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Job Interview: How to answer personal questions.

Job Interview: How to answer personal questions.

Date: Apr 17 2009

Topic: Listening

Author: nad1a

Lesson

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One question that you are always going to get at a job interview is "Tell me about yourself". That sounds like an easy thing to talk about. It is open ended and you may think that you can talk about anything you want.

Although this is often supposed to be an ice-breaker and put you at ease, it's still a job interview, not a casual conversation. There's nothing wrong about wanting to give a feel of who you are and what you are interested in but, after all, you are there to convince that person that you are the right candidate for this job. So the best thing you can do while introducing yourself is try to connect that information to the job you are interviewing for. Point out how your personality fits the job you're trying to land.

Watch this video of an expert's advice on how exactly to approach this type of questions that often sound personal but are supposed to be taken more profesionally.



Script:

"I'm Don Varney of Varney Speaks and on behalf of Expert Village. Today we're going to talk about the interview process. Let's take a moment and talk about some of the types of questions that you could be asked during the interview process. Sometimes the questions are misleading because we're taking them personally when they're really talking professionally. A good example would be if they were to say to you, tell me about yourself. You're sitting there saying, well I like to go hunting on the weekends. I like to go camping and take my family fishing, and I really enjoy that. Well, great answer, but that's not what they're asking. When they say tell me about yourself, they are asking you to tell them about yourself in this job environment. They want to hear I enjoy coming to work with people that I get around and I have a good time with. I like an atmosphere of friendliness. Your company being a company that specializes in public relations and customer service, well this is the environment that I like and it would work well for me to work well in your environment. That would be in line with what they're really asking when they say tell me about yourself. When they ask about strengths and weaknesses, again, they're not asking you for you to really tell them I'm very good at this and I'm weak at this, but in essence, they may be asking you about how that would apply to the work force, to the workplace where you are actually going to go to work. One of the simplest examples is you might say, I was told early on in my career that listening was a weakness. I didn't listen very well because I was always ready to answer whatever it was they were saying. The good news was they were right and I figured that out, so what I've done now is I've taken a weakness of not listening very well. I've taken classes on it, I've read books on it, I've done studies on it, and over the last few years what I've determined is I really wasn't a good listener, but now I really trained myself to understand the importance to listening to the person before I try to answer."

Interactive multiple choice and listening comprehension quiz.

Comments

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American Samoa

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01:05 PM Mar 28 2013 |

wendy9893

China

It is useful

01:52 PM Oct 17 2011 |

Bruce_zhou

China

first of all,very very thanks for your advisement,it’s really helpful for some fresh persons who just out of college and plan looking for a job,actually,whatever the new fresh man or the man who want to change his job ,also helpful,interview is a big topic,actually,whatever technical or soft skill and so on ,totally important when you as the interviewee,you need to prepare something before the interview,you know ,the prima facie is very important when you meet someone,even decide the interview successful or not.as for me ,recentlly i m looking for a new job and want to change my work environment,so i have to gather some materials for preparing,when you as the interviewee,you need presentation your project experiences,as far as i know ,all of the company hope recruit the person who have rich experiences and doing everything smart,keep in mind,you boss recruit you just hope you can resolve something,if you met any question just asking your boss ,it’s not good for you,you have to try your best to get resolved.

10:14 AM Oct 17 2011 |

wwongsapun

wwongsapun

Thailand

Thanks for suggest

09:58 AM Oct 16 2011 |

-Benny-

-Benny-

Thailand

nice topic lol…may be i’ll use these tips soon.

08:30 AM Oct 16 2011 |

nad1a

nad1a

Greece

How many of you have used the tips from this lesson in an actual job interview? That would be interesting to  know :)

01:33 PM Oct 15 2011 |

aeleck

Bhutan

that cool babe

04:49 PM Jul 03 2010 |

em_7305@163.com

China

good lesson

01:34 AM Jan 27 2010 |

malviyhemant@yahoo.com

India

good

10:32 AM Aug 20 2009 |

hamzehdamia

Jordan

I’ll just say I’m someone who Hate Israel so much and I’m willing to die to get rid of their crimes

10:06 AM Aug 18 2009 |

shekharkc

Nepal

first i understand then i give to answer each question smoothly

05:12 AM Aug 17 2009 |

king of lost love

Syrian Arab Republic

Awesome…

12:55 PM Aug 16 2009 |

R_A

R_A

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Thank you so much.

06:28 AM Aug 15 2009 |

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China

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03:17 AM Aug 15 2009 |

m.medhat

m.medhat

Egypt

that's very good

10:39 PM Aug 13 2009 |

nadiaaa

nadiaaa

Pakistan

good and very informative and useful topic

thnx. 

10:17 AM Aug 12 2009 |

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Saudi Arabia

 

thank u so much 4 this information..

04:30 AM Aug 12 2009 |

idalili

Hong Kong

very good. very informative.

06:48 AM Aug 11 2009 |

cottonbear

cottonbear

China

It's very useful for us! Thanks a lot!

05:25 AM Aug 11 2009 |

cristyfu

cristyfu

China

i learn a lot

01:24 PM Aug 10 2009 |

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