The answer to the “tell me about yourself” question should describe your current situation, your previous work experience, why you're a good fit for the position, and how you align with the company's values. Tell the interviewer about your current position and about a major recent achievement or any positive comments you've received. If you answer correctly, interviewers will begin to figure out why you're the best candidate for this position, both in terms of technical skills and experience and soft skills. It's a great opportunity to show that you can communicate clearly and effectively, connect with other people and react to them and present yourself professionally.
This isn't the only way to create your answer, of course, and you can modify it however you see fit. If there's a particularly powerful story about what led you to this field, for example, you can decide to start with that “past story” and then dedicate yourself to what you're doing in the present. Inserting a little enthusiasm into the answer can help the interviewer remember it more. If you have between 1 and 8 years of experience, start with the time you graduated and explain your work experience since then.
And if you have more than 8 to 20 years of experience, you can start somewhere in the middle of your career. This will prevent your answer from being too long. For example, if you're a manager, you can start with the way you first became a manager. If you've worked for 25 years but have only been a sales professional for 12 years, you could start with how you got started in sales.
Let's take a look at two word-for-word templates that achieve this. It also gives the interviewer an idea of how complete and pleasant you are as a candidate before analyzing your work history and qualifications for the relevant position. I can't think of a better place to start than a company that makes software that I've relied on in several previous jobs. One of the things that I love about my work is the variety that exists in each project and how it never gets boring.
FlexJobs members have exclusive access to personalized professional advice to help them practice in a mock interview. After that, you'll have two proven methods for answering: “Tell me about yourself in interviews” and, in the next section, I'll reveal how to decide which method is best for YOU. But how do you go beyond a basic answer? How do you get a firm, concise answer that leaves a big impression? The “tell me about yourself” interview question can be stressful because it's so open-ended and this often makes job seekers unsure how to respond. Demonstrate how your experience is relevant to the job description and how you can help the company achieve its objectives.
It's a good idea to prepare several “tell me about yourself” answers, depending on who's asking and how they're presenting the question. You have to “adapt your answer “, tell me about yourself, your job description and your needs. For example, a customer I worked with was leaving a job where her team had developed a new antibacterial cream and prepared it for clinical trials. After college, I started working at Acme as a social media manager, writing texts and social content for the company's blog, but I set to work on the communication plan for the launch of a product, and there I discovered my interest in product marketing.
You may show more personality as the interview progresses, but it's risky to share too much personal information when you answer: “Tell me about yourself”. You might get some form of “Tell me about yourself” at every stage of the interview process for a job, from the phone screen to the final round, but that doesn't mean you have to give the same exact answer every time. .
