Bringing Your Personality to an Interview
Chances are, most interviews that you have will start out a little something like this:
Interviewer: “Good morning! It’s great to meet you.”
You: “And you, too. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today.”
Interviewer: “It’s my pleasure. Here, have a seat.”
You: “Thank you. I…”
Interviewer: “So, tell me a little about yourself.”
And there it is: the question.
While there are dozens of articles and videos available to help you craft the perfect response, we can’t help but feel that there is a bigger question here that needs to be addressed first.
What happens if we rephrase the question from “tell me about yourself” to “tell me who you are”? Suddenly the question isn’t about job titles and hobbies; it’s about personality and character. It’s about passion and drive, fear and joy.
How would you respond if that was the question asked of you?
The odds are that your perception of yourself may not be as accurate as you think. Studies reveal that 95% of people believe that they are self-aware, yet only 10-15% truly are. So how can you improve your level of self-awareness? One of the key methods is to gain deeper insight into your personality traits.
Take this quick test to see where you land on each spectrum of The Big Five personality traits.
Understanding what makes you who you are will provide a better foundation to answer the original question at hand.
So as you prepare for the interview, begin to reflect on not only what you do, but why you do it. By promoting professional accomplishments which reflect your personal tendencies, you’ll demonstrate to your interviewer the areas where you truly excel.
And by starting off an interview that way, you’ll excel throughout the remainder of the interview as well!
