“Tell me about yourself” – A tricky question

One of the frequently asked questions in interviews is “Tell me about yourself”.

You can begin your conversation with this question. While it seems to be a very simple and common question, the answer gives you an idea about the candidate's personality. You can identify the communication skills, the attitude and other qualities of the candidate from the answer.

If the person starts talking about the personal life, hobbies and interest, the attitude towards job is not good. If the person narrates whatever is already in the resume, then there is a lack of communication. You need to have a second thought.

Well, the smart answer may contain three parts: (1) The candidate’s past experience (2) current position (3) future goal.

Example: “I have got 7 years experience in the Customer Support domain. I am currently working as Asst. Manager, Customer Support with . I always like to manage the support team, streamline the process and look for challenging opportunities to prove myself”

The above is not the ideal answer, but if the response is similar to this, the person is a potential candidate. Moreover, if the person ends with “anything else you want to know?” then you can consider the candidate to be sharp and continue the interview constructively.