interview question

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interview question

by piku9290 » Tue Oct 15, 2013 4:33 am
Hello,

I have been invited for personal interview at Smeal. I want to know the difference between these two questions ' Tell me something about yourself' and ' walk me through your resume'. Are these questions asked together?

How to distinguish this two behavioural question.

Thanks
Prasenjit
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by Jon Fuller » Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:53 am
Prasenjit -

Congratulations on receiving an interview invitation . . . I remember responding to one of your questions about essay prompt structure a few weeks ago, so hopefully that advice was helpful to you with your Smeal application!

On face value, the "tell me something about yourself" question could be considered a cousin to the the "walk me through your resume" question, but it's best to attend to different subjects. A response to the resume question should really focus on your work experience: professional experiences and impact, the reason why you might've transitioned between companies, notable leadership roles, etc. You could pepper your response with very brief mentions of your academic background and/or your personal interests (assuming you've done the appropriate thing and have listed a few personal interests on your resume), but the majority of your reply should be focused on your work experience.

You might be tempted to also use a professional experience as a response to the "tell me something about yourself", but that's a missed opportunity in my opinion. A better response would be to talk about personal interests and passions and/or a robust extracurricular activity of yours. This response will give the interviewer more insight into who you are as a person, show that you're well-rounded, and will hopefully make you even more interesting and memorable in a positive way. The overall end goal is to make the interviewer even more enthusiastic about you coming to Smeal.

Clear Admit's website has more information about our mock interview services, and I'd be happy to assist you further with your interview preparations.

Regards,
Jon

Jon Fuller
Clear Admit, LLC
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