In most cases, the first question asked in the interview is ‘Tell us something about yourself?’. This is an important question, as the response to this question will set the tempo for the rest of the interview. This question can be asked in various ways such as ‘Introduce yourself’, ‘Define yourself’, and many more. Usual responses given to this question is “I am XYZ, I completed my schooling from ABC city and then completed graduation from LMN college. Now I am working in PQR company. My work is… And my hobbies are…” As an interviewer, who has already read your CV, this answer is futile as it doesn’t tell anything about you that he hasn’t already read in your CV. He doesn’t get to know anything about you as a person, your qualities, et cetera.
Interviewers don’t sit with a fixed set of questions before the start of the interview; in fact, most of the questions come as a response to your answer. So, if we can structure our answers smartly, we can more or less control the direction of the interview. Since this is our first question, its importance is more than the rest, as this can set the theme for the conversation. Our answer should have certain baits that can lure the interviewer to ask questions from our strong areas. It should cover more than just achievements; it should have information about you as a person.
You can prepare your answer in the following way: First of all, identify three major qualities of yours that you want to highlight to the interviewer. Now, find three life events that can be used as examples for each quality. Be careful while choosing these life events, these events should be from the areas that you are comfortable talking about, for instance, if you are comfortable answering more questions about your work, then try to give an example from your work. Similarly, if you are not very confident about your graduation subjects, then avoid mentioning any example from your final year project.
Also, the duration of the answer shouldn’t be more than 90 seconds. So, keep in mind that while narrating the story, you shouldn’t get into too many details; try to keep it short and to the point.
Next thing is practice; you need to be very fluent and very well-versed with this answer. Your choice of words needs to be perfect, as one wrong word can give a different direction to the interview. My suggestion: write this answer and then practice in front of the mirror until you perfect the answer.
Good Luck for the interview season!
About the Author
Hi, I am Shahrukh Moin Khan, an IIM Calcutta graduate (Class of 2015-17). Before my PGDM at IIM-C, I was studying at IIT Roorkee. Since my graduation days, I have been interested in the education sector - having trained students for their engineering entrance examinations. For the last 2 years, I have been working at
Breakspace, where I train students for MBA entrance examinations and prepare them for the GD-PI rounds. I will be posting articles on InsideIIM.com on cracking group discussions and personal interviews. If you have any questions related to GD-PI, you can post them as comments here or reach out to me on any social media platform.