The interview question “Tell me about yourself” may seem simple to answer—you know everything about yourself! Good thing, too, since it’s frequently the first thing an interviewer will ask you to do, whether it’s a phone screen, meeting with your manager, or meeting with the CEO in the final round.
But answering such a wide request to share about oneself may be difficult and complex. What do they want to know? Should I provide a biography of my workplace drama with optimal casting?
Your interviewer doesn’t need to know you want Zendaya to portray you in your life movie. However, you may and should plan to utilize this typical opening question to set the scene for a successful interview.
Interviewers start with this question for a reason. “It eases them into the interviewing,” explains Rising creator and leadership development coach Alina Campos. “Often when the conversation starts it’s a lot of small talk and it’s a way to transition into it,” particularly for new recruiters and hiring managers. “The interviewee’s nervous but the interviewer’s trying to get grounded.”
According to Muse career coach and BetterWorks Labs founder Al Dea, “Depending on what you say it’s going to help them figure out the next question,” which can start a chain of follow-up questions, ease the conversation, and help recruiters and hiring managers get to know you.
You’ll often hear, “Tell me about yourself.” However, interviewers may ask something similar, such as:
“I have your resume, but tell me about yourself.”
Walk me through your resume.”
“I’d love to hear your story.”
“Tell me about your background.”
Response to “Tell me about yourself”
Here are the essentials on what to include and how to build your life (and professional) narrative for the occasion.
What to include
Of course, your “Tell me about yourself” response will be unique, but it should:
Start demonstrating your hard and soft abilities to convince interviewers you’re the greatest applicant for the position.
Give an outline of your career, present job, and future goals.
Show that you researched this position and business and know how it fits your professional goals.
Show that you can speak well, interact with others, and present yourself professionally.
An easy formula
How can you summarize a “Tell me about yourself” answer? Career counselor Lily Zhang, former MIT Media Lab Manager of Graduate Student Professional Development and Muse writer, suggests a simple yet powerful method for constructing your response:
Present: Discuss your job, its scope, and a recent achievement.
Tell the interviewer how you got there and/or identify relevant past experience for the position and organization.
Future: Explain your future steps and why you’re a good match for this job.
Of course, you may customize your answer in other ways. A powerful tale about how you got into this industry may inspire you to start with that “past” story before discussing your current work.
Whatever sequence you choose, connect it to the work and business. “A good place to end it is to give a transition of this is why I’m here,” Dea explains. Make sure your interviewer thinks it “makes sense that [you’re] sitting here talking to me about this role.”
8 additional answer hints
OK, so your interview will likely begin with “Tell me about yourself.” Here’s how to ace your response.
1. Remember first impressions count.
“We really only have one chance to make a first impression,” says Muse recruiter and career counselor Steven Davis. “My opinion is that most hiring decisions are made in the first minute,” including your welcome, handshake, eye contact, and first words, which may be your answer to “Tell me about yourself.”
First impressions may shape the remainder of an interview, even if the powers that be aren’t making a decision right away. Providing a short, confident, and relevant response straight away puts you in a better position than having to make up for a weak introduction.
“Be prepared for this question and show interviewers you prepared,” Campos advises. “This confidence is a great place to start.”
2. Customize your response.
“When an interviewer asks that, they mean tell me about yourself as it relates to the position and company. They’re giving you a chance to explain why you’re qualified, says Muse career consultant Tina Wascovich.
Seize the chance! To accomplish so, read the job description, investigate the firm, and figure out how to convey your narrative in a manner that shows why you’re interested and how your skills match the position and organization.
“This is the best time to be direct and explain your goal. But your aim must meet theirs, Davis argues. A customer he dealt with was leaving a position where her team created and prepared a novel antibacterial cream for clinical testing. The new job she wanted involved working on an unrelated product, so she needed to mention that before her current role, she’d never worked on antibacterial creams and was able to figure out how to move the process forward.
When you’re seeking for a certain job, you may have a basic template you use for every interview, but be sure to customize it to the firm. “It’s an opportunity to show them right away that you get it,” Campos adds. She advises, “If they talk a lot about culture, weave that into your answer,” and if the organization or team promotes something else, include it. According to Campos, some keywords might indicate that you’ve done your homework and are a good match. Does the firm call itself a tech company, startup, consumer brand, online shop, newspaper, or blog?
“Generally the [answers] that always resonate with me show that they really get the role,” she adds, and explain why they applied. “I get more engaged because I can see it going somewhere.”
3. Know your audience.
As with every interview question or discussion, know your audience. You may be asked “Tell me about yourself” at every level of a job interview, from the phone screen to the final round, but you don’t have to provide the same response.
If you’re talking to a recruiter who’s not familiar with the team’s hard skills, you could concentrate on the broad picture, whereas your future boss may be more technical. In your final round conversation with a C-level executive, mention how you can assist the firm accomplish its objective.
Campos suggests tailoring your response to the position and firm you learn about throughout the interview process, such as stating, “When I talked to so-and-so it really resonated with me that…”
4. Maintain professionalism.
As you know, this question has an unseen addendum: “as it’s relevant to this role and company.” So respond professionally. The practice in other nations is to divulge personal data at this stage, but Wascovich advises against discussing family and hobbies in the U.S. unless you know anything particular about the firm.
5. Speak passionately.
Keeping your response professional shouldn’t prevent you from sharing why you love your job or this firm, even if it becomes personal.
For instance, Wascovich worked with a special education administrator who was an elementary school special education student. Her professors influenced her professional choice. “So telling your story about how you started could be a unique hook.”
Infusing this response with emotion may help you stand out in an interview and be memorable. You don’t have to go into great depth. “People don’t want to talk to robots—they want to talk to humans,” Dea explains. I love when people say, ‘I knew I wanted to work in marketing when I was a youngster. Writing has always been my passion.
Campos agrees. “If a person really is connected to their mission and what they want to do in their next role and this company really aligns, this is a great place to bring that in,” she adds. Use a phrase like, “I’m passionate about x and y, so I was drawn to your company…”
6. Avoid rambling.
Don’t spend time repeating every professional detail. Most people answer it like a dissertation on their résumé, says Davis, but that will bore the interviewer to tears.
It’s not simply about impressing your interviewer, Campos says. You’re also hinting at your colleague, supervisor, and client meeting speech. Are you going to ramble for 10 minutes if someone asks a semi-open-ended question?
There is no scientifically established response length for this or other interview question. Some coaches and recruiters recommend 30 seconds, others a minute, or two minutes. “Everyone has a different approach,” adds Dea, who has seen contenders talk for one or five minutes. He’s found that individuals lose steam after 1.5 to 2.5 minutes of unbroken speech.
Read the room while chatting. If the other individual seems bored or preoccupied, end it. If they become excited about your response, expound on it.
In general, Dea advises against sharing your full life narrative here. Think of it as a teaser to get the interviewer interested and allow them to ask further questions about what interests them.
7. Practice, not memorize.
You should practice answering this question before a real interview. Before each interview, practice stating what you want to say about yourself.
Davis suggests leaving yourself a message or recording your response and listening to it an hour or more later to get perspective. When you play it again, make sure the response sounds reliable.
Beyond individual practice, if possible. Dea advises practicing with others to hear yourself speak it and get feedback on how others are hearing it. Ask a trustworthy friend, family member, or coworker to listen and comment on your response to improve it.
Practice strengthens and boosts confidence in your response. Dea advises against memorizing and repeating your speech. The balance between practice and memorization is delicate. Authenticity is key, he argues.
Wascovich says recruiters may be more lenient with fresh graduates in their first two years who seem like they’ve memorized their response, but someone with more experience may be suspicious. “You don’t want to sound overly rehearsed,” she advises.
8. Be optimistic.
Discussing your previous job termination is probably not the greatest time. “There’s a time and place for everything—you don’t have to cram it all into this answer,” Campos adds. “If this is your professional first impression, give them a glimpse but not everything. The discourse is unprepared.”
Later in an interview, things became more comfortable. Wait until someone asks why you want to change professions or why your CV has a gap to answer such themes.
What about the advise you’ve heard a million times about not criticizing your former employer? Also applies here. Especially here. It’s a turnoff to tell an interviewer how bad your employer is and how you’re looking to leave their micromanagement.
5 example “Tell me about yourself” responses
This sounds wonderful in principle, but what would a good response sound like? Check out these samples Zhang, Dea, and Campos helped us create.
Example response #1 for a new hire seeking a comparable position
“Sure! I’ve liked writing and public speaking since high school. This inspired me to write, such as editing our campus newspaper. I learned team management and writing process in addition to writing. After graduation, I worked at Acme as a social media manager, generating text and social content for the corporate blog. I raised my hand to work on a product launch communications strategy, where I found my love in product marketing. I realized I’m enthusiastic for a new chance after transitioning to product marketing and overseeing the two most successful new product launches last year. Since I utilize your company’s goods, I was excited to apply when I spotted the open ad. I work best on items I love and use.
Example #2 for an agency-to-in-house transition
I’m an account executive at Smith, handling our top customer. I worked on three large national healthcare brands at an agency before that. I loved my job, but I’d prefer to go deeper with one healthcare firm, therefore I’m enthusiastic about this possibility with Metro Health Center.”
Example response #3 for someone switching industries and taking on a comparable function
“I’ve worked in marketing for over five years, mostly in account and project management. A huge IT business hired me as a senior PM to handle marketing campaigns and supervise other project managers. I’m interested in joining your firm because I want to get expertise in diverse sectors, especially fintech.”
Recent graduate example answer #4 “Absolutely! This summer I’m interning at a theater organization after graduating from Howard in May with a computer science degree and theater arts minor. Helping redesign the organization’s ticket sales website has allowed me to employ my coding talents. Since its inception two weeks earlier, the shopping process has taken 43% less time and popup satisfaction survey ratings have increased by approximately 20%. It’s great to be in this setting since I’ve loved theater since I played Patrice in 13: The Musical in 7th grade and led The Howard Players my senior year. This internship has further strengthened my desire to combine my CS talents with my love of theater, so I knew I had to apply when I spotted the junior web developer position.
Example #5 for career transition.
“I spent my first decade in account management for SaaS startups selling B2B software, including my current company, which develops remote collaboration tools. For two years, I’ve managed three to five direct reports. People management is rewarding, and I love training and professional growth. Creating upskilling seminars for my team and the revenue org is one of my biggest career achievements. Participating account managers and sales people increased quarterly sales or renewal income by 22%. I taught and conducted communications department seminars in college, so it seems logical that I choose this route. After considering my options, I decided to work in HR so I could concentrate on training program development and implementation. I believe starting with a firm that provides software I’ve used in numerous jobs is the best location.
