What NOT to say when you are asked 'tell me about yourself' during a job interview

Chances are that everyone has been asked the opening question, "Tell me about yourself" during your job interview. Or else you have certainly been asked, "What are your weaknesses?" Then continue reading this.

Mark Murphy is a New York Times bestselling author, a Senior Contributor at Forbes, and the Founder of Leadership IQ an award-winning leadership training firm.

Never Say These Words In a Job Interview is a book I found to be a quick easy read. He takes the common questions that interviewers ask, explains the intent behind the question and explains how to answer it. He shares the bad answers before sharing responses that will be effective. The tips are simple and easy to use.

"Tell me about yourself"

This question is meant to put you at ease and establish rapport. Use this opportunity to share in say 3-4 sentences:

1. What have you done in the past
2. What are you doing now
3. What do you plan to do in future.

"Where I’ve Been gives you a chance to reflect on your past roles, accomplishments, and the great things you’ve learned. Where I Am prompts you to describe your current position, its scope, and what you bring to it. Where I’m Going is where you share your aspirations, why you’re interested in the prospective role, and how it aligns with your career trajectory."

Read more <click this>

What are your weaknesses?

The answer to this question must show

(a) Self awareness

(b) How are you using what you learnt from that experience

The S-H-E-R Method

SHER is an acronym that stands for Situation, Hurdle, Endgame & Reflection. 'Sher' in Hindi means Tiger (remember Sher Khan from Jungle Book?)

You may have heard of the STAR method - Situation-Task-Action-Result that was once a very popular way to answer an interview question.

What was the Situation?

What was the Task to be accomplished

What Action did you take

What was the Result?

Why I found the S-H-E-R method better

It uses the 3 act structure of a story. Setup-Conflict-Resolution to frame the response. Adding the fourth step of Reflection shows that you are learning from each opportunity.

Watch the author describe the SHER method

Other helpful segments

I found some of these chapters to be very useful too.

• How do you deal with tough feedback
• How do you handle conflicting priorities
• How do you make tough decisions
• How do you make choices that enable you to grow

How to deal with a toxic boss

One question I wish the book addressed - "Tell me about a time when you dealt with a toxic/ difficult boss." In this video, Professor Bob Sutton, the author of the No Asshole Rule tells you three strategies to deal with a toxic boss.

The book has a segment on how to prepare for interviews and how to spot a bad boss. These was a segment on how to spot signs of a toxic culture based on the interviewer's response to questions around how the organization defines a good employee. Knowing what good looks like is a key to anticipating your culture fit. This segment was the only portion that I did not quite resonate with. The fit with the role and the culture greatly depends on the personality of the candidate.

One person may find vague job descriptions to be energising because it allows employees to explore the edges. The same ambiguity may be described as stressful by someone else. Right? One person's ambiguity is another person's energiser.

While I did not care much for this segment, the rest of the book was awesome. And I certainly learnt and reflected about the terrible responses I have given when I have been interviewed for a job.

Should you read it even if you are not going for a job interview?

Yes. The biggest take away in the book is about the importance of deep listening. We need to focus on the interviewer's choice of words to be able to frame precise responses.

When the interviewer asks, "Tell me about a time when you dealt with failure", talk about your own example. Not what others have done or what you recommend they do. A crisp response definitely puts you at an advantage.

Being able to listen to the key words can help you answer the question accurately. Share recent examples that answer the question the interviewer has asked. Recent examples are better than the ones that have happened years back. This is a quick read and there were so many places where I caught myself saying, "I should have read this book before I went for my job interviews."

Have you read this book? What is an interview question you would like to get an answer to? Leave it in your comments below.

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