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  • - Most people realize that a good answer

  • to the tell me about yourself question

  • sets the tone for the rest of the interview.

  • What some people miss is that a great answer

  • will help you influence what the interviewer will ask next.

  • In this video, I skip all the common advice

  • you might find in other tutorials

  • and dive right into number one,

  • how to structure a strong answer

  • using the present, past and future answer format.

  • Number two, how to use the highlight method

  • to influence the interviewer.

  • And number three, leave you with an answer I'd give

  • if I were interviewing right now.

  • Although there is no one-size-fits all answer

  • to the tell me about yourself interview question,

  • there is a strong answer structure

  • that is universally applicable.

  • So while I do provide a sample answer at the end,

  • the main takeaway of this video

  • should be the methods I use

  • and how you can apply the same structure

  • for your own use cases.

  • Number one, using the present, past

  • and future answer structure.

  • Interviewers want to know in order of importance,

  • who you are right now,

  • how you got to be there, and what value you can bring

  • to the role you're interviewing for.

  • Present, past and future.

  • Starting with the present,

  • this is a snapshot of yourself

  • in your current professional capacity.

  • It should be kept within one minute

  • and include the following.

  • What you do in your current role,

  • the success metrics you are measured against,

  • and a recent achievement you are particularly proud of.

  • If you're working professional,

  • the present portion might look something like this.

  • I'm currently a management consulting with Ernst and Young

  • focus on Finance Shared Service Center projects.

  • My primary contributions to the team are number one,

  • organizing training workshops for our clients

  • adopting the new SAP system.

  • And number two, putting together pitch decks

  • through market research

  • for future business development opportunities.

  • A recent one I'd like to share is when I use data

  • from a free trial of eMarketer to put together a deck

  • on B2B marketing trends in China, which ended up helping

  • my senior manager close a $500,000 deal.

  • By stating your current role right off the bat,

  • you show the interviewer that first and foremost,

  • you are a professional.

  • This will also help you stay away

  • from going off topic into something too personal

  • and therefore irrelevant.

  • The town you grew up in, the musical you're a part of.

  • Then mentioning your own success metrics

  • shows that you are results oriented.

  • You know exactly what your goals are on the job.

  • It also shows you're confident in your capabilities,

  • because why else would you bring it up?

  • Finally, the impactful achievement that you briefly touch on

  • keeps the interviewer engaged with your story

  • and plants follow up questions in their minds.

  • Wow, which eMarketing report was this?

  • Why was the client sold on the B2B marketing trends?

  • And we'll talk about this concept of influence

  • a bit more later on.

  • Although the example I gave just now

  • was for working professional,

  • if you're a current student,

  • you can use the exact same structure.

  • Simply start off by saying what field of study you're in,

  • then dive immediately into recent class projects,

  • internships, and leadership experiences.

  • Don't worry about the impressiveness level of your story,

  • but rather the qualities you're conveying about yourself

  • as you tell it.

  • If you found this first tip helpful,

  • drop a like and comment down below

  • to help me with the YouTube algorithm as they say.

  • Now on to the past portion of your answer.

  • This is where you really get to show off

  • and highlight key strengths or takeaways

  • you want the interviewer to remember.

  • This part should be another minute maximum.

  • Coming up with stories that make you look good is easy.

  • Keeping them concise, relevant and under one minute is hard.

  • So here's what we wanna do.

  • First identify two to three attributes

  • you feel the role is looking for.

  • If it's sales, this would be communication,

  • stakeholder management.

  • If it's accounting, this might be attention to detail,

  • strong analytical skills.

  • Then scroll through your mental Rolodex of experiences,

  • projects, internships, to figure out which one's best suit

  • the attributes that they're looking for.

  • Finally, and this might be the hardest step,

  • select one key moment within each experience

  • to serve as the highlight of that experience.

  • If you're a student interviewing for a marketing position,

  • your past portion might look something like this.

  • As the events coordinator for our business fraternity,

  • I'm responsible for planning, executing

  • and tracking our weekly workshops.

  • Since this requires a lot of promotional marketing materials

  • such as fiscal flyers and email newsletters,

  • I took the initiative to try free online tools

  • such as Canva and MailChimp to better engage our members.

  • After other student bodies

  • noticed our new marketing materials,

  • they actually came asking for help.

  • And so I conducted a small group training

  • for 30 other event coordinators as a result.

  • The training received a satisfaction score of 98%.

  • Some of you might be thinking right now,

  • well, Jeff, her experience is related to marketing.

  • So that was an easy answer.

  • I'm applying to a role I don't have much experience in.

  • Okay, imagine the same candidate

  • were applying for an accounting position.

  • In that case, the same event coordinator

  • should focus on how she managed the budget

  • for the entire year

  • and how she kept track of her fraternity's expenses.

  • As you can see, the same experience can be

  • and should be applicable

  • for the different attributes you wanna highlight.

  • Finally, the future portion,

  • this is just a quick 30-second wrap up

  • where you reinforce the reasons

  • why you're such a good fit for the role.

  • The objective here is that the interviewer imagine

  • ever so slightly,

  • how it makes such good sense for you to be on their team.

  • Following the previous example,

  • let's just say that our event coordinator

  • is applying for the accounting position.

  • Her future portion might look something like this.

  • As someone who has been managing our fraternity's finances

  • for the past year,

  • I'm glad to have been able to apply the concepts

  • that I learned in my accounting classes

  • in real life situations.

  • This has further reinforced my interest

  • in pursuing accounting as a full time career.

  • My experiences combined by international background

  • make me a strong asset

  • to the Financial Advisory Services team at Ernst and Young.

  • By the way, I have a Facebook group

  • where I share weekly tips,

  • consider joining if you haven't already,

  • I'll link it down below.

  • Number two, the highlight method.

  • In a nutshell, the highlight method

  • is where you take a small part of a larger story

  • that you have already prepared for

  • and only include that part

  • in the tell me about yourself answer as a highlight.

  • This helps you keep your answer concise

  • while mentioning something impressive.

  • If done right, the highlight that you mentioned

  • should trigger the interviewer to ask follow up questions

  • that lead to your larger story.

  • If you've been paying attention up to this point,

  • you've probably already noticed

  • that we've been sprinkling in highlights

  • throughout the present past and future answer structure.

  • For example, in the present portion to US$ 500,000 deal

  • that you helped close is the highlight

  • and you should have the rest of the story prepared

  • using the star format.

  • All right, putting off that together.

  • Here's a sample answer I'd give

  • if I were interviewing right now.

  • So Jeff, could you tell me a bit by yourself?

  • Sure, I'm currently a product marketer

  • here at Google covering the Greater China region.

  • I mainly work on App campaigns,

  • a Google product aimed at app developers.

  • Specifically, I have two objectives, number one,

  • to reach as many new-to-Google app developers as possible.

  • And number two, increase product adoption

  • among our existing app advertisers.

  • My team and I achieve these goals

  • through a mix of online marketing campaigns,

  • offline events and content marketing.

  • For example, one of the tentpole events I helped launch

  • is called Start on Android China,

  • where we leverage resources

  • from our Play, Ads and AdMob teams

  • to deliver a comprehensive training bootcamp

  • for Greater China App Developers.

  • The goal is to address their pain points

  • at each stage of their app export journey.

  • A notable achievement was when we decided to pivot

  • from a three-day offline event format

  • to a three-week online one.

  • That actually resulted in a five times increase

  • in eligible signups before marketing,

  • I was a key account manager in the sales team

  • covering around 30 B2C Chinese exporters.

  • Since that's quite a few clients

  • for just one person to cover.

  • I actually created YouTube videos to better engage

  • my clients at scale.

  • Funny story, you can still actually find those videos

  • on YouTube right now.

  • This in addition to the support

  • for cross functional team members

  • helped me achieve revenue attainment

  • without missing targets for two years straight.

  • Before joining Google, I was a management consultant

  • with Ernst and Young for two years.

  • One year based out of New York City

  • and another out of Shanghai,

  • I worked on a variety of projects ranging

  • from supply chain management

  • to shared service centers.

  • Due to the nature of these projects,

  • I would often find myself

  • as the only consultant physically on site,

  • and therefore I was really able to develop my communication

  • and relationship management skills.

  • Having spent the past six years

  • in predominantly client-facing roles,

  • I believe the communication skills I've developed,

  • combined with my international background,

  • would make me a strong asset

  • to your global business development team.

  • (claps) And there you have it a step by step guide

  • on how to nail

  • the tell me about yourself interview question.

  • I sincerely believe this is the most

  • important interview question to get right.

  • Not only because it sets the tone

  • for the rest of the interview,

  • but also if you do get it right,

  • it gives you a huge confidence boost right at the beginning.

  • I hope this video helped.

  • Subscribe if you haven't already,

  • and comment down below if you have any questions.

  • See you on the next video and in the meantime, (clicks)

  • have a great one.

  • (soothing music)

- Most people realize that a good answer

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