The job interview question “Tell me about yourself!” can stump a job-seeker, but I’m more worried about the folks who aren’t stumped by it. They hear that question and they go to town! They don’t realize that the more they talk about themselves, the less interesting they become.

Here’s the typical exchange:

• Interviewer: So Alex, can you tell me about yourself?
• Alex: Well, I’m a Marketer — but you knew that. I grew up in Seattle, but I went to school in Boston and I love the East Coast.I came up the ranks in Marketing at GE and that’s where I learned about creating a marketing strategy and working closely with salespeople.Most recently I’ve been working at Angry Chocolates, where I was the number two person in Marketing and led the company’s charge into social media as well as e-commerce. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Me me me me meeeeee, do re mi fa sol la ti do.
• Interviewer (silently, in his mind): What is this guy’s name? Oh yeah – Alex. What time is it? I don’t want to look at my watch. That would be rude. If Alex would move his head a half-inch to the left I could see the wall clock over his shoulder.If I get out of here by 4:15 I can get to the dry cleaner before I get home.If I miss the dry cleaner and they close before I get there, what am I going to wear to the big presentation tomorrow? Let me scoot my chair over here and see if Alex changes position. There we go. Oh shoot — Alex has stopped talking. I have to say something. What was he talking about?

Don’t let the interviewer’s intermittent nods and smiles lull you into believing that your interviewer is taking in one word you’re saying. The interviewer is far away in his or her own mind. How can you cut through that fog?When you start answering the question “Tell me about yourself,” ninety-nine out of a hundred interviewers will tune out within five seconds. Don’t let the plastic smile pasted on the interviewer’s face fool you.No part of your story, however fascinating, will get the interviewer back into the room.That’s okay — you have something more interesting and more relevant to talk about than your own career story, which the interviewer has heard a million times before from other people sitting right in the chair your tush is warming now.You’re not going to spill your guts all over the interview table. As tempting as it is to plow through your career story when the interviewer gives you the green light to do it, that’s your worst choice.No one really cares about your career story. They ask the question “Tell me about yourself!” because it’s in the script. How can the manager care? Until you make yourself relevant to him or her, it’s impossible for your manager to care about you. That’s how the human brain works.You’re going to use the opening “Tell me about yourself!” to ask questions about the Business Pain lurking behind the job ad. You’re going to interview the interviewer about the pain, instead of droning on about your career.We call this technique Spinning the Table. Here’s what it looks like:

• Interviewer: So, Alex, tell me about yourself.
• Alex: For sure! Well, I’m a Marketer of course, and I’m interested in what you’re doing here at Acme Explosives because I’ve been following your company for years. That reminds me – can I ask you a quick question about the job?
• Interviewer: Go ahead.
• Alex: Your job ad talked about supporting the channel, but I hadn’t been aware that Acme had cultivated a distribution channel apart from your own sales force and of course your new e-commerce site. I’ve been following your company but that part of your strategy slipped by me. Can you tell me a little more about that — just so I can keep my remarks relevant to your situation?
• Interviewer: Of course! We started building a reseller network 18 months ago, and it’s going well, but it’s not without issues.
• Alex: How so? A lot of times the resellers worry about your direct sales force competing with them for customers — has that been an issue here?
• Interviewer: Definitely! We need to calm those folks down and let them know we’re on their side.
• Alex: What kinds of things have you done so far to support the resellers?

You are in full-on consulting mode now! You will never go back to the lame topic “Tell me about yourself” and the truth is that the hiring manager couldn’t care less, anyway.He or she will learn plenty about you just talking about his or her business issues. Everybody likes to talk about their problems — and hiring managers are no exception.Your penetrating questions about your manager’s Business Pain will make it clear that you know the movie your manager is living through.You can’t use this technique with a first-screen interviewer, like an HR person or recruiter who doesn’t know the department well.You can’t Spin the Table with those people because they won’t be able to answer your Business Pain questions.You have to wait to use this technique until you’re sitting with your own hiring manager.That’s when you can Spin the Table and fundamentally change the conversation from a stiff, top-down oral exam to a meaty conversation about the real problems your manager needs to solve.You won’t give away the answers to your manager’s Business Pain in the interview, of course — if you did, they wouldn’t need to hire you!

Your questions will showcase your understanding of your manager’s pain far better than your answers to his or her questions ever could. If your manager asks you “How would you solve that problem?” you’ll lay out your process for breaking down the problem and resolving it.You’ll walk your manager through your consulting process, the way any consultant would do.These days we’re all consultants. A job interview is a great place to sell your consulting services, even if you’re going after a salaried job! Try this technique at your next job interview, and never feel like a Sheepie Job Seeker again!