Frequently with almost 100% certainty, the employer can ask the applicant one more question at the very end of the interview – do you want to tell us anything else about you?
For the candidate, this question gives a great possibility to tell something more about himself beyond the summary.
The HR managers already know your way of answering the questions, so now they want to get some concrete things about you. It is a moment when you need to sell yourself.
And here, one problem comes up – how to sell yourself though not cut too deep. This situation is similar to telling something about yourself but with a note of pressure.
So, in this post, we’ll share with you the ways to strike the perfect balance of successfully answering this question during the interview.
The reasons why recruiting managers are interested to know something more about you
When at the end of a job interview the HR manager asks you to share more information about you, you can start getting nervous since theoretically, it’s the question you can get prepared for. And, of course, there are cases when someone asks this question this specific way. According to the level of your preparation for the interview, the recruiters can ask you several provocative questions.
But usually, the HR managers ask this question because they want to find the person that will perfectly fit the position. It means that they look for interesting people who can tell something about themselves.
Besides the main aspects, what can HR managers ask you additionally?
These things are:
- concrete abilities and expertise that have not been included for some reason;
- notable achievements not connected to the job directly but has some relation to work ethics or other positive feature;
- your expectations or plans for the post and duties in the organization, or your career path;
- something that the HR manager and you can have in common (for example, skiing, riding a bike, etc);
- demonstration of self-confidence and capacity to keep talking and impress the HR manager.
What are the things you need to do to prepare for answering the telling-something-else-question?
The key to successfully responding to this is to know all strong and weak points; plus the manner of having a conversation with others.
There is one essential thing – you need to impress and be remembered. The HR manager wants you to show yourself from other sides.
Below, we’ll share with you some concepts of how to get ready for telling something else about yourself:
- Think about the features that make you one-of-a-kind: Here, you can tell about your passions and the things you’re interested in. When sharing the general information, you can mention something about your passions, and when the HR manager asks you, give more information about it.
- Tell several exciting stories from your life: Here, you can remember the events from your childhood, school or university, everything that can be a little bit youthful for the real world.
- Highlight your strong points: Here, you need to reveal your strong points as fully as possible.
Typical mistakes the applicant make when sharing additional information about him
While responding to the “tell anything else about you” question, the applicants make some typical mistakes. The typical mistakes that you can avoid are the following:
- Never show your weak points: If the recruiter wishes to know your weak points, he can ask you about it (or, maybe, he has already known). Here, you should highlight your strong points that will impress the HR manager. And your weak points are not appropriate here.
- Do not waste time repeating the same information: Do not speak too long and repeat the same things you’ve already said – the HR manager will not remember it all. Give only concrete responses.
- Thank the organization for finding the moment to speak with you: We recommend doing it, especially when the HR manager asks you to share more information about you. At this moment you need to demonstrate the things that make you one-of-a-kind among the others.
- Do not refuse to refuse the answer to the “telling-something-else-question”: If you cannot share anything more about yourself, there is nothing wrong with it. In this case, you should not refuse to respond, just change the subject – speak about the following steps you need to do for the hiring process and slowly lead the conversation to the end.
Now, we’ll give you several examples of how to answer the “share something more about you” question.
- I have not mentioned it on my resume, but when studying at school, I was editor-in-chief of the school paper. Thanks to this experience, I’ve learned…
- Recently, I have been a part of a project that coincides with this vacancy somehow. I’ll tell you more about it…
- We’ve discussed my experience of being a marketing assistant. But besides that, I’ve been working on some other contract projects for several years. If you want to learn something about them, I can show them. I really enjoy connecting the SMM work technical and creative components, and to my mind, this skill can provide interesting elements to the job. Plus, it will help to build good relations with writers and better understand them.
How to successfully respond to the "share something else about you" question – several recommendations
When you're asked to share more information about yourself, we recommend you speak again about your experience and qualifications.
During the job interview, getting confused can be so easy but you have one important advantage here – the employer doesn't know you.
So, presenting your experience and qualification discussed before serves as a great strategy for making yourself the best candidate for the position.
The recommendations of successful answering the "sharing something more about yourself" question:
- Repeating the key aspects of the job interview: In case you tell the joke during the interview, you can repeat the bullet points of them and emphasize on the abilities you've presented in these jokes.
- Give all key information in the main part of the job interview. And when you're asked to tell something more about yourself, do not take time to explain the unnecessary details.
- Now there is only one thing you need to do – remember all your strong points and keep them in your mind.
- If you have a prepared presentation about yourself, it will be a great advantage.
- To make up a list of your abilities and qualifications can also be very helpful.
To sum up
When the HR manager asks you to share more information about you, you need to remember that it's your last chance to present yourself. That's why your response should be concise and positive.
