www.lifehack.org: It’s the job interview of your life and you need to come up with something fast. Mental pictures of words are mixing in your head and your tongue tastes like alphabet soup. You mutter words like “deterministic” or “innovativity” and you realize you’re drenched in sweat. You wish you had thought about this. You wish you had read this post before.
11 comments:
This is a very helpful article for anyone going into a job interview! Personally, I know that during college auditions I had to have a few sentences to describe myself and they were all personalized but seeing this article makes me want to change that!
Reading all of 20 ways of describing myself, I realize how important it is to persuade others about your passion, creativity, and adaptability, which are one of the most important aspects in any situation. Interestingly, these values are also mentioned in stagecraft 2 class last week when we had conversation about expectations of freshman, sophomores and so on. This article particularly struck me as well as made me worrying because if I were to be asked this question, I would not be able to describe myself to be one of these answers. I really liked the notion of 20th because I always wish to be unexpected. Based on information I got from this article, I should keep in mine to develop myself.
As helpful as this may seem, it seems ridiculous. It has a very "cookie-cutter" quality to it that just doesn't seem legitimate. If I were listening to people telling me this as I interviewed them, I wouldn't find it believable. I don't think this is the kind of question where you can look through a list and decide which one is best for you to use now. Plus, why would anyone not think about this question? It's a pretty common question for any interview you go into, so why not think about it on your own and base it on who you actually are so it's more personal and actually reflects who you are.
I have used a few of these lines (although not all of them truthfully). They do follow what Joe taught us in Metaskills last year, and also follow exactly what a potential employer is looking for. Are they too perfect? Maybe. I could see you not getting hired because you and all 45 other applicants used the same few of these lines. You can't all be "Unlike everyone [the employer] knows". And yet, it is still very important to make it clear to an employer you are the one, and if these lines help, then by all means. They're a little bit like pick-up lines, ya know?!
Ok wow, I see the idea behind this article, but to me it defeats the whole purpose of having a successful interview. When you interview for a company, I don't care if they are a theatre company or Wall-street, no one wants to hire the person who has an interview like they just read the book on how to have the perfect interview. If they are a good company they want to hire individuals, not clones who know how too look up good interview lines. I feel like this article is not really any different from an article of a list of pick up lines "sure to get you the girl." Girls and companies do not want lines. They want real people who can really describe themselves and really do the job they are asking for.
While it's definitely essential to think about what you're going to say in an interview before you enter the room, and even plan answers to specific questions, it seems a little ridiculous to memorize vague but impressive-sounding responses off of a website. It would be a much better use of your time, and represent you better, if you would think of a response that actually describes you. This list could be useful as examples, to base your own responses off of, but I think it would be a terrible idea to actually use one of them in an interview. You're going to give the impression that you can't think of anything other than an awkwardly worded cookie-cutter response. I just can't stop imagining someone using one of these responses, only to have the interviewer look them in the eye and say "yeah I read that article too."
I agree with Jason, these 20 things seem to be very boring and standard. This could work for someone who is not in our line of work. I know for a fact that many artistic directors look for people who think outside the box, creative thinkers who give off a quarky vibe possibly. The art world is really one in its own and I don't think that it is helpful for us to really look at these links, unless one is really struggling with how to present oneself.
Looking back to my CMU interview, I think I definitely made up a few words like "deterministic." In situations where you have to convince your (possible) future employers that you are truly passionate about something, sometimes the words get jumbled in my your head. However, while these statements try to be innovative, they still sound pretty standard. I think that, in an interview, it's important to be yourself and let your passion shine through, rather than playing to the employer. The phrases all fine and dandy to an extent, but I feel like this article is trying too hard. If you are truly passionate about something, your interviewer will see it.
I think what some of these sentences illustrate is not necessarily that you should say verbatim these key phrases and that they will land you jobs. But more importantly that you know your skills and have thought about them in ADVANCED in a marketable way. Presentation is such an important component of the job interview process, not just in materials but your actual person. It's crazy to me that I hear people talking about making up word in interviews , or bumbling around like you don't know who you are. You are the one who gets yourself the job, nobody else does. Sure you have references who say nice things about you, but if you can't even manage to clearly and concisely tell someone why you would excel at this position then they definitely have no reason to hire you. So it may seem to be a bit extreme to memorize sentences or spend time reflecting on what your assets are as a person. But if you can't take a moment and do so on the fly then, you should do whatever it takes to make sure you come out on top at an interview.
I like the idea of going into a job interview with ability to describe yourself. When I was applying for my first job, my school did mock interviews for all of us and I was really surprised at how hard it was to talk about myself, especially in a few blanket terms. They eventually made us come up with 3 core traits to describe our work ethic and one sentence to explain each trait. I think that that was a great way to prepare for a job interview because it allows you to go in feeling like you have something concrete to say about yourself and a guide to to help craft the rest of your comments. It also allows you to be able to present yourself with confidence as opposed to becoming flustered when you have to think of something to say.
This seems like an extremely useful article. I have been asked this questions on multiple occasions and am never really quite sure what to say. How do you avoid coming off as cocky while still lauding your strengths? Bringing a copy of this list with me next time I have an interview would sure to ease my nerves.
Favorite one: I am someone who is considered to be ‘fun.’ I believe that we are way more productive when we are working with people with which we enjoy spending time. When the situation gets tough with a customer, a touch of humour can save the day.
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