Page 124 - How To Answer Interview Questions (II)

Job Interview Question 63

Walk me through your career
from the start to where it is now.

This is a very common interview question similar to “Tell me about yourself” or “Walk me through
your resume.” This will most likely be asked in the beginning of your interview.

With this question, they get a good overview of you as a candidate, they see where you feel that
your greatest strengths are, and they see whether or not you’d be a good cultural fit in the company.
This is your chance to sum up why you’re a great candidate for this job.

The key is to stay focused on the things that will help explain why you are here right now and why
they want to consider hiring you. Don’t get off track into a story that doesn’t help you get to that
goal, and don’t bring up any personal information, because it isn’t relevant here and won’t get you
to your goal, either.

They want to know what you did, how one thing led to another, and why you made decisions to
take certain jobs (especially if one seems to be outside a typical career path) or why you might have
a gap of time where you didn’t work. Keep your answer to less than 2 minutes.

Start with your education: “I got my degree in X from State University and my first job at Acme
Corporation in ABC.”

Continue with your background, mentioning any jobs, skills, or accomplishments that are
particularly relevant for this job. This requires some strategic thinking to identify what parts of your
history would be the biggest “selling points” for you in this job.

What things could you point out that would give this hiring manager another reason to offer you
the job? (And what things might make him or her nervous, so what could you say that would alleviate
those doubts?)

You might say, “I took some time off to deal with a family matter (or whatever it was), and when
that was resolved, I got back to work.” Whatever you learned along the way that makes you an
especially good fit for this job, be sure to mention it.

Point out what it was that made you move from one job to another, showing that you were moving
TOWARD something in each job that added to your growth, skill set, or value in your field.