Tell me about yourself.
Why your answer to this question is probably not doing you any justice.
How is interviewing for a job anything like selling a product?
I’m about to tell you.
Imagine you’re in sales for a moment (and if you’re actually in sales, well, imagine it’s just another ol’ day). You have a lead that’s interested in your product or service and you’ve secured a call with them.
How do you start the conversation?
Raise your hand if you’d start by giving a history of your company and talking about the specifics of your features and/or services. 🙋♂️
If you raised your hand, I’m glad you’re here. If you didn’t raise your hand, there’s still something you can learn so keep on reading.
In product marketing, we have this concept called positioning. It’s essentially setting the context for how you want people (buyers) to think of your company and product.
If Louis Vuitton didn’t position itself as an exclusive, luxury brand, would anyone drop $1,500 on a purse?
First of all, $1,500 for a purse is insane but I digress. The answer to the question is no. No one in their right mind would spend that much if they didn’t have the context that the purse they’d be buying is from an exclusive, luxurious brand with high-quality products.
So where am I going with this? Stay with me…
During a job interview, one of the first questions that you get asked is, “tell me about yourself”.
How you answer this shapes how the interviewer thinks of you for the rest of the conversation.
Listing out your whole career history is not useful. They can already find that on your resume or LinkedIn.
Use this opportunity to summarize 3 key strengths and differentiators that will help set the scene for the rest of the interview. For example, maybe you’re a marketer that is a wiz with data. That’s one of your selling points. Make sure you let the interviewer know so when you drop an example later on in the conversation about how you analyzed marketing data to optimize campaigns, it all clicks.
It’s a chance for you to kick off the conversation by proclaiming what you’re all about. It’s your chance to explain why the product of [insert your name here] is worth it. Your examples and answers from that point on will serve as proof points.
So the next time someone asks you to tell them about yourself, jump on the opportunity to position how you want that person to think of you and the value you can bring to their company, team, life, etc.
Don’t waste that opportunity by listing off every company you worked at for the past 10 years. That’s what your resume is for.
Found this useful? First of all…awesome, I’m glad! Secondly, I’d appreciate your support by sharing this post 👇
Also, I’d love to hear from you. Catch me on Twitter @anandp29.
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