what do i say to a potential employer if I'm asked This?

Question

tell me about yourself and what are your weakness.

Answer 1

This can be a potential trap, so there are SEVERAL things to keep in mind!


1) Keep your responses professional, and focus on those areas of your life that relate to your work life.

Examples:

I'm a person who enjoys working with others, and I love being able to work together with work a team of people to accomplish a task. (Make sure you're prepared to give an example of when you've worked with a team to accomplish a task.)

I'm a person who likes to to use my experience and creativity to solve challenging problems. (Make sure you're prepared to give an example of such a problem.)


2) Do NOT want to get into your personal life! You might end up providing the interviewer with reasons (either actual or perceived) to eliminate you from consideration that normally wouldn't come into play.

Example: "I'm very active in my church."
Possible result: Being eliminated from consideration due to interviewer's personal bias on religion.

Example: "My wife and I are planning on starting a family."
Possible result: Being eliminated from consideration due to interviewer's concern that you might not be willing to travel or to work overtime if needed.

Example: "I'm a die hard New York Yankee fan!"
Possible result: Being eliminated from consideration due to interviewer's life-long love for the Boston Red Sox.


3) When discussing weaknesses, do give honest answers but focus on areas in which you're showing improvement.

Example:

Don't say, "I have trouble managing my time and I often have trouble meeting deadlines."

Do say, "In the past, I've had a tendency to over allocate myself and let myself get spread too thin. To correct this, I've been working on my time management skills, and I've learned to focus on the most important things and delegate the others when appropriate."

Example:

Don't say, "I'm not very good at writing technical documentation."

Do say, "I haven't always been comfortable with my technical writing, but I've taken a business writing class and feel that my skills are improving."

Answer 2

The "tell me about yourself" question is pretty well known to be a BAD interview question. It's almost tacky and unprofessional these days. You'll never hear a skilled recruiter ask that question. Now there is a reason for my brief bashing:
If asked this question, you may want to assume that the interviewer isn't very good and thus plan on driving the interview yourself.

The weakness issue is a behavioral interview standard. Yes, honesty counts, but you should avoid any bombshells. For instance - if you can see that it is a very organized environment and you are prepared to improve your organizational skills for that position... you probably shouldn't bring up the fact that you can never find any clean socks in the morning.

Answer 3

In my experience, when employers ask this question, they are most likely looking for your career background, information about previous jobs, etc. As to the weaknesses, choose a weakness that can be interpreted as a good thing (i.e. - "My weakness is that I am a perfectionist.") and give examples of how that weakness would be good.

Answer 4

Just tell him/her a little about you. Where you were born and lived and stuff like that. Than think about your weaknesses and be honest about them. For instance if you don't like to stricked schedule hours say it, or that maybe you like to work alone instead of in a group, you know stuff like that. That might really help you in the long run when you get the job. The boss knows what to expect and might give you some slack with certain things.
In addition, I know that people don't like to talk about weaknesses so there is a big chance that you will be the only one acctually admiting to them, and that might give you the adventage needed to land the job
Good luck

Answer 5

It all depends on the job you are after I believe. Lets say for sake of conversation your after a Management position you would want to talk about your management experiences. I have found that they want to know who you are, here is my typical answer:

My name is Arnold...
I was born and raised in San Jose, Ca.
I attended San Jose State where i received my B.S in Bus. org. and Management.
For the past 5 years I have been the manager for 3 different companies and this is what i have done for them...

I'm sure you starting to get the point. Be specific about what you say and try not to jump off track because it can happen easily.

As for my weaknesses I say that its hard for me to turn down work/projects, that i take on too much, causing me to stress out/burn out. THey may not be bad but they sound good to an employer.

I hope this helps.

Answer 6

Sorry , but the guy earlier was wrong! I interview a lot and our HR department has guidelines for interviewing - they suggest this is a good approach:

Pick something that is a strength from their perspective, like
"I've been told I tend to be a bit too focused on the job - so I end up putting in longer hours and sometimes impacting my social life - but I do try to maintain a balanced work/life"

Answer 7

If this is just another interview and not of particular importance, it's worth taking a chance on this: tell him that when he has the time and energy to come up with his own questions instead of having to refer to "101 Questions to Ask on an Interview", you'll put some time and energy into a real answer.

It's a gamble, because you'll either insult the interviewer and kill your chances, or they'll recognize you as unique and not run-of-the-mill, someone worth checking into.

Answer 8

when you start to tell them about yourself do not start off by saying, "i've been in retail/communications/whatever for so many years and i just love it b/c ......" tell them things about you that you do outside of work. something interesting that will spark conversation. if you are interesting and easy to talk to its a plus. when you tell them your weaknesses tell them the truth (unless its something like "i like to steal things") but segway it into how it can be good for the company. if you are a procrastinator, turn it into "i work very well under pressure."

Answer 9

Be honest about the weaknesses. Employers HATE HATE HATE to hear a strength-disguised-as-a-weakness, ie, "I tend to work too many hours."

Re-phrase it, if you want, about something you'd like to improve. "I really want to work on my organizational skills. I've not yet found a system that really works effectively for me, and while I enjoyed Stephen Covey's '7 Habits' I'm not sure how to integrate them into my work life."

Answer 10

the aptitude company can ask something they pick to. the former company can tell them something this is real. it fairly is a effortless city legend, no longer real, that they might in ordinary terms be sure identify, dates of employment and no count in case you're eligible for rehire.