Sample Interview Questions and Answers: Tell Me About Yourself – Amy’s Answer

(Who is Amy? Amy – Administrative Assistant seeking Project Manager position in Marketing Services)

Terry: Amy it’s great to be talking to you today.  We were very impressed with your resume and qualifications.  I always like to hear a bit from the candidates themselves about who they are and what they bring us.  Why don’t you tell me about yourself?

Amy: Fantastic!  I have seven years of program management and operations experience with our interactive team throughout all of its evolution.  I have additional experience applying my project management skills across different industries all to bring to this position.

I’m a versatile facilitator, I’m hard working, self-motivated able to connect with lots of people and I’m known for being organized and thorough.  While I don’t have direct experience as an interactive project manager, I do have experience managing complex and technical projects and processes.

I take value opportunities working with all employees across all specialized disciplines facilitating technical teams.  Years ago, I started from scratch with nothing to do at XXX, literally nothing to do and for being proactive and taking the initiative I created a hybrid role for myself of office management, human resources and private coordination.

As I was promoted, I was always closely tied with the project management team whether through resourcing or assisting with project transaction and job jacket maintenance.  Because of my unique combination of people skills and analytical skills I was then hand picked to role out the new high profile resource management discipline in XXX.

As the agency evolved to XXX, I evolved the resource management discipline and effectively delivered staffing assignments across all the disciplines and brands every single week.  I have all the skills that PMI designs to be a successful project manager: communication skills, organizational and planning skills, time management, team facilitation and problem solving skills.

All that combined with my passion for the industry, I’m highly motivated to do what it takes to keep projects and teams moving forward.  I’m confident I’ll be a successful project manager.

People have said they love working with me, because I’m fun, warm and welcoming.  I love working with all types of people and setting the tone for a positive, collegial interaction.

I have a great sense of humor and am able to laugh at myself, which also helps put people at ease.  I can work alone or in a team and often I’ve been a part of many teams.  I have great communication skills and I’m very comfortable facilitating creative and technical teams,

I have a proven record of quickly jumping in and producing results whether the situation calls for a turnkey move project where I uncovered and then resolved a huge telecommunications issue or process development to keep billable employees productive instead of spinning their wheels, down to managing the whole resource management program for the entire interactive team.

For all of my roles I started off with no direct experience and managed successful projects.  I’m highly motivated, I’m teachable, I learn quickly and I’ve proven I’m able to dive right in and be successful.

I think with all of that combined, this will once again, make me an asset to XXX.  Does that sound in line with what you’re looking for right now?

Terry: As I’m listening to you Amy, I’m wondering are you reading from something?  Are those your notes about yourself?

Amy: How did you know?  I’ve practiced, but…

Terry: We’ll keep going, but feel free to just talk to me rather than reading, because when we bring you into talk to our hiring manager you probably won’t be able to read from your notes the same way.  Even though it’s over the phone treat it as if it was an in-person.

You certainly may have notes in your lap that you refer to or bullet points or something, but try not to read-read.

Amy: Okay.

Here’s how I would rate this answer . . .

Q1. Tell me about yourself – AMY QUICK RATING – F

Way too long,  your target is two minutes or less with the most relevant accomplishments or your history that relates to what they’ve posted. Also, even on a phone interview, don’t READ your answer.