Tell Us About Yourself

I spent the entire day on a panel interviewing people for a job opening in our community. It's amazing how much stamina that takes. Phew!

Anyway, we started out each interview with the classic open-ended "Tell us about yourself" to see what kinds of things applicants focused on when left to their own devices.

A few years ago when I was putting together the transition skills course I teach at the jail, I went to my then 95-year-old neighbor for some advice. She had spent her entire working life in human resources, and one of her main tasks was to conduct job interviews.

I asked her, "How did people typically blow their interviews with you?"

Without hesitation, she replied, "I hated rambling. On and on and on. Ugh. If I asked people to tell me about themselves and 45 minutes later they were still talking, they didn't have a chance in hell of getting hired."

I can see that.