Interview Prep: Tell me about yourself
Updated
by Justin Ling
Tell me about yourself structure
Here are some of the points you should cover in the tell me about yourself interview question:
Brief introduction about yourself
example: Hello, my name is [name], I was born and raised in [city, country], I study [major + minor] at [college / university name].
Why am I interested in this Position?
Showcase that you understand the role well, and communicate what about the role makes you genuinely interested in applying.
What experiences qualify me for the position?
Talk about 1-2 experiences that show you might be a good hire for this position. Explain why.
Fun Facts / Personality
Highlight hobbies/passions and interests that make you unique. Remember they will hear many interviews, many that end up sounding the same. This is an opportunity to differentiate yourself.
Tips for a great answer
Timing
Keep this to 90 seconds max! It is easy to want to overload your interviewer with information, but this will just make it harder for them to absorb anything. Remember, this is just the introduction, you want them to hear something interesting and ask you more about it on their own.
Think about your pace, don’t speak too slow or too fast. You want it to feel like a normal conversation, not like you are giving a speech.
Make it a story
This isn’t you just reading off your resume, make a story with a flow that can be followed in conversation. Connect your parts together seamlessly.
Visualize don’t just memorize
A common pitfall is to try and memorize every single word, this will almost always mess you up more than it helps you. You will sound robotic, and unnatural, and if you miss one word it will throw you off.
Instead, visualize experiences and stories you want to tell, and then just explain them naturally to someone with no knowledge of these events. When you speak about the stories use your own words at the moment, the more you practice this method the more polished you will be during the actual interview.