what to say when an interviewer asks tell me about yourself

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2. How To Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" in an Interview

How To Answer "Tell Me Well-nigh Yourself" in an Interview

By Indeed Editorial Team

March nine, 2022

Open-concluded interview questions or prompts like "Tell me about yourself" are frequently asked at the beginning of in-person or video interviews to go the chat started. Other examples include "walk me through your resume," "tell me something about yourself that's not on your resume" and "describe yourself."

These questions are likely to pop up at every stage of the interview process—from phone screen to final rounds. Information technology'southward natural to exist thrown past their ambiguity and it can be hard to identify what the interviewer really wants to know. But there is an opportunity for you hither in that your interviewer is assuasive y'all to choose how to respond.

In this article, we offer tips on what to avert in your respond to the "tell me most yourself" interview prompt, how to construction your response and how you tin get started as well as detailed "tell me near yourself" sample answers.

Related video: Tell Me About Yourself: Pinnacle 6 Example Answers for a Job Interview
This video was designed to show you lot how to reply this tough interview question by showcasing groovy responses across a multifariousness of job industries.

Why employers ask "tell me about yourself"

"Tell me nearly yourself," or questions similar it, are common at the beginning of interviews equally they ease both you lot and the interviewer into the interview. It allows the interviewer to hear a short summary of your groundwork and skills, giving them insight into what experience and qualifications you recollect are about relevant to the position you're interviewing for.

It's likewise not lost on employers that although it's a common interview question, it nonetheless has the trend to fluster or stump candidates. Past answering this question well, you are setting the tone for the interview as someone who is confident, practiced under pressure and attentive to the qualifications of the position.

Some interviewers might approach this question as an icebreaker past using your response to spark casual conversation to go to know you better while others may move directly into other interview questions after you reply.

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Tips on responding to "Tell me about yourself":

1. Start by discussing your current situation

2. Work backward by hitting key points forth your professional journey

3. Connect your groundwork, interests and qualifications back to the chore

Planning your answer

Even for common interview questions, it can exist difficult to get started crafting your response. To go along y'all on track, here are a few questions to ask yourself every bit you lot begin ways to reply and structure your respond:

• What qualities make yous a keen fit for this position? Recall of what makes you stand up out equally a job applicant for this role. Perhaps information technology'south your years of experience or some highly desired specialization, preparation or technical skills. Review the chore description closely and note ways that you exceed the requirements.

• Why are you interested in the role? Brainstorm why this position excites yous, how it fits into your larger career goals and why you feel it's the best next step.

• Why are you interested in the visitor or the industry? After you've spent fourth dimension researching the company and the industry, yous should have a better sense of the mission, goals and trends impacting the manufacture. Practice these align with the professional goals y'all've set for yourself? What do you similar and respect about the company as a whole? What excites yous about the future of the industry? As you lot offset edifice your resume, necktie together similarities among your professional goals, the future vision of the visitor and industry trends you experience are especially important.

• What are the positive traits or characteristics yous possess that will serve you lot well in this part? For example, have friends or colleagues described y'all every bit especially organized? Curious? Entrepreneurial? Generous? Think virtually how you've long thought of yourself or how others accept seen you. Then, think of recent examples from your life when you embodied that characteristic.

• Is there something unique most your background that makes y'all stand up out from other applicants? As we've mentioned, this is 1 of the most common interview questions. Therefore, interviewers take heard this answered fourth dimension and time once more. Endeavor to retrieve of something that will hook the interviewer. For example, proverb something like, "I've been edifice computers since I was 8 years old," when applying for a developer role is likely to brand an interviewer'southward ears perk upward.

Related: Interview Question: "Why Are You Interested in This Position?"

How to answer "tell me near yourself"

How you respond to the "tell me about yourself" question can ready the tone for the residuum of the interview. Overall, when you practice your answer, you want to tell a peachy story about yourself that you can share in 2 minutes or less. In your response, do the following:

1. Mention past experiences and proven successes as they relate to the position. Begin by rereading the job description. Take note of the required skills that you have and identify recent deportment that demonstrate them (review the STAR method to practice telling great stories in your interviews). Ideally, you lot should depict primarily from recent professional feel; however, volunteer work tin as well support your narrative while demonstrating a commitment to your community.

ii. Consider how your current job relates to the task y'all're applying for. Is information technology a more senior role? If so, explain how y'all are taking on more than responsibilities in your current position. If you are making a lateral transition to a office with dissimilar skills, depict how your current skills interpret into the new position.

3. Focus on strengths and abilities that you lot tin can support with examples. When you lot starting time building the script of each example, focus on details and outcomes that y'all can quantify if possible. For example, stating that yous "improved customer service" is less impactful than "increased customer service response rates each quarter by 10% to 15%." If you don't take the exact information, approximate a realistic value.

iv. Highlight your personality to intermission the ice. Since the "tell me near yourself" interview question is about getting to know y'all, it'south a good thought to share your personality with your interviewer—merely not personal details. You may want to briefly mention hobbies that demonstrate intellectual development and/or community date (eastward.thousand., reading, music, sports league, volunteering) or those that showcase personal discipline and accomplishment (e.thousand., learning a new skill, training for a half marathon). Discussing personal interests is a good way to wrap upwards your response while maintaining a professional tone.

5. Format your response. For your response to be clear and concise, you'll desire to make sure you organize your answer following a format or formula. There are two common formulas you may consider:

• Nowadays, Past and Future

• By, Present and Future

Both of these formulas piece of work for your response, but you may choose one over the other based on the roles from your feel that are most relevant to the position you're interviewing for. For instance, if your well-nigh contempo role highlights many of the skills and qualifications that are required for the role you lot're interviewing with, you may want to lead with the present. However, if you're making a career transition and your past experience is more than closely related to the office than your current position, you may want to lead with your past.

Related: Interview Question: "What Skills Can Y'all Bring to the Job?"

Related video: How to Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" Interview Question - five Fundamental Tips and Instance Response
Jen, a certified career coach at Indeed, shares her recommended strategy for approaching this common interview question.

Example answers to "tell me about yourself"

Sometimes seeing an example can be helpful, though each person'southward "tell me nigh yourself" reply volition be different. Below are a few short scripts showing how this question can highlight someone'south strengths supported by successful results in less than two minutes:

Example 1

"I began my career in retail direction, but a few years ago, I was drawn to the health care infinite. I've always been skilled at bringing people together and working toward common goals. My experience successfully leading teams and managing stores led me to consider administration, and I've been building a career as a driven health administrator for the terminal iv years.

"In my electric current function at XYZ Medical Centre, the efficiency of the office has been a personal focus, especially equally it relates to patient outcomes. I set and oversee goals related to section budget and patient book. Terminal year, I worked with our IT department to implement a communication arrangement for scheduling procedures and protocols to ensure that all departments were fairly staffed at all times. With our new online scheduling portal, we increased communication efficiency past 20%.

"To stay informed about their ongoing concerns, I agree regular meetings with physicians, nurses and other wellness care staff. In my role, I also manage marketing and advertising efforts on behalf of the middle. I've been really enjoying that part of my piece of work and I'm particularly interested in bringing the experience I've gained too as my commitment to efficiency to the squad at ABC Health.

"Outside of the office, I'm an gorging reader and I love to hike. On weekends, you might find me at the local bookstore or exploring hiking trails in the area."

Instance 2

"I've been passionate virtually design since I was a child. My parents remodeled their house when I was in high school and allowed me to play an agile role in the interior blueprint plans. I knew then that I wanted to pursue interior design every bit my career. I studied interior design at Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated four years ago.

"Since college, I've been working at an interior design firm in Savannah, Georgia. During my fourth dimension at that place, I've been able to build my portfolio by designing both residential and commercial spaces. My feel at the firm has built upwardly my proficiencies in billing and cutting-edge technologies and immune me to build strong relationships with local suppliers. The most rewarding part of my chore has been working in Savannah'south historic buildings. This experience has familiarized me with best-in-course building preservation.

"Moving forward, I would love to work at a pattern business firm such as yours that specializes in the design and preservation of historical buildings. I believe my feel and passion for preservation will allow me to be a great asset to your design team."

Instance three

"Currently, I work at XYZ Restaurant as a hostess. I've been there for just over two years. My responsibilities include greeting and seating customers, assessing wait times, fulfilling to-go orders and answering the phones. I dearest the lively and busy surroundings of XYZ Restaurant—nosotros often take Fri and Sabbatum wait times of one hr or more than.

"Earlier working at XYZ Restaurant, I worked in retail as a floor associate for a year. This role really adult my customer service skills as I was consistently profitable customers in the store. It also equipped me with the ability to work in a team environment.

"I am looking to further develop my client service and problem-solving skills every bit a hostess in a restaurant environment. I am interested in your restaurant specifically equally it has a great reputation for delivering start-in-class customer service to your patrons while being in a lively and dynamic surround."

Fundamentally, "tell me virtually yourself" really boils down to "what do you want the interviewer to remember nigh you?" Answering this opening question effectively gives you the power to make a good first impression and construction the rest of the interview to your do good.

Related: List of Character Traits to Use While Interviewing

Dos and don'ts for answering "tell me about yourself" in an interview

To recap, here is a list of ways to answer this common interview question equally well as items to consider fugitive.

Exercise

• Connect personal strengths to supporting examples.

• Keep your response to ii minutes or less.

• Focus on details and outcomes yous tin quantify.

• Speak to what sets yous autonomously from other candidates.

• Mention past experiences and proven successes.

• Align your current job responsibilities to the role.

• Avert mentioning personal data related to your marital status, children, political or religious views.

• Highlight your personality.

• Avoid rushing into deeper conversations about the role and company.

• Connect your skills to the job description.

• Briefly mention hobbies, intellectual development and customs involvement.

• Write down an example respond and practice.

Don't

• Mention highly personal information such every bit marital status, children, political or religious affiliations, etc. These tin can be sensitive topics that might work against you lot as a candidate, non to mention such details should not be factors for the employer in determining your ability to perform the chore.

• Listing multiple, vague strengths without supporting examples. Instead, you may want to choose two or iii qualities about yourself. Support each with brusque, polished stories that can be supported by your work experience.

• Memorize your response. While it'southward adept to practice and memorize your primal points, you don't want to memorize your respond word for word as it has the potential to come beyond equally robotic and unnatural.

• Summarize your resume word for word. Instead, talk over high points that are relevant to the position.

• Rush into conversations regarding what y'all're looking for in the role or how the company can benefit you lot—save such topics for the concluding stages of the interview process when they are sold on you every bit a candidate and yous have more leverage.

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Source: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/interview-question-tell-me-about-yourself

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