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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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venki_2008

venki_2008

India

thanks a lot Mr Don the session was really interesting…

08:53 PM Jun 23 2009 |

JoseWlsn

JoseWlsn

India

Thank you Mr Don for your valuable lession. It’s more healpful for us. Thanks again…

06:58 PM Jun 23 2009 |

nono524

India

thank you so much for nice lesson and i would like to

get more lesson in this topic

09:04 AM Jun 22 2009 |

gsanderj

gsanderj

India

hi, i need more lession about interview, pls send lession to my email id:

06:30 PM Jun 20 2009 |

Asuntha Madushani Silva

Sri Lanka

really good lesson

10:43 AM Jun 12 2009 |

aaraar

aaraar

Qatar

really , it's a very nice lesson , and i learn a good advices from it .. 

 

thank you .. 

 

aaraar

05:16 PM Jun 11 2009 |

8866

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

thanks for good lesson

03:31 AM Jun 08 2009 |

miss_vanilla

United Arab Emirates

Thanks it is useful :)

07:50 PM Jun 07 2009 |

Daninha

Daninha

Mexico

...cool lesson…

I'm ready for a job interview now Cool

11:52 PM Jun 04 2009 |

Valeryc

Valeryc

Argentina

I couldn't watch the video!

06:18 PM Jun 01 2009 |

sharathkumarshetty

India

the video is not working to me as well

12:13 PM May 31 2009 |

angelteer

angelteer

China

i  think  itis  dfficult  to  answer  personal  question, at  that  time ,it is  a  bit  nervous  ,and  must  be  take  a chance  .

03:04 PM May 19 2009 |

Paulo Souza

Brazil

Thank you!

It's was great.

05:02 PM May 18 2009 |

vorziz

vorziz

Indonesia

thanks, :-)

02:02 PM May 16 2009 |

davanh

Lao People's Democratic Republic

It’s very good i want to be that person in the time of the interview

09:34 AM May 15 2009 |

samo2020

samo2020

Syrian Arab Republic

thanks for your interesting explain 

    

08:09 AM May 14 2009 |

Radiowagner

Brazil

It's very good, learn about job interviews, and to know what others managers in the other countries hold of each person in the time of the interview.

12:41 PM May 13 2009 |

Bebby

Bebby

Turkey

I was really happy Smile Thanks a lot… 

12:39 PM May 04 2009 |

mr_zaok

mr_zaok

Somalia

it is very good and very simply, and best regard

to answer the question is very important think you have to know how you answer the direct question and in direct questions, this question is very useful

i kee on your reply good

by Ahmed Zaok

09:38 AM Apr 29 2009 |

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