"How would you describe yourself?" This is a question that you see a lot on job application websites and online dating sites. People attending interviews shiver at the utterance of those words. They have people to train you to give mechanized answers at colleges. I thought about the vague nature of the question 4 days back.
I have been following up on a course that "enhances" my employment chances. This course is a part of a promotional campaign by one of the leading companies that employ software students. The site is littered with on-the-face promotions and ads of the company's multiple certifications for desperate students who want to make it in the IT field. There was a section that taught us to ace corporate interviews. The section featured FAQs and suitable answers that could improve your chances of getting a job. You had the normal "I am a determined person with an insatiable urge to learn" and "I am passionate about so and so" The interviewer asks me to "Describe yourself". What am I supposed to do? Let's look at different answers.
1) I am an emotional person who cares about others more than myself. I love animals more than humans. I would rather sit alone and stare at the sky than socialize with people. I relate to music at a soul-level. I become an animal when I play sports.
2) I am a determined person who will work diligently for the improvement of the company and my own career. I am fit for this job because I believe that I am good at talking with narcissistic foreigners on the telephones and handling their queries. I will be at this place for 5 years because I don't want my job to be related to my specialization. All that matters is employment.
3) I am an evolved version of the Homo Sapiens with less hair, a trimmed beard (for the sake of this interview), shorter nails, a contraption on my eyes which help me to look at far away things and a mind which has been under utilized since the third grade. I am tall and wear size 11 shoes which I rarely get in normal shops.
All the answers prove the fuzzy nature of that question. We are forced to give a vague answer to a vague question. Make the question clear and the answer becomes relevant. Instead of "Describe yourself", they should say "Describe the parts of your nature that would make us want to employ you".
No human can describe him/herself with complete accuracy and detail. We humans rarely know our true self. We frequently question our existence in the showers and at 2 am in the night. Existential crisis is both a blessing and a curse. A curse because, we wonder about the value of life and its shortness. A blessing because, we know that there is an end and we appreciate life more. Oh! and an added bonus of existential crisis is that I can write vague blogs about vague questions and vague answers. So, Life's good.
Comments