How to Introduce Yourself in English | Tell Me Something About Yourself? - Interview Tips

Intro If there's one thing scarier than skydiving, then that's being asked to tell me something about yourself by a group of strangers in a formal setting. So today I'm going to give you a 10 step process to help you answer this trick question which appears in every job interview. So hey, this is Chetna and you're watching chit chat. So please press that subscribe button and the bell icon right next to it and give us a thumbs up if you like our work. Also, if you'd like to join our vibrant student communities on WhatsApp, then here's the number on the screen in this video. I'm going to give you one a simple 10 step process to help you introduce yourself in any job interview. In fact, you can use this in any selection interview. 2nd, I'm going to give you some rules that go along with each step. And 3rd, I'm going to talk about some common mistakes and how you can correct them. I'm also going to give you some stock phrases that you can use in your introduction if English is not your first language. And at the end of this video, I'm going to give you a complete introduction that you can use with your own customization. Tell me about yourself. What is the trick question? This question comes in a number of different forms. For example, walk me through your background or take us through your resume. But whatever it is, this is a trick question because the interviewers asking us to tell them about ourselves. And in fact, they know everything about us by seeing that resume. So exactly what are they asking us to tell them? They're asking us for two things. One, they want to know our attitude towards work. What kind of a person am I? 2? They want to know whether I'm a good fit for the job and what I can contribute to the company. So we need to catch their attention and keep them interested. Chances are they've had a full day looking at hundreds of applicants that look exactly like you. Here's your opportunity to prove to them that you are best suited for the job. And now on to that 10 step process. The first set of steps that you need to take are about who are you? Step number one is called greetings. Now formal greetings are highly recommended, like good morning before 12 noon, good afternoon after 12 noon, and good evening anytime after 4:30 or five in the evening all the way till midnight. Rules. Smile, be confident and make good eye contact. And common mistakes are like saying hey, hi, what's up and also tumbling between the good morning and the good afternoon. Step #2 Thank you for the opportunity. This is an optional step and depending upon the situation, you could either say thank you for shortlisting me for the final interview or thank you for this opportunity to talk about myself. Now, this will not only create a good first impression, but it'll also help both you and the interviewer relax a bit. Step #3 is your name now I am Chetna Vasisht, I am Chetna Vasisht or you can also say my name is or my names. The rule is to smile, to be proud of your name and to enunciate it clearly. And some common mistakes here are a saying myself, Chetna Vasisht or calling yourself Mr. or Miss. Now the question you have right now is should I use my full name? And the answer is yes, always please use your full name because simply using your first name may sound a little casual. Category 2 type of questions are about why you're qualified step #4 position and company. Step 4: Position and Company If you have work experience, then this is the time to tell them about the position you've held, the name of the company, the number of years, any awards that you won and what you've had on the company, what difference you've made to them. For example, for the last five years I have been the sales manager at dot dot dot leading a small sales team and our team was awarded the best sales team of the year. For two years in a row. I have worked closely with clients and built some key relationships. Example, I am an hour manager at Blah blah Blah looking after the key functions of recruitment, compensation, learning and development. I have over five years of experience in the field and we have been able to increase our employee productivity by 8% during this period. Now the rules for this Step 1. Sound enthusiastic about your work. Two, don't sound very pompous like I am a leader. I've done everything. Try to make it sound like you're a good team player rule #3 tell them something over and above what they can already read in your resume. And the fourth rule is if you make a claim, try to give some proof to make it credible and believable. The question you want to ask me right now is, should I start with my most recent position and go backwards, or should I start with my earliest work experience and forward? And the answer to that is always start with your most recent position and talk about it and go backwards only if it's highly relevant or very important. Otherwise, your resume covers all of that. Step #5 is qualifications. If you're a fresher, you're not going to be able to answer step #4 and you're going to jump right into step #5. So let's see some examples. I'm a recent MBA from Dash Dash Dash with Prior work experience in the pharmaceutical sector. Or I have completed a Bachelor's in Mass Media degree with a specialization in public relations and corporate communications. Or I am currently pursuing A5 year integrated law program at Dash school with a focus on cyber law. If your college is prominent and well known, mention it. Otherwise let it pass. Common mistake. I am a BMW from NMS. So if you're a fresher then just one line like I am a software engineer from so and so school doesn't seem enough. So this is your chance to add achievement oriented mini stories. For example, I was part of the research project on how modern technologies change the way of teaching in the future where we worked with an Ed tech company to evaluate the efficacy of some tech based teaching interventions. Make sure you talk about a project in an area that's relevant to the employer. And if the area is not directly relevant, how about you talk about some skills that could be relevant? For example, you've recently done a project called The Impact of Gaming Consoles on the Youths, and you're just about to appear for an interview with a food marketing company. So how about you say this to them? This project helped us understand the motivations of today's youths and how to attract their attention with our products and services. You can also talk about any training program, courses, or other experiences that you might have had during your graduation. Question Should I mention my CGPA when I'm just a fresher? Well normally I would avoid it because it's already there on your resume. But if you want to highlight your academic achievements, how about saying something like I've consistently been in the top 1% or 5% of my class. Step number six additional qualifications. This may include any outside courses that you did, skills that you gained, or awards that you won. For example, I have completed a six month computer animation course from dot dot. I'm proficient in German and Spanish. I have learnt.net, Java and Python on Coursera which has helped me in completing a project on so on and so forth. Step #7 is called adjectives. Step 7: Adjectives Now use some adjectives to describe yourself to the interviewer. For example, you could be versatile, easygoing, solution oriented, determined team player, or just someone who enjoys working with others. Now if at this point you're worrying about English and you're saying, hey, English is not my first language and how am I going to be able to say all of this, then I'm going to introduce you to this app called Cambly that I use a lot where you can connect with English tutors from around the world and they are native speakers and you can brush up your conversational English. So let's quickly call one of them up and find out what they have to say about. Tell me something about yourself. Speaker 2 Well, I think it is very good to be authentic. Do you know what authentic is? Yes. So it means to be very real and be yourself. You should definitely use a complicated vocabulary and complicated grammatical structures, as long as it doesn't interfere with who you are and how you present yourself. Speaker 1 And the good news is that Cambly has offered Chat Chat users an exclusive 32% discount on their three month plan when you use the code Chat Chat 32. So the code is right here and I'm going to give you a link in the description box as well if you go on to check out this discounted offer on Cambly step #8 is called Hobbies and Passion. Step 8: Hobbies and Passion This is optional but you want to include this if this helps you build a connect with the interviewer if you think they are significant or it helps you establish some skills that you want to demonstrate to them. For example, I am a trained singer and the daily reals has taught me self-discipline and dedication. Or I am a keen runner and this not only helps me keep fit but also helps me network with other runners in the community. I recommend that you keep this section very, very brief. Step #9 is family. Step 9: Family Now this is optional. I would typically leave it out of a standard introduction, but you can choose to use it strategically if you wish. For example, my mother has been a housewife and during my vacations I helped her set up a small tailoring boutique at home with my savings from work. Or my father is a farmer and I helped set up a process where he could directly sell his produce at the farmers market and bypass the middleman. Alternatively, you can use this technique to answer this question on family when the interviewer poses this question to you later on during the interview. And category 3 type of questions is why you're here. Step #10 is called closing. Step 10: Closing This is the point where you tell the interviewer two things. One why are you here, why are you applying for this job and two why are you a right fit for this job. You can also use your future plans and connect them to the companies goals. For example, although I love my current role, I feel I'm now ready for a more challenging assignment and this position really excites me. This is a very general statement and you can make it more specific and suited to the company, or you can show off your research that you've done about the company and add a little bit of flattery to it as well. At this point, for example, with my passion for sport and my skills of data analytics, I wish to work for a leading innovative sports analytics company like yours. And I do believe I can make a positive impact. And you can end your introduction by saying that's all from me. Thank you. Some rules to follow for step #10A read the job description so you get some words from there that you can cleverly fit into this answer. And 2nd sound enthusiastic about the position. And now some final tips. Tip #1 write down your personal introduction and make sure you've included your top selling points for that position. This will vary from company to company, so make sure you change that and customize that every time you walk into an interview. Tip #2 Jot down and learn only key points. Don't memorize the entire introduction or you're going to sound like a robot. Let a little bit of spontaneity come in and don't worry too much about the grammatical errors that you think you might make. The third tip is very important. Limit your entire introduction to about a minute. 2 minutes is is long I would think one minute tops. Rule #4 Maintain good eye contact and look confident while giving all these answers. If there are more than one people sitting in the room and only one person has asked you the question, don't answer the entire question looking at justice that one person. Look at everyone around the room. Smile, relax, breathe and remain confident. Use a storytelling mode to tell about your accomplishments. You can use hand gestures if you wish. Don't go over the top, but you can use some hand gestures also sound excited, happy about everything that you've done in the past and everything that you're going to do in the future. And now let's put it all together. And this is your sample introduction on Tell Me SOMETHING About Yourself. Good afternoon. Thank you for shortlisting me for the interview. My name is Sonia Madok. I'm the Sales Team Leader at PQR for the past five years, making significant inroads into new territories with our products. I have worked intensively in both the rural and semi urban markets, understood the dynamic and built some strong distributor relationships. I am an MBA from XYZ with a strong background in marketing. During work breaks, I enjoy trekking and mountaineering. This activity has shown me that good strategy, consistency and determination can help you overcome any obstacle. I'm a person who thrives in a fast-paced environment and right now I'm looking for an opportunity to apply my marketing expertise along with my creative problem solving skills to an innovative marketing company like yours. I'm sure your introduction to the question, tell me about yourself will be even more powerful than what I've been able to show you. And I hope I've been of help. And thank you so much for watching right till the end. Wish you all the best for that interview coming up and press the subscribe button and the bell icon right next to it and give us a thumbs up because that tells us that you like our work and happy watching.