Tell me something about yourself.

A small note on how to approach interviews, social media bios and email subjectlines.

How would you answer the above? A rule of thumb is to start with your name, where you come from and what you do. It's the last part what most people get wrong. Let me explain.

"My name is Ittesaf Ithun, I am from Chittagong and currently working as Growth Strategist at Edvive."

The problem with this introduction is that, it doesn't tell you anything about me. Shooting words like CEO, CTO, Strategist or Manager won't impress anyone unless you can back your words up with more compelling statements.

When someone asks you what you do, they are not asking about your job title. They want to know what you contribute to your company, why they need you and how badly your absence will be felt in your company. So instead of the response above, a better answer would be:

"My name is Ittesaf Ithun, I am from Chittagong and my task at Edvive is to convert leads and generate sales, while keeping a track of potential customers and approaching them with new product outlines or services."

This sort of description gives you so much more to grasp on, because you are now aware on what kinds of questions you can follow up with, and which skills of mine will be useful to you.

This is also applicable when you are portraying yourself in social media and your CV.

TL;DR

Think of your CV, your social media bio and the introduction phase in your Interviews as the subject line to your email. Your goal is not to sell yourself in the subject line, it is simply to get them to open your email. Don't describe yourself as your job title and be done with it. Give the people more to grip on so that you can start an engaging conversation.

Feel free to share your experiences and tips in this regard.