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Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here.

Let's be real: "Tell me about yourself" isn't even a question. It sparks instant anxiety for most. Where do I start? What's most important? How much of myself do I reveal? Also, who am I? Innovation Editor Christine Liu decided to tackle these questions head-on with the help of Joel Schwartzberg, author of, Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter. With a few practical steps — like matching who you are with the company's needs and mission — you'll have more answers than questions next time someone says, "Tell me about yourself."

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Transcript

CHRISTINE LIU: So there's one question that strikes fear in my heart, and probably yours. We've all gotten this question. It's the worst thing ever: Tell me about yourself.

You have my resume, you know what I've done, you know my experiences, but when you ask me to tell me about — yuck, when you ask me to tell you about myself. Tell me about yourself.

INTERVIEWER: So tell me about yourself.

CHRISTINE LIU: I'm kind of lost what exactly you're trying to find out. Well I love breakfast. It's awkward. And I have a cat. This is like this big open white canvas. And I'm pretty much a go-getter.

It's not even a question. It's like a demand. So here's what I look like unfiltered, unrehearsed. All I knew was that I was walking into a fake job interview, I was applying for a business or media position, and this is what happened.

So I live here in Boston, and I am super passionate about digital media and publishing and new technologies. And in terms of my own life, I am a novel seeker, or I always look for the new thing, I'm always up on current events and trends. And almost like I'm a commitment-phobe, but not in a bad way, because I really want to commit to your company. And I love nothing more than to work hard, but also go home and cook a really good meal, because food is a big part of my life.

Clearly, I could use some help. Luckily, an expert wrote about this very topic and question for hbr.org. Joel Schwartzberg is a professional presentation coach, so I decided, why don't I talk to him directly and see what he could do.

Ranked among the top 10 public speakers in the country, public speaking collegiate competitor — he's a champion. He's in a hall of fame. His book is called "Get to the Point."

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: I sometimes call it the world's hardest softball, because it seems so easy. You're basically given an empty plate and said, go. Tell me about yourself.

CHRISTINE LIU: You can go in —

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: 100 different directions. You could tell your life story, you could say what you had for breakfast that morning.

CHRISTINE LIU: Well I love breakfast. "So I live here in Boston — I go home and cook a really good meal because food is a big part of my life."

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: Well that was good, Christine. I really enjoyed that. Let me tell you about the choices that you made that I really liked. Sometimes interviews are personality tests, so they want to get a sense of what drives you, what motivates you. And you answered that question.

So while you had passion, and we got the true Christine, there were a lot of details. And when you give too many details and words and ideas and choices — I'm sort of like this, but not like that, and maybe a little bit of this — all those ideas compete with each other. So your interviewer has a lot of details, but doesn't know which one to focus on.

Try not to spend time talking about what you're not. So you said, I'm this, but I'm not really that, and I'm not really that. What you're not is useless information to the interviewer. They're only interested in who Christine is.

CHRISTINE LIU: If you were my personal coach, my speaking coach, and you're like, all right, Christine, you're going to get that job, is there any specific things you would tell me, like things I should say when I go into that next interview?

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: I would do an audit of your personality traits that match and your skills that match. Literally write them down on a piece of paper. If you're interested in a job, there will be connections.

CHRISTINE LIU: Friendly, generous, divergent, darkly funny, creative in capital letters, curious, competitive, and collaborative.

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: Do your homework. Make sure you know about not only the job description, but the company itself. One thing I really recommend is you do what I call effective practice. Practice that doesn't help is when you mumble your ideas. And we do this all the time. We say, all right, so, all right I'm going to…That is not helpful at all, because good practice is about training your mind and your mouth to work in concert.

And you don't need a mirror, you don't need a friend. You could do it in your closet or your bathroom. Just several times, try to practice getting those points out together in a very confident, clear, and simple way.

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CHRISTINE LIU: Confident, clear, and in a simple way. I can' — let's try it again. So one of my greatest traits is that I love making friends. I go into a room full of strangers, it's really easy for me to get along with different people from all over the organization. I like to think of myself as really friendly. Start over. So I think I worked pretty hard this week, and I hope you're proud, so —

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: I'm already proud of you, so don't worry about that part. Number two is, I guess that leaves one question. And that is Christine, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself.

CHRISTINE LIU: Certainly. So as you can see, I've been an editor for a while. And I love working in teams to tell a story very creatively and intelligently to our readers, but also, make it make sense for the business. And I work really well and collaborate with people from all over the organization. I think I'm a pretty friendly person, and it's really important that I establish trust with others. I know that one of your company core values is creative intelligence and productive teamwork. And for that reason, I think that I'd be great for this job.

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG: That's terrific, Christine. And I can tell yeah, you did your research. Now if I was the company that you are applying for, I would respond to some of these things. And I would even say, that's fantastic, because it's true. We do believe in the collaborative workspace, and teamwork is really important to us. So I'm so happy you said that, Christine.

You didn't fizzle out. Sometimes people get the crux of what they want to say, they get it out and then they keep talking and keep talking and keep talking, as if some ending would magically manifest itself in that exchange. And I think you recognize that.

CHRISTINE LIU: If I were asked this question again, yeah, It's not like the most natural thing to answer, but for sure it's a lot less scary than it used to be. Doing the outlining and the exercise and then just practicing, it got a lot easier. I stopped feeling self-conscious. And I was like, you know what I'm a damn good actor. I am friendly.

What Volunteer Work Have You Done Answer

Source: https://hbr.org/2021/04/christine-vs-work-how-to-answer-the-question-tell-me-about-yourself