To land a dream job, you need to interview with a hiring manager or potential employer. During a professional meeting, you may be asked a variety of questions, including some rather unconventional ones. In particular, you may need to tell fun facts about you for work so the conversation partner can get to know you better. Knowing how to answer these questions correctly and how to choose a random fact about yourself that will show you a positive side will allow you to succeed in this situation and make a lasting impression on the interlocutor.
In this article, we will go into more detail about what kind of random fun facts you can tell about yourself, how to conduct the conversation competently and give specific examples that you can use in practice to build a response. Moreover, we’ll also tell you what you should NOT say.
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Being asked to share fun facts about yourself is quite common, whether in personal or professional life. Most often, it happens in the following situations:
The employer may ask you to tell interesting facts about yourself to get to know you better and to understand what kind of person you are. In addition, the question presented helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere during the interview. Sharing a fun fact can result in a more natural and friendly manner of communication.
Suppose you have already reached the interview stage, likely. In that case, your potential employer or hiring manager has already received your CV and cover letter, which are good and meet all the open position requirements. It is only natural that the interviewer may be more interested in your personality during the interview.
Suppose you answer the question about your favourite movie, favourite food, favourite childhood memory, dream vacation, what was your first job and others. In that case, you will show the interviewer how friendly you are, how easy you are to get in touch with, how good you are at telling stories, and how confident you are. It is not only the content of your answer that matters but also how you respond.
If you share a fun fact that hooks the employer and shows you at your best, you are much more likely to get the job. The questions presented are asked for a reason. Thus, a potential employer wants to understand and discover your interests and other important facts about your life, values and beliefs. By coming up with an unusual and unexpected answer to the question presented, you will be able to interest your interviewer and arouse their curiosity.
Asking for fun facts about yourself can also serve a purpose other than getting to know you. In this way, a potential employer can test you to see if you’ll use standard answers and clichés or if you’ll be creative and tell something really interesting and out of the box. This fact is especially important if you are applying for a position that requires an unconventional approach and an original solution, where all your creativity may be required.
Interesting fact about your life can show you as the best candidate for a position against which other applicants will not be ideal. Therefore, you should prepare your answer to this question responsibly and creatively so that you do not say a standard phrase that completely repeats the answer to other candidates’ answers.
There are general effective tips on how to properly tell fun facts about yourself. If you want to thoroughly and fully prepare yourself for the subsequent interview for the desired position, it’s a good idea to learn a few of the following tips first:
Depending on your character, drafting a response to a request to tell fun fact about yourself may be natural for you or require thorough preparation. If you are looking for the best advice on responding to the question presented, then use the following recommendations from real professionals.
This advice applies to any interview. When telling fun fact about me for work you should always be yourself, showing the interviewer who you are without making things up, fantasising or pretending. There is no point in telling a fun fact that did not really happen. It is also not worth sharing a hobby you don’t enjoy.
Also, if you describe yourself as a world traveller and can’t name your favourite place to go, it can be a serious reason to question whether you were really telling the truth. To dive into your real self, you can use the following or share a fun fact:
Telling a fun fact about yourself is a rather difficult question that requires openness, and you need to keep it professional and give an appropriate answer. Make the most of this opportunity. In particular, you can tell the interviewer something that should have been mentioned in your previously sent CV or your cover letter.
All responses should be relevant and appropriate to the format of the meeting. It is optional to tell how your first concert went in great detail, about your celebrity crush and which idols you have posters of in your room. Remember, you’re in an interview and need to get the hiring manager interested in you to get the job.
Relating your fun fact to the job or company culture is a rather difficult part of the presented process. Suppose you want to leave a positive impression. In that case, it’s worth thinking ahead of time about unique and engaging facts that demonstrate what a good employee, team member or professional you are.
For example, if you tell them that you work part-time as a fitness instructor, it will show that you are a person who is interested in good health. It will also show that you can lead people, increase motivation, and persevere towards a goal because sports always require willpower.
You may have a variety of fun facts about yourself or a fascinating experience:
It is worth noting that not all fun facts can be told during the interview. It is best to narrow down the variety of options to the most relevant and appropriate ones. Below, we offer to study examples of fun facts divided into 3 different categories, which you can use while developing your list of possible answers to the presented question.
Favourite hobby – this often comes to mind when you want to get to know someone better. This characteristic demonstrates the identity of the person you are talking to. Discussing hobbies is the best way to establish contact with a person and create a friendly atmosphere. In this situation, you can say the following:
My favourite hobby is hiking the Bruce Trail, which I take time to do every weekend. I can go alone, or my best friend can keep me company.
I love to cook. My speciality is pasta with seafood.
I regularly take French language courses as I want to go to Paris on holiday at the end of the year.
I have a unique collection of mugs. I bring a new one from every country I have had to visit, and so far, I have 25 mugs already.
My favourite hobby is coin collecting. I have a Walking Liberty, half a dollar, and 50 state quarters in my collection; these are the most valuable pieces. The total number of coins is several dozen.
I am very fond of reading books. This way, I quench my curiosity for really good stories you don’t find in the cinema. My all-time favourite writer is Mart Twain. I love rereading his creations. Most of all, I love his unique humour.
I always enjoyed school, and I still do now. In particular, I have a great aptitude for languages. I have mastered 3 languages so far and plan to continue.
I am a real expert in cooking. I don’t just like to cook, but I also like to try new things. My latest culinary discovery was babaganoush in a superb oriental restaurant.
When I have free time, I always go for a workout. My exercise routine involves many exercises, from cardio to strength training. I like to keep my body in shape despite the constant sedentary work.
I regularly go for a run with my dog. I love my dog very much; we spend our time together every morning. I get a positive charge for the whole day, and my dog gets a great opportunity to use his energy.
I usually spend my free time learning something new. At the moment, I am learning the intricacies of meditation. It helps me to maintain mental stability, stay calm, and fight stressful situations.
My favorite hobby to do in the morning is to have a cup of coffee and read the news feed of the financial world. I am interested in my work; I want to stay up-to-date every day; I am interested in research and other important events.
I always spend my summer holidays on group hikes with a local travel company. I love to go to new places and learn something different, constantly expanding my horizons.
I love to play the guitar. This hobby began in my school years, and after that, I had my small musical group in college. I managed to carry this hobby through time. Playing the guitar helps me relax; it mediates when I forget my worries.
My favorite subject was math. But I hated PE.
If the topic of travelling comes up during the interview, you can tell the interviewer the following stories:
I have been on work trips to more than 20 diverse countries. The one I enjoyed the most was Italy, as the cuisine there is rich and delicious.
The first time I had to go far away from home was when I did an internship 1,000 miles from my hometown.
My dream holiday was to go to Cappadocia, Turkey, to go hot air ballooning.
My past holidays have included scuba diving in Fiji.
My favourite place I have ever visited is Colombia. There I found excellent culture and friendly people.
The following can be said about myself in this situation:
My accomplishment that I am 100% proud of is that I mastered the piano in 3 months.
The bravest thing I’ve ever done at work is demonstrating a commercial product in front of an audience of over 1000 people.
I got my first job at the age of 17, and it was as a waiter in a fast food restaurant which helped me develop my leadership, communication skills and listening to the customer to make them satisfied with the service.
I am fluent in 4 languages: English, French, Spanish, and German.
My hidden talents include the ability to negotiate with others. Therefore, I am an excellent sales representative.
In my past position, I once set a record for the number of products that were sold in 1 working day.
As strange as it may sound, fun facts from your life can help you get the position you want. The very phrasing of the question “Tell me a fun fact about yourself” implies that you can tell me anything, but this is not entirely true. The very format of the meeting (interview) sets some limitations. Avoid the following mistakes while composing your answer.
It would help if you did not discuss certain topics in an interview because of their sensitivity. Most often, standard sensitive issues like religion, political beliefs, age, nationality, race, gender and the like are meant in this situation. Fun facts should leave a positive impression on you, demonstrate positively, and not add doubts about whether the candidate should be hired.
Telling your most embarrassing thing is far from the best solution. During the conversation, you should avoid facts revealing a lot of personal information about you. If an interviewer cannot ask a potential job candidate about their life, you should avoid personal stories. Your personal information and secrets should stay with you, which is perfectly fine. Excessive curiosity and digging into personal matters are cause for concern.
It would help if you also refrained from telling facts about yourself that could be used during the hiring process. Don’t talk about your marital or parental status, sexual identity or anything else.
If you are asked to tell fun facts about yourself, and you answer that “There is absolutely nothing interesting about me” – this question is automatically a loser. The same applies to the use of clichés. In a interview, you must be confident, even if you have to pretend a little. If you answer a standard phrase, like a copy from the Internet, it will harm your confidence and self-esteem.
There is something unique about every person that deserves attention. Moreover, maintaining a conversation and telling unique and non-standard about yourself is very important during an interview with a future employer, colleague, or potential partner. Your life, path and history are interesting; you must know how to share it competently.
You should not use the standard phrases “I love to read, my favourite genre of books is …” and similar. Before the interview, you have enough time to think over your answer and develop something interesting and non-standard. In particular, the above article should help you with this question.
