Interview Question: "Tell Me About Yourself"
Beyond serving as an age-old icebreaker and transition, this introductory question helps recruiters and hiring managers accomplish what’s often one of their major goals in the hiring process: getting to know you.
When an interviewer asks you to tell them about yourself, they really mean... tell me about yourself as it’s relevant to the position you’re applying for and this company. They’re giving you an opportunity to articulate succinctly why you have the right qualifications.
Here is a simple and effective formula for structuring your response: present, past, future.
- Present: Talk a little bit about what your current role is, the scope of it, and perhaps a big recent accomplishment.
- Past: Tell the interviewer how you got there and/or mention the previous experience that’s relevant to the job and company you’re applying for.
- Future: Segue into what you’re looking to do next and why you’re interested in this gig (and a great fit for it, too).
This isn’t the only way to build your response, of course, if there’s a particularly potent story about what brought you into this field, for example, you might decide to start with that “past” story and then get into what you’re doing in the present.
Whatever order, make sure you ultimately tie it to this opportunity and this company. A good place to end it is to give a transition of "this is why I’m here”.
Examples:
"I've always enjoyed writing and public speaking, even going back to grade school. This led me to pursue writing-related passions, for example in college, where I was an editor for our school newspaper. In addition to writing, I got to learn how to manage a team and the writing process. After college, I took a job at Acme as a social media manager, writing copy and social content for the company blog, but I raised my hand to work on the communications plan for a product launch which is where I discovered my interest in product marketing. After switching to a product marketing role and managing the two most successful new product launches last year, I realized I'm excited to take on a new role. I've learned I work best on products that I love and use, and given that I'm a big user of your company’s products I jumped at the chance to apply when I saw the open posting."
“I graduated with a Business degree in 2017 and was offered an account management position from a telecommunications company I had interned with. I loved working with customers and managing and growing my accounts, but the industry we were in just wasn’t very appealing to me. After that, I stayed a full year and learned a ton about how to build and manage accounts successfully and I ended up becoming a top performer in my group before leaving. I left at the 1-year-mark to pursue a very similar position within an industry I’m much more excited about- healthcare. I’ve been at this healthcare startup space for 2 years with this company and I feel ready to take my career to the next level so that’s why I’m currently looking for a new opportunity.”
For Interview Success Formula member's, visit Prepare Your Story, under the Build Section in our program, for a step-by-step look at crafting your own, compelling, personal success stories.
Additional Resources: