That way, your employer can see how right you are for this job, but just as importantly how right the job is for you. Don’t go overboard with fragrances. Talk instead about your personality, what you like to do, or something actually interesting about yourself. I have personally found a little research to be helpful when meeting someone in an academic or professional context. Sometimes you will find common interests, acquaintances, or other connections you can mention in the interview. Just be honest and tell the story. They are designed to be enjoyable and successful. Many graduate schools require an interview as part of the application process. Similarly, don't fire off a bunch of impressive sounding test scores/GPA/class rank stats. Look at the people and work out what they want to hear. Why should I go through the effort, time, and anxiety of an interview? One question. Aside from bringing the right things, coming prepared to your interview really boils down to knowing two things: yourself and the college you’re applying to. You can offer if you want, but they will probably refuse. Visit some of their affiliated pages on social media. After all, who knows you better than…You? Be confident and be relaxed. they are not trying to make it hard for you and everyone who does interviews knows how hard it is. Everybody should be comfortable talking about themselves, and I don't want you stressing out so early in the interview. In fact, it’s usually the first one. What are the best ways to answer the question: Tell me about yourself? There are so many from Penn because they have a lot of information posted and their instructions to interviewers are detailed and publicly available. I always mention how balance is a good thing. Any response to a question about your weaknesses or struggles should be focused on your growth, what you learned, and how you improved as a result of it. But being friendly, open and charming will do wonders for you. One question. For instance you might not want to say "In my free time my friends and I go out bar hoping” that could be a red flag that you are going to call in sick on me when you over do it some night. Most alumni interviews are informal and more personal in nature. And you probably shouldn't take a huff of your all purpose glue stick either. 4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself” 1) Keep It Professional and Brief. In general, the more casual it is, the less preparation and such are necessary. This is not an interview designed to see how well you solve problems or to invoke a display of your academic and intellectual prowess. (I work at a coffee shop where I have an employee discount, and this will be where the interview is taking place). I signed up for an alumni interview about 3 weeks ago but no one has contacted me yet. At the end, tell us which one you'd most like to hire. At the end, tell us which one you'd most like to hire. Don't wear jeans and a t-shirt or a business suit. You can’t sell yourself effectively without first understanding your audience and making your job interview answers about what they need. This can go a long way in getting them to like you and think that you're a good fit for the college. Some job interview questions go far beyond the expected, "Why do you want to work here?" Being sincere and engaged is more important than being smooth or impressive. Real interviews also put a sort of pressure on you to unconsciously try to perform well that mock interviews do not. To make matters worse, every job opening today gets an average of 250 applications, and out of that group, only 4–6 people get in front of an interviewer. You want to communicate that you think it's great, but you also want to show why you are a good fit for the school. One student I know led off with "I'm a professional and volunteer magician. It's because every time you hear a new voice, your attention level jumps and you're more likely to listen to it. At the same time, the interview is an opportunity to show more of yourself, to corroborate the outstanding image presented in your application, do add more data points to the process, and to actually meet you face to face. But don't just talk about how great the school is. Peruse the college’s website. It’s a teeth-chattering interview question. Tell me about yourself. I'm not saying it never happens, but I would be surprised if they accept. Yet, job seekers will go into an interview without knowing anything about the company, the person they’re speaking with, and even the industry. At a minimum you should go through lists like these and think through what your answers will be. Use the lists of questions below or look up more online and have a friend or family member pretend to interview you. Don't give basic info about where you're from, what you do in school, or anything too directly related to your application. They may ask if you want anything to drink or eat. Talk instead about your personality, what you like to do, or something actually interesting about yourself. Get a good night sleep and give yourself extra time to get to the interview. Talk about how even though that's what first caught your eye, you were encouraged and affirmed by the additional research you've done. There was this study done once where some guy acted like a potential employer interviewing applicants and was asked to do only this: ask each applicant to tell you about themselves, that's all. Your answer should make the interviewer interested in going deeper, so don't respond like it's a boring documentary. Tarahific 111 replies 42 threads Junior Member. After all of this you'll have a solid knowledge base to ask informed questions and show that you're really interested. How you respond to the “Tell me about yourself” question can set the tone for the rest of the interview. Why do colleges say that it won't hurt you to no take the interview, when it seems like it does though? Not to worry. Instead, try to connect. Same thing with these kinds of interview questions. (2) Similarly, I don't care about thank you notes. A few will be stellar and put the applicant on the fast track to admission. You could fairly assume that this will be a mix of positives and negatives. If you don’t feel like you have anything really punchy and bold, you can be more personal with your response by talking about how passionate you are for something or why it's so important to you. Review this before the interview so you're prepared to talk about it if asked. 1. I would reach out now just to ask. Your interviewer does … Don't give basic info about where you're from, what you do in school, or anything too directly related to your application. Pause to let them get the interview started. I'd recommend trying to tell them a story about yourself, as if on a journey. This report will be added to your admissions file and will be reviewed by your admissions officer or committee. Typically within 15 minutes of the end of the interview I know what my writeup is going to look like, so any thank you note will be too late to affect my evaluation. woo, this is a real hack I can use. Basically, give me a quick rehash of your resume, expound on a couple key points that you think I should be keying in on, and (this is most important) be enthusiastic. “So, tell me a little about yourself.” This common interview prompt inspires dread for many internship and first-time job seekers. Don't put other people down – stay positive and focused on what makes you great. However the college does it, be courteous and timely in responding - the pre-interview communication should be treated as part of the interview itself because first impressions are very important. The biggest question they seek to answer is "Will this student be a good fit at our school?" When they do, don't press the issue. These, too, are negatives. Show, don’t tell. In your response, do the following: 1. If the thing that first brought the school to your attention is shallow (e.g. Keep the answer to under 60 seconds and focus on how your skills and personality traits are … r/AskReddit is the place to ask and answer thought-provoking questions. Handwritten notes are ok too, but no matter what your grandma says emails are sufficient. There's not a lot to this question and it's often used as build up to other questions or to get the conversation flowing. The key to answering it well is to be concise but informative. this is a blessing, How bad is it to buy the interviewer a cup of coffee? When I was applying to colleges, I scheduled interviews for safety schools before interviews for matches/reaches, so that by the time I got to the matches/reaches I would perform better. They were scripted how to answer the "tell me about yourself" question. You make excellent points and a lot of that rolls up into the fact that interviews are handled differently at different schools. Start strong by looking them in the eye and giving them a firm handshake. If you find yourself jittery, simply acknowledge it and move forward. You can’t change the amount of experience you have or which TEFL course you took (although you can make them stand out with a first-class CV), but you can control the light in which this experience is seen by an interviewer. I researched commonly asked interview questions, and this question is tripping me up. Practice maintaining eye contact, avoiding nervous tics, smiling frequently, and controlling non-verbal communication. Make sure you have contact info to send a follow up thank you email later that day or the next day. If you do submit a thank you note, I will feel free to quote from it in my report, so make sure what you say is on point. Stanford). A lot of students, I would say to them, it could be very easy if I said do you, you know, tell me a little bit … Remember that interviewers go through training and have probably conducted many interviews so they're probably pretty good at guiding the conversation naturally. I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. It can be simple and attainable, just make sure you are able to show how it will be meaningful to you and that you've put some thought into it. Do a virtual campus tour or make your own on Google Earth. The hero we need, don’t deserve. If they say personally, I have a chance to show off who I am and why I'd suit their culture and if they ask professionally, I know that they're wanting to remain strictly business focused. It can be very helpful to do your own "mock interview" before the real thing. The most frequently asked “about you” interview questions include: 1. Studies have been done on this. . Penn recommends wearing the sort of clothes you might wear to give a presentation at school while Stanford suggests you just wear what you normally wear to school. They ask questions like this because they have no idea of how to gauge just who you are. Usually toward the end of the interview, they will ask if you have any questions for them. If you're a quality applicant (which most are), all of that will help you. His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan, Penn State, Northeastern and others. People pay strongest attention when first listening to a voice. “Tell me about yourself,” is one of the most frequently asked questions in an interview. Talk about your interests, but don’t just regurgitate the EC section of your application because the interviewer probably has that in front of them. Some students have even been asked about a single word choice from one of their essays. Ask yourself, if I am an employer what would I not want to hear a potential employee say. That’s a mistake. Your answer should include some things that couldn't be said by just anyone. But like letters of recommendation, the vast majority will simply say that the student had a nice personality, seemed very accomplished and bright, and would be a pretty good fit for the school. Choke, and someone else gets that fat job, 401k and flexible hours. Anticipate this question. I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Have you ever heard of an Elevator Speech? If your clothing or eye contact suggests problems in dealing with others, I may note it but certain colleges may like uniqueness. After all, if there's one subject you truly know something about, it's yourself. - If you want to apply to selective and highly selective schools, you need to learn how to talk about yourself. Start by talking about what makes you distinctive. It's probably not a good idea to talk about anything illegal, unethical, or immoral. Most alumni interviewers will have a short prepared speech about their background and experience at the school. Ideally you want to have both a reason for it and something from your resume that shows sincere interest. Also, your primary answer should be more than the school's rankings, prestige, selectiveness, or employment prospects after graduation. So you’re telling me I shouldn’t whip out my JUUL even if the alumni looks like an absolute fiend? Check the college's interview site to see if they have a preference. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: [r/u_reallysickdud] Guide to Confident Alumni Interviews, If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. Alumni know what the college's culture and student body are like and they are generally well-equipped to make these assessments. Your hobby, something you enjoy to do, anything interesting you done lately. 7. By Jeff Gillis. At CollegeVine, we’re passionate about making college guidance accessible to all. It's ok to mention unimpressive things like Fortnite or fantasy football, but don't dwell on those. Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Prepare a “preview” of your accomplishments, achievements, interests and strengths, your “talking points”, the foundation for your campaign to get the offer. (3) For the most part the interview can only help you -- give me the info to describe you and your interests and I'll try to weave that info into a descriptive narrative. People on Reddit shared the toughest questions they've ever had to answer in an interview, from "Can you tell me a joke?" It’s usually the first thing you’ll be asked when you sit down. Whenever I ask this question I do it as a little bit of a warm up question, and also as a way to get you to relax. That's a skill, and especially doing it in a verbal way. And it should be one of the easiest questions to answer — because you can anticipate and prepare for it — but, just as commonly, it’s one of the most anxiety-provoking and confusing questions. Arrive with plenty of time to spare (10 minutes or more) because nothing says that you're selfish and apathetic like being late. Although the “tell me about yourself” prompt may seem vague, there are specific things the interviewer wants to learn about you as a candidate, while other aspects of your life may be irrelevant and even inappropriate to mention. It’s such a simple phrase, but you have no idea what the interviewer wants to hear. This is the most common lead off question. https://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/gid2/16/interior.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&pgid=1147&sitebuilder=1&contentbuilder=1, https://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/gid2/16/interior.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&pgid=8156&sitebuilder=1&contentbuilder=1, https://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/gid2/16/interior.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&pgid=8155, https://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/gid2/16/interior.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&sitebuilder=1&pgid=13274#panel5, https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/freshman/interviews.html, https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-harvard-interviewer-shares-the-questions-she-typically-asked-in-the-interview-2016-10. Fact that interviews are informal and more personal in nature tell me about yourself'' college interview reddit on the non-academic side ask them,.! Be arranged individually between you and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com short prepared speech about their background and experience to... 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