Whenever someone would ask me, “so…tell me a little bit about yourself”, my answer went a little something like this:
“As you already know, my name is Danica Deverill. I was born and raised in Cambridge, Ontario, alongside two younger brothers that have shaped me into the competitive individual that I am today. That being said, sports have been a huge part of my life. The sport of squash in particular has allowed me to travel to different parts of the world and compete at an international level. I began to understand the benefit of pushing myself out of my comfort zone which contributed to my acceptance into a top business school. During my time at university, I got involved in a wide variety of extracurricular activities including varsity squash, and executive commerce clubs. In terms of professional experience, I began to understand the importance of leadership while working with children. I developed my creative writing abilities while blogging for a travel startup, learned how to manage people as a corporate human resource intern, and practiced data analytics while getting to know the ins and outs of supply chain management. Although my experiences have been rather broad, the motivation behind everything I do remains the same. I intend to make a positive difference in the world, and I look forward to the future opportunities that will allow me to do just that.”
If you are thinking, wow… that is so well written, then all I have to say is thank you. But if you are thinking, wow… that sounds like a total load of crap, I would have to agree with you. The interesting thing is, everything I just wrote was completely true. The reason I have developed an aversion to the above statement is because I don’t believe a word. At least not anymore. I don’t believe stringing together favourable details of my past into a paragraph that reads in less than 2 minutes is an accurate representation of who I am.
What you just read are the exact words I have spoken hundreds of times. Sometimes just as practice in the mirror of my first year dorm room, other times over the phone or zoom call, and occasionally, with very sweaty palms in the office of someone whose job it was to determine if I would be a good fit for their company. What you just read is my answer to the classic interview question, “tell me about yourself.”
I know that paragraph by heart but I was extremely good at making sure I never sounded scripted. I learned how to come across as confident but never cocky. I dressed up and shook hands and made eye contact and smiled and sat up straight and asked questions and said thank you. I did everything I was told to do and said exactly what I thought they wanted to hear. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was making decisions and living my life striving toward goals other people told me I should want. With graduation just around the corner, reality had set in and an overwhelming identity crisis hit me like a truck. Somewhere along the way of trying to impress the people around me and achieve society’s definition of “happy”, I lost sight of what makes me, me. I was left with a piece of paper and no clue what to do with it.
Maybe you don’t know who you are or the person you want to be just yet. I sure don’t. But I do know that you are not your degree, or your parents, or your job, or your last name. And you most certainly cannot be summed up into a couple of sentences. So the next time someone asks you to tell them about yourself, remember this – the question is not, “who do they want me to be?” but rather, “who do I want to be?” Show up as that person. Because at the end of the day, your job in life is not to make other people like you. The whole point is to wholeheartedly love yourself.
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