Tough Interview Questions: “Tell Me About Yourself” – Work in Sports Podcast e137 - a podcast by Brian Clapp - Work in Sports

Every interviewer starts with "So tell me a little something about yourself" -- why do they ask this and how should I answer it? We've got you covered on this weeks episode!Hi everybody I’m Brian Clapp, Director of Content for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast.Fred Hoiberg of the Bulls just got fired, Mike McCarthy of the Packers just got fired, and last night Bill Belichick told Adam Theilen to shut the F- up.I love sports. I mean the firing part always stinks, but the soap opera, dramatic effect of sports…it’s just awesome. You never know what’s next.I’ll remind you, if you are serious about this life, about working in this industry and making it your career not just a hobby you enjoy on weekends or during your lunch break – at WorkinSports.com we have…let’s see… currently 10,487 active sports jobs on our site. Including 772 in Broadcasting, Digital and content creation. That’s my world, which is why I cite that data point.And if you are listening and you are a student, we have a ridiculous deal for you… go to workinsports.com/students and you can get a 6 month membership for just $30 – which is 87% savings, because I love gronk.  Let’s get into today’s question – it comes in from Corie A – A few weeks ago I joined the Facebook group for the Work In Sports podcast and was moved by all the great feedback I received after sharing that I was feeling a little defeated in looking for a job in the sports industry. Since then I have been applying to internships and jobs for the MiLB, MLB and other organizations. I have heard back from a few teams and have scheduled phone calls with them.  In the past I always feel very anxious in interviews when asked the simple question of "tell me a little about yourself". My question to you is how do you answer that?Corie – this is a really great question. Before I get into it – Corie references our private facebook group for this here podcast. It’s a great group of over 1,000 people and growing who share advice, answer questions and network with each other, I moderate…and am in there all the time. In fact, I’m going to do a Facebook Live session Thursday Dec 6th at 7:30 pm in that group – so join in! Search for the Work in Sports podcast on facebook, jump into the conversation and join me on facebook live on Thursday!Back to the question…With all the advice I give I try to go really in depth and high level…I try to push myself to give you new ideas to chew on… but you know what, sometimes it’s very important to go back to the basics.And this question you ask is the start of just about every single interview you will ever be a part of.So let’s dig into this!“Tell me a little about yourself”There are two main reasons interviewers ask this question.1: It’s a bit of a stall technique for the interviewer.Maybe they weren’t 100% ready to get started and they wanted a moment to get their thoughts together.  They just got out of another meeting, they had some other thing come up, they had an issue, or a project that they were behind on and worked right up until your interview started. Maybe they want to review your resume a bit and refresh their memory on you before they really dig in.So they ask this layup question, just to buy themselves a little time. Managers are not perfect beings, they aren’t on schedule every moment, they don’t plan for every contingency or situation…sometimes they stall or improvise. They dance! So this question can be just a moment to put you on the spot so they can get organized.2: And this is the really important one – it’s a confidence/personality test.The easiest way for a interview to discover who you are is to listen to you talk about yourself. There is no trickery, it’s not a complex question, it’s not confusing…it’s your story, and no one can tell it but you.

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