Tell Me About Yourself - Part 2

Scarcity of jobs is still one of the major problems in our country. Based on the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed persons is 13.7 million or an unemployment rate of 8.9% for February 2011. Although the jobless rate was down, the Department of Labor reported that the seasonally adjusted Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims have increased to 397,000 in the week ending March 5 of the current year. This is an additional 26,000 claims compared to the previous week’s figure of 371,000. The decline in the unemployment rate shows a less significant changed in the workforce.

Every individual, who are looking for jobs, should double their efforts to find a good employer. In order to help you with your job hunt, I decided to share this idea with you as a guide in answering the interview question: tell me about yourself in a counseling perspective.

The “tell me about yourself” question in a counseling perspective are usually asked for applicants in the educational or medical field such as a Guidance Counselor, Teacher, Teacher’s Aide, Career Coach, Professors, Medical Therapist, or even Nurse positions. Applicants should remember that counseling involves a personal relationship. It also requires honesty, sincerity, acceptance, and understanding between the counselor/teacher/therapist and the client/student/patient as basic ingredients for successful outcomes. With this in mind, you may ask yourself the following questions:

1.   What are the possible job duties and responsibilities required for the position?

     This will help you decide if your background and experiences may qualify for the position based on the requirements of your prospective employer.

2.   How prepared are you to face or counsel clients/students/patients from different cultural background, gender, age, religious orientation, or socio-economic group?

     This will help you analyze your level of adaptability to various cultural and socio-economic groups, which is necessary in determining your people-handling skills.

3.   What are the potential barriers that would make it difficult for you to develop a working relationship with your client/students/patients?

     This will help you determine your possible weaknesses or drawbacks for the position. It will prepare you find workable solutions to overcome these difficulties.

4.   What are the possible concepts, theories or techniques that you think might best work for the environment of your prospective employer?

     Generally, the concepts, theories and techniques used in counseling vary between educational and medical field. Your answer will help you determine if your counseling skill is fitted for the needs of your prospective employer.

These self-evaluation questions are important before you can answer your interviewer in a counseling perspective. You may also consider the response in a Human Resource (HR) perspective as cited in our article, Tell Me About Yourself – Part 1. However, the most applicable reply is to know your personal preferences and skills about counseling versus what your prospective employer needs as it relates to the specific position for which you are being interviewed.

Just keep focused on your goal and aim for it. Good luck!