By: Taylor James, Living Sport Hamburg 2019 Alumni
THE QUESTION: TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF?
The most common interview question. No matter how many times I had practiced this question, I hated answering it. I never had confidence in my answer and it always sounded rehearsed and robotic. Because it was. There was not much I could say to make me sound unique and stand out among hundreds of applicants. Or so I thought. Why should anyone believe you have any valuable experience when you do not have confidence in yourself to express the experience you do have?
After returning home from Hamburg, Germany with Living Sport, this all changed. I had experiences I loved to talk about and felt much more confident in all of the skills I could bring to an organization.
When I talk about my experience during my international journey, I can tell the difference in my demeanor and tone. I now have a non-robotic answer that is natural and conversational. Based on my Living Sport experience, my advice when answering this type of question is to NOT write it out word for word and recite the same information for each position. Instead, tailor your answer to the specific job you are interviewing for and say every word with confidence that your experience will add to their organization. The more experience you have to talk about, the easier it is to prove your knowledge and skills.
Now, my new response would look a little like this: