hello and welcome we are back with you again this week and we are tackling interview and this is a really common question and it's the how do you answer that tell me about yourself interview question let's back up and just let me just give you a little insight the reason that question is answered is asked yes why is because 90% of the time the interviewer has not really looked at your resume at all often this is what happens and this is with all due respect to recruiters and hiring managers who have so many people that they can't possibly review their resumes in time and even if they do they're going to forget so it's kind of like you're gonna walk in my office because I've been the hiring manager and I'm kind of looking this over and I'll just say you know Kelly I I had a chance to glance at your resume but could don't you just tell me a little bit about yourself that's really so I don't have to really admit that I haven't read your resume yeah it's a way for that person who's intering interviewing you to get a little grounded themselves because this this is a bit of an awkward exchange at first so you knowing that you might be getting asked that question right out of the gate and them asking that question because they're trying to get themselves Centered for who this person is that's sitting in front of me um let's meet in the middle so how do we answer that question for our audience so I like to break it down you should be telling me what you do yep where and for whom you do it and how you do it and if it's somewhat of a mission-based organization maybe the why you do it but it's really answering those basic questions and really what we recommend is that you write it all down first so basically your answer to that question should be whatever your ele elevator pitch is whatever you use to describe yourself when you're networking Y which should be a slightly more slightly more conversational version of your LinkedIn profile which should be written in first person telling people what you do where you do it for whom how and maybe why and then at the very Foundation is the profile St statement in your resume which says those things same things but much more succinctly and a little bit more choppy it's not quite as as conversation yeah and you know I think um to your point writing it down is a step that oftentimes people Miss especially when it comes to this because you want to nail this question you want to be able to talk really really clearly about who you are and not to what you bring to the table like here's here's a big mistake someone says tell me about yourself well you know I was born on August 16th I if you're starting there please don't start at your birth so sometimes people do ask us how long I would say you know a minute maybe a little bit over a minute not three minutes you know two minutes if you're a really great Storyteller uh but it should be short and you're a teacher I mean from foundationally isn't there some type of like kinesthetic thing or if you write it first you remember no well it's a part of the writing process so good communication is you use all of the modalities so writing is a part of that process so writing it speaking it revising it speaking it again it's all a part of that writing process that's going to get you to that refined place where you can nail this answer in an interview so let's just break that down again into the steps so what do you do yes what do you do so for example um let's use us you know I'll use me so I am an executive coach it really focuses on people in work life transition most of my clients and students are women but I also work with people just entering grad school I've had a CEO who just sold this company any major transition point in employment is where I'm helping people yeah so that's the what do I do it's also the who do I do it for I kind of combine them yes where do I do it so I do do some work in my home office but most of my work is done remotely I have clients all over the world now and that's been one of the great um advantages of having a tool like Zoom to to meet with people and then you know maybe oh the how do I do it yeah um okay so I take a really qualitative approach I do a lot of listening I do some assessments I really want to have a deep understanding of the person before I start helping them direct either to choose a career path or to choose a particular company so it's an iterative process there's a lot of writing back and forth It's a reflective process um and it's time consuming when I'm working with people I'm usually with them a good eight to 10 sessions which in the sessions are about an hour so that's the how I do it and then the why and I might go into that um know I do this because I started out in big Tech um and I realized that after 10 years there wasn't really a place for me as someone who was starting a family so then I was home with my children and then I started another company Consulting with companies helping them set up policies so they wouldn't lose people like me and also working with candidates like Kelly who was on a maternity leave and then on a career break and trying to figure out how to get back um and then everything kind of came together when I met my now partner Kelly bcak and we put this company together and this is my role is as an executive coach but really this is a gift back to that woman who was 31 having a baby and figure out how am I gonna do both yes yeah okay so there you have it how to answer that tell me about yourself question and you've just learned a lot more about me than you wanted but sometimes the best way to do it is to give an example so the what the where and For Whom the how and sometimes the why and remember this also the question isn't always just tell me about yourself it could just be what brought you here to today yes you know or what's your story it come in different forms but really taking the time to write it out to answer those very specific questions that we we have laid out for you here and refine it speak it practice it with someone else um it's going to just set you up for Success when you get that question on your next interview so there you have it um uh if you liked what you heard today you can like And subscribe um to our YouTube channel we have content that comes out every Monday if you want to learn more about us and our programs and our offerings you can visit us at www. prepare to Launch you.com