Shadowing Practice: Tell Me About Yourself - A Good Answer to This Interview Question - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hey, it's Linda Raynier of LindaRaynier.com Career Strategist, Speaker and Coach.
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Hey, it's Linda Raynier of LindaRaynier.com Career Strategist, Speaker and Coach.
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And in this video, I'm going to teach you 3 tips in order to answer the "Tell me about yourself" interview question the right way, so that you can stand out in front of hiring managers and ideally, land more job offers.
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Now before we begin, there are a couple of ground rules you need to know before you can develop the perfect answer to this question.
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Rule #1: Do not talk about your personal or family life.
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When someone asks you, "tell me about yourself," they're not actually asking you to tell them about your personal life choices, and the mistakes that you've learned from, and how you got here as a human being.
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They're not actually asking you to "tell them about yourself" they're actually asking you to tell them about your qualifications, your experiences, as well as why you're a good fit for this role.
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That's it. They just want to know about your professional background and experience in a nutshell.
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Rule #2: Do tell a story.
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Even though I said, you shouldn't be telling them about your LIFE story, you do want to tell them your professional work story.
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I'll get into details about this a little later, but essentially, a good professional work story means, that it needs to be engaging, compelling, clear and complete.
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So, now that we've got the ground rules out of the way, let's move onto our four major tips on how to answer the "tell me about yourself" interview question.
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Okay, so let's start off with Tip #1.
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Tip #1 is to give a snapshot of your work history.
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So what this means is, you're going to go back in time to the earliest professional job you've ever held and you're going to start your story from there.
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So essentially, you're going to describe what company you worked at, what title you held when you were in that position, how long you stayed in that position for, and, most importantly, what were your major responsibilities in that position.
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So for example, let's just say that you started off your career five years ago as a Financial Analyst.
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Okay, let's just make this up. Let's just use another accounting example.
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You started off your career five years ago as a Financial Analyst and then you moved up to Senior Financial Analyst and now, you're a Finance Manager.
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When you tell your story, you're going to start off with your role as a financial analyst.
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And you're going to say something along the lines of, So now you're going to do that for each and every one of your positions.
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You're essentially telling mini work snapshots for every position that you've held up to the current position that you're holding right now.
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So after you've told the employer about the company you were at, the title that you held, the number of years you were there for and the major responsibilities that you had in that position, you're then going to describe one major accomplishment that you were able to achieve in that role.
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So, I explained a lot about what accomplishments were in my previous video, "Resume Hacks - How to Make a Resume Stand Out" which is, in the link below.
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But at the same time, I'll explain it here.
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An accomplishment is anytime where you have saved time, saved money, improved processes, improved profitability.
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Anything where you've done something that has resulted in a quantifiable, ideally quantifiable result for your company or your department.
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So, to add on to our example, you would say, So you'll do both this tip #2 and tip #1 in conjunction with each other, for every single position that you've held.
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Now onto tip #3.
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Once you've gone through your entire story, and you've told the employer about your major roles as well as the accomplishments that you've achieved, it's now time to acknowledge to the employer what you know they need for this particular position that they're hiring for.
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So, to continue on our example, you'll then say, The reason why this is so important and that so many people don't do this is because what it does, psychologically, is that it tells the employer that not only are you aware of your abilities and your achievements but that you're also aware of his or her needs as well and what they're looking for.
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And when you can say something as simple as just simply acknowledging "I am aware that for this role you need someone with process improvements skills and abilities" it's creating a connection with the employer it's not you any longer talking at them, you're talking to them.
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Finally, onto tip #4.
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This is the icing on the cake, it's the cherry on top.
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And it's the one thing that many, many people do not bother to say when they're answering this or many other interview questions.
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And that is, to tell the employer to literally spoon feed them to maybe even brainwash them to understanding why you are the one and only and perfect fit for this position.
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So to add onto our example, you would say something like, You need to tell the employer why you're the right fit for the job.
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If you don't end off with this, It's going to end off on a flat not. It's not going to be a stellar response.
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It's just going to sound like everybody else's response But in this case, you are being very clear and specific. Even without them having asked you why you're the right fit you're literally just feeding it to them and telling them, I'm the right fit for the role.
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Above all else.
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So now you know how to answer one of the toughest interview questions, but do you know if your resume stands out enough that you'll even land the interview in the first place?
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If not, feel free to download a free copy of my 10 ultimate resume hacks cheat sheet.
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Which is located down below, the link is right there.
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Feel free to click on it, enter your email and I will for sure send you a copy!
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If you liked this video then please give it a thumbs up, subscribe, share it with your friends.
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And thank you so much for watching I will see you in the next video.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, you will practice responding to the common interview question, "Tell me about yourself." This question often serves as an icebreaker during job interviews, and providing a compelling answer can set you apart from other candidates. You will learn how to structure your response to highlight your professional background, experiences, and skills. By employing storytelling techniques, you'll convey not only your qualifications but also your fit for the role you are applying for. Practicing this will help you articulate your thoughts clearly and confidently, valuable skills in both interviews and everyday conversations.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Professional background - Your work history and experiences that relate to the job you are applying for.
  • Responsibilities - The tasks and duties associated with a job position.
  • Accomplishments - Achievements that demonstrate your skills and contributions to prior roles, often quantifiable.
  • Fit for the role - How well your skills and experiences match the requirements of the job.
  • Snapshot - A brief overview or summary of something, in this case, your work history.
  • Engaging story - A narrative that captures interest while conveying important information.
  • Connection - A relationship or rapport fostered with the employer through shared understanding.

Practice Tips

To maximize your learning and improve your English pronunciation, consider shadowing the video's content. This technique, known as shadowspeak, involves listening to Linda and repeating her words and phrases in sync with the video. Here are some specific tips for effective shadow speech practice:

  • Listen closely to the pacing and intonation. Try to match Linda's speed and tone to enhance your speaking fluency.
  • Pause the video at key segments to practice your responses aloud. Repeat the phrases multiple times to reinforce pronunciation.
  • Record yourself while shadowing, then listen to the playback. This will help you identify areas for improvement in your pronunciation and clarity.
  • Focus on emotive delivery; notice how Linda's enthusiasm and confidence contribute to her message. Practice conveying similar emotion in your tone.
  • Engage in discussions with peers where you practice these phrases and concepts in a conversational context. This will further improve your speaking capabilities.

By incorporating these techniques into your practice routine, you'll not only prepare for job interviews but also enhance your overall English communication skills. For more resources, consider exploring shadowing sites to find additional materials and videos to learn English with YouTube.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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