How to Answer: Tell us a little about yourself.
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an American Express job interview.
5. Tell us a little about yourself.
Focus Your Answer On
This question aims to assess how well your personality will fit in with their culture. Your answer will clue them into your passions, hobbies, and job-centric interests. One of the biggest challenges the assessment vendor and recruiters face in an interview is getting to know the real you. Questions that are icebreakers are intended to get you out of interview mode, and to disarm your defenses and relax. By gauging the real you against your more performative answers, they'll better be able to identify when you're being truthful versus telling them what they want to hear. This will help them better identify any tells you reveal throughout the rest of the interview through your tone, choice of words, and body language, or any other slip-ups. So the goal here is to maintain a consistency in your professionalism.
Written by Kevin Downey on August 30th, 2022
What You Need to Know
Effectively communicate your rehearsed brief bio. Share anything you feel is relevant to landing this job. Who you are as a professional, why you are here pursuing this job, where you come from, and according to your career goals where you are going. Share how you weigh success and what success means to you across all fronts; short-term goals, long-term goals, and the big picture. Remember, when your words don't match your gestures, it's your gestures that will be seen as the truth. So maintain eye contact and confident body language, be comfortable, and speak from the heart.
Written by Kevin Downey on August 30th, 2022
Answer Example
"Grew up in a small Old West mountain town, which is now an artist's community in Arizona. It's an old 'ghost town' called Jerome. The old Nineteenth Century bank, with its vault intact, is still there, and long ago it was modified into a home, and that's the house I grew up in. My mom was an accountant, and like her, I always had an affinity for numbers, which eventually led to choosing the course load I did in college..."
Written by Kevin Downey on August 30th, 2022
Anonymous Interview Answers with Professional Feedback
Anonymous Answer
My career started when I was hired as a Customer Service Officer in ________ where I was trained to work at both the call centre and desk.
After that, I accepted the offer to work for ______ Cruises as a Guest Services Officer handling walk-in guests' enquiries at the front desk, resolving guests' issues to ensure they have a wonderful vacation. In my last contract with ______ Cruises, I was the Assistant Cruise Director who supervises both front desk and back office operations such as live chat and call centre monitoring, teammates training and coaching, guest services recovery and handling customer concerns efficiently. Throughout my career with ______ Cruises, I have received a promotion, three service awards and the development of many essential problem-solving skills.
My hard work, adaptability, organizational skills and my commitment to the work I'm doing helped me grow professionally and develop a great set of hard and soft skills.
I look forward to discussing my skills today and showing that I am one of the best candidates for the role."
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