care of technical aspects and non-verbal cues.

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Need for a Good Opening:

??????????? We all watch a film trailer and make perceptions about how good, interesting or rather boring or uninteresting that film could be. Similarly, we rely on book reviews from reliable and trustworthy sources on newly launched books that interest us. On the similar lines, an interviewer makes his/her first impressions (positive, or otherwise) by observing the nonverbal cues – like the appearance, body language, micro expressions, and so on. However, the interviewee gets the first chance to present herself / himself when asked to introduce themselves. Therefore, a good, positive and confident opening becomes imperative.

A good, constructive opening would most likely ensure to eliminate any incorrect vibes picked by the interviewer owing to their inherently held biases, prejudices or preconceptions about the interviewee, based on their initial observations. Moreover, a good opening is the first real opportunity for the interviewee to present their professional and intellectual abilities or experience in their own words, which could even determine the outcome of the interview. Overall, the need for a good opening could be summarised as per the below:

1.????? To Start on a Professional Note: A good introduction would help in setting up a professional context to the interview, particularly when the participants are already acquainted well before, even though professionally, like in the case of an Internal Job Posting interview, intended for a promotion or a lateral movement within the same organisation

2.???? Demonstrate Proficiency in Communication: Effective and balanced communication skills are essential traits that many interviewers look for, in contemporary professional world. This is to ensure that the incumbent is able to communicate with ease, and eliminate barriers in communications, mainly when dealing with cross-cultural teams or while interacting with the teams placed in overseas locations

3.???? To Avoid Fumbling and Make a Confident Start: It is quintessential to make a confident start to the interview discussion, to ensure that the same or a higher level of confidence is carried on until the end of the interview discussion. On the contrary, if the interviewee exhibits lack of confidence, owing to this fumbling, there is a possibility that he/she might not overcome that shaky start for the rest of the interview, as there is an element of distraction that sets in due to a not-so confident start

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Furthermore, a good, confident introduction at the start of an interview discussion enables a more focused discussion that gives a balanced perspective sharing between the interviewer and the interviewee.

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Introducing the 5-3-2 Model of Self-introduction:

??????????? One may have tried and experimented many ways to introduce oneself at a job interview. However, there are a few dilemmatic questions that always haunt us while structuring our introduction. What facts to include?? What should be the level of details? How to present? How to structure? Where to end? There could be umpty number of questions on similar lines!

??????????? To address this tricky conundrum of having a good, confident and a well-structured self-introduction, I propose the 5-3-2 Model of Self Introduction. This model could be elucidated as per the below:

1.????? Include Five Points Relating to Professional Experience: In a brief, yet, summarised manner, illustrate five diverse aspects relating to professional experiences of past jobs or responsibilities handled. These could include – Projects managed, teams handled, business situations tackled, Key Performance Indicators achieved, Sales target exceeded, cost savings made, automations or ideas implemented, companies worked with, designations held previously, overall contributions made, and so on. Identifying any five strengths that could be presented within the first 2-3 minutes, with the choice of words that best explain the candidate’s overall professional experience, is the key to make a confident and a flawless start. End this point with a question to the interviewer, seeking for more details needed on any of these points

2.???? Include Three Points Related to Education: The candidate being interviewed could include up to three points related to education lasting for about 1-2 minutes. These could include the qualifications held, the place or institutions where the qualifications were pursued from, important achievements in completion of projects or research papers published including topics of dissertations, and so on. Next, any educational courses that are being pursued or enrolled for, could also be mentioned. Specifically, if an ongoing professional education that could have impact on professional deliverables, should be promptly mentioned to avoid any ‘surprises’ for the prospective employers. Lastly, any educational courses planned to be pursued within the next one to two years’ time could also be disclosed. In this section, a more candid disclosure of educational achievements and plans and their relevance with the job description and requirements would help save a lot of grief to both – the prospective employee and the prospective employer

3.???? Any Two Points on Personal Details: In this segment the interviewee could provide a sneak-peek into their interests, hobbies, food habits, lifestyle, vacation preferences or an incident at a family outing bringing out a brief insight into the interviewer’s family and personal life. This segment could also last for about 1-2 minutes. It is important not to go overboard and also to use their best judgment depending up on their level of comfort in sharing facts about their personal life

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After mentioning personal details, lasting for about 5-7 minutes overall, it is important to once again invite the interviewer(s) to ask if they have any questions or if they need any specific information on any of the three aspects – Professional Experience, Education, and Personal life. One would note that this model is more relevant to the working professionals who have a certain degree of professional experience. However, the newbies entering the industry too could make use of this model by including education and personal life as the prominent points and providing insights into their aspirations relating to a specific kind of profession or employment they intend to pursue, or the choice of industry, company or nature of work that they aspire to perform.

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Conclusion:

??????????? After ensuring a cheerful, confident and convincing start to an interview discussion, it is important to put an equally cheerful and positive closure too. To ensure that the interview ends on a positive note, the candidate being interviewed could offer to acquire skillsets that are found to be missing or seek for feedback, although without being persistent. Sometimes, the interviewers would be occupied with back-to-back appointments leading to abrupt closure. Yet, a positive, confident start at the beginning of the discussion, reflected in one’s self-introduction, is perhaps one of the best ways to excel at job interviews, one that helps steer the direction of the interview in the stride of a job aspirant.

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Raman R Patil