2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

HOME SERVICES TESTIMONIALS FAQ ABOUT BLOG CONTACT

Interview Advice
THAT WILL GET
YOU THE JOB

How to answer the Are you ready to start

preparing for your next

"Tell me about interview? Read my new

book.

yourself" question
The most popular interview question is "Tell me
about yourself" and you'll probably be asked it at
the beginning of your interview, no matter what
kind of job you're applying for.

The question might not be asked in exactly these

words – "Walk me through your resume" and "Walk
me through your background" are common
variations. 

Categories
Academic interviews

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 1/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

Use this Formula to Amazon interviews

Answer the
Behavioral questions

ESL candidates
Common Interview Interview basics
Question "Tell Me Questions and
About Yourself" answers

Your answer should be a short summary to define

you professionally, customized for the job.  CONTACT
ME
It should be:

• Short (about one minute)

• Focused on the job you're applying for

You can't give all your experience in one minute, so

you need to remove details until you only have the
most relevant information about you. 

But what details should you choose?

Here's the Formula for

Answering This Question
Overview + Experience + Why

1. Overview Statement – Tell Us

Who You Are Professionally

Good: “I’m an innovative software engineer with 20

years of experience managing all aspects of the
development process for small to medium-sized
companies.”

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 2/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

This sentence gives a simple summary of a

long series of jobs.

Think of the sentence like this: "I'm an X X with X

years of experience doing X for X X."

Use the same sentence structure but replace the

X's with your words.

The double X's are adjective + noun, like "innovative

software engineer" or "medium-sized tech
companies."

Adding the word "innovative" puts the focus on

your innovation skills. You can change the word or
words you use here to target the qualities needed
for the job (look at the job description for ideas). 

Bad: “I'm a Support Specialist at Lucent Lighting now.

I handle everything after the initial sale – the ordering,
troubleshooting, invoicing, etc. Before that I was a
voiceover artist and I had my own company.”

These jobs are so different that I'm confused as

to your identity. What ties them all together?

When you have different kinds of experience on

your resume you need to start with an overview
statement that shows who you are. 

You overview statement doesn’t have to be

complicated. I could say “I’m an interview coach
who helps candidates interview for tech jobs” or
something like that. It’s much easier if you have a
title you can use for yourself, like “interview coach.”
Everyone knows what that is so I don’t need to
explain it. If you are more than one thing your
overview statement won’t be as simple as a few
words.
https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 3/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

2. The Most Relevant Examples of

Your Experience

This section should be about five to ten sentences

long. 

Tip: If you have 20 years of experience you won't

be able to talk about every job. Pick two to four of
the most relevant examples. If you've only been
working for one year, it should be easier to
summarize your experience, but choose relevant
projects and highlight relevant skills.

Good: “My last job was at Sephora, where I was in

charge of the West Coast marketing team. We
designed customer attraction and retention plans
beginning from the market research stage. Our 2017
goal was a 2% revenue increase over 2016 and we got
3%.”

This answer emphasizes relevant experience and

gives proof of performance using numbers
(percentages). 

Bad: “My first job was as an administrative assistant

for a realty company in Tampa. I learned a great deal
in that role but wanted to move into a more customer
oriented job, so I became a sales rep at Home Depot. I
also volunteered at our community theatre as a
mentor to the young actors.”

There is nothing in this answers that shows a

clear career path. What is the theme of these
jobs? What groups them together? If your
career path isn't clear you need to make it
clear. Start with an overview statement and
then relate the next sentences to the
overview.

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 4/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

3. Why Are You Here Applying for

Their Job/Why Should They Hire You
(What Will They Get?

• Tell them you want this job

• Tell them why you want it in a way that shows

how you can help them

• Include what they will get out of it, not what

YOU will get out of it (they don't care about
you, they only care what you can do for them)

Good: “I'd love this position as Senior Project Manager

because I know I have the skills to manage
complicated projects and I'd like to do that for your
company.”

Short and positive.

Bad: “Because my relationship with my boss isn't very

good, I want to find new opportunities.”

You don't want to say negative things about

your current or past jobs, especially about your
managers. Also, this answer doesn't talk about
the job you are applying for specifically. 

Here's the formula again:

Overview + Experience + Why

This formula is easy to use if your career path is

clear.

If you are a software developer and have had 20

jobs developing software for mobile banking apps,
and you are applying to a job where you develop
software for mobile banking apps –

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 5/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

in other words, you have 20 years of experience

doing X, and you are applying for a job doing X –

you don't need to spend too much time coming up

with a great overview statement – just say – 

"I have 20 years of experience doing X." 

If your experience clearly matches the job

description, don't overthink the overview.

There is a lot of information out there talking about

"branding yourself" and using "summary
statements" and "elevator pitches" but if your
career path is clear this is unnecessary.

I had a client last week who was confused about

how to answer this question. He had read about
"summary statements," so I explained to him that
saying he was a "software developer with 20 years
of experience developing mobile banking apps"
WAS a great summary statement. Sure, he could
add a few words to it, but he didn't need to think of
something more complicated because this
statement summarizes his professional experience
AND says why he wants this job.

However, this formula can be harder to use if

your experience isn't a straight line. You might
have changed industries or changed job types or
gone back to school in a different area, so your
resume doesn't tell a simple story.

If this is your situation, your overview statement

has to explain your professional identity clearly. It
has to give a reason you've done different things
that don't relate to each other. 

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 6/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

For example, the client I had recently who was a

voiceover artist and ran his own company had
trouble with his answer. He had had many jobs
over the years to supplement his income from his
company, but they weren't his primary focus and
they weren't all the same type of job. For this
reason it was harder for him to explain why he was
at the interview. 

This was his first try at an overview statement: “I'm

a Support Specialist at Lucent Lighting now. I handle
everything after the initial sale –the ordering,
troubleshooting, invoicing, etc. Before that I was a
voiceover artist and had my own company.”

You can see how it doesn't have one clear theme.

When he was applying for a job as a writer, he
wasn't giving a reason that they would want to hire
him. 

He added this as his overview statement and

then got the job, "I've always loved working with
words, both in talking to people as a salesman and
reading other people's work as a voiceover artist." 

Good Example Answer for

"Tell Me About Yourself"
"I've been working in product for about a decade
now. Most of my experience has been in e-
commerce and retail, but I also have some SaaS
experience. I'm passionate about creating long-
term value for the customer, especially in the
EdTech space. During my last project, I developed
an online classroom environment for a media
company, which we then used to sell video learning
experiences (mostly workshops) to enterprise
customers. I know that your company is developing
https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 7/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

similar online learning products, and I'd like to work

with you on them.”

The first sentence is an overview of her career.

The next three sentences talk about her

experience, giving details about the industries and
her focus and a past project. 

She ends by saying why she likes the company and

wants the job and why they should hire her/what
she can do for them. 

How Not to Answer "Tell

Me About Yourself"
I've given you a framework that should help you
create your answer. Here are some tips for what
NOT to do:

1. Don't include too many details

"Walk me through your resume" (or other versions

of this question) does not mean explain every task
you did at every job you've had.

I had a client recently with 20 years of experience

as a developer. He was applying to a more senior
developer job, so his past experience was all
relevant. 

When I asked him to tell me about himself, he told

me about each job. He used five to ten sentences
for each job. As you can imagine, the answer was
over five minutes – four minutes too long. 

We worked on removing details. For some people

(like many technically oriented people) details are

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 8/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

very important. These people can have a hard time

removing details or being general rather than
specific.

Just remember, interviews are conversations, not

speeches. Say a few sentences, and then wait for
them to ask you a question. Don't try to give all the
details in your first answer.

2. Don't give personal info

The answer to this question should include

professional information only. Don't talk about
your hobbies, don't talk about your family, don't
talk about your personal life, and don't include your
age. (I don't know why, but a lot of people start out
by giving their name and age.)

You can talk about your nationality if it's relevant.

For instance, if you're from China but you're
interviewing in the US, you can say that you were
born in Beijing, went to school in Canada, and have
been living for New York for two years. Otherwise
we don't need to know where you're from. 

If you're a young person and have had interviews

for school before but never for a job, you may still
be thinking of things like "extracurricular activities"
as being important. They're not relevant in a job
interview.

Of course, you may get to these topics during small

talk, but don't mention them in answers to the
interview questions. 

3. Don't ask "What do you mean?"

or "What kind of information are
you looking for?"

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 9/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

If you don't know how to answer this question,

you're showing that you haven't prepared for your
interview. 

Don't ask your interviewer what kind of information

they want. A lot of people do this in interviews and
it's a bad idea. 

Just answer the question like I've shown you. 

4. Don't memorize your answers

and then recite them

I wrote another post about how some people,

many of them Asian, write their answers and then
memorize them. When they give their answers they
sound like they memorized them, which isn't good. 

The goal for interviews is to make your speech

natural, like a conversation between two people,
not like the answer to a test.

I know this is harder to do if English isn't your first

language, but it's better to have imperfect English
than to have a perfect answer that sounds
mechanical.

Bad Example Answer for

"Tell Me About Yourself"
This is an answer that one of my interview prep clients
wrote in preparation for her upcoming interviews as a
financial analyst at larger investment firms. I've
changed the details. 

"My name is Sarah. I was born and raised in China,

and I went to Canada when I was 16 years old. I
earned my Bachelor’s degree of mathematics from

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 10/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

the University of Toronto. My majors are Actuarial

Science and Statistics, Minor in Economics. After
that, I obtained my Master’s degree in Statistics
from Stanford University.

I grew up in a family with both my parents working

in finance industries. I was exposed to the finance
world at a very young age.

Because I want to learn more about the industry, I

actually started interning at various firms.

For example, from the beginning of 2016, I became

a venture partner at Symos Capital. I worked
closely with the CEO to expand the business and
led a team of 6 members to source potential
investments and it resulted in more than 30
startup funding applications. More importantly, I
participated in investment processes. Through
which, I helped the team to conduct financial
modeling, extensive market research and due
diligence.

Moreover, I also worked for various companies.

Such as a macroeconomic data company and an
education company. Through these experiences,
my analytical skills improved and my business
acumen became stronger. I really enjoyed doing
analytical works and work in a fast paced
environment and also multi-tasking.

As a whole, these experiences really strengthened

my interest in investment banking because I know
you work on a lot of projects and I am very
passionate in doing due diligence, analysis,
research and financial modeling. I also realized that
I want to be part of a company that helps connect
investors to promising firms.

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 11/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

The reason why I am here today is because Merrill

Lynch advised many influential transactions. I want
to be part of a team that works on those
meaningful deals. Also, I had a chance to work with
employees from your global investment research
team through the analytics firm I worked for. I was
impressed that your employees were extremely
organized, efficient and thorough, requesting a
broad range of data during our project. So, I
believe Merrill Lynch can also provide me with a
well-rounded skill set and help me advance my
career in the finance and investment world."

This is a boring answer

This actually sounds like an essay, not an attention-

grabbing personal statement. 

This answer is typical for a technical person

(finance people included) and typical for an Asian
(she is Chinese).

How to make this answer better

How can she give a serious answer to this question

without being boring? She's interviewing at a
prestigious finance company in New York City, so
she needs to sound smart. But smart is not the
same thing as boring. More words do not make you
sound smarter. Public speaking and interpersonal
communication, like in interviews, are not the same
things as writing an essay.

1. Keep it short

Her answer took about 3 minutes to say. This is too

long. Answers should be under a minute. People
stop listening after 30 seconds. I'm not kidding.
When I tell people this they ignore me, but you can
https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 12/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

trust me on this. Americans have short attention

spans. It's sad but true. We won't listen if you talk
this long.

2. Remember the formula: overview,

experience, why

Overviews are to grab attention and summarize.

There is nothing attention grabbing about saying
you have a Bachelor's in something.

This client used her education as her overview,

but this isn't the most important thing about her.
Everyone applying to financial jobs has roughly the
same education, and if you're at the interview it
means your education was acceptable to the
company. Your experience is what matters here.
She should have condensed her experience into a
good overview statement and then given details. 

Her why came before her experience, which also is

not a good idea. 

3. Show your social skills

When you go to an interview, they already have

your resume and LinkedIn profile, so they know
you have the right education and experience. Now
they want to see your interpersonal skills, your
facial expressions, and your fashion sense. 

Do you know how to have a conversation

comfortably? Are you nice to people?

Do you smile when you shake someone's hand,

make enough eye contact (but not too much), and
nod your head when listening? Do you vary the
tone of your voice so you aren't speaking in a
monotone?  
https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 13/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

Are your clothes similar to what other people at the

company are wearing?  You should be wearing the
same type of clothes as your interviewer, so they
know you'll be a good fit for the company culture.

4. Give information, but not too much

This goes along with keep it short, but it's

important so I'll say it again. If you try to talk for too
long, your interviewer will stop listening. 

I know you want to give details to convince them

that you are perfect for the job, but it's not the
details that are going to convince them, it's the way
you speak and the way you look. 

Remember, they already know you are smart

enough to do the job. Show them that you are
smart enough to have a normal conversation.
Normal conversations are dialogues, not
monologues.

When you recite something you've memorized, this

is a monologue. Smart people have conversations
with their interviewers. 

Another article you might want to read: How

to answer the Why do you want the job
question?

I offer several interview coaching packages. If you’re

looking for an interview coach, email me at
jennifer@interviewgenie.com to schedule a free 15
minute consultation or an interview coaching session.
I’m also happy to create a custom interview coaching
package that fits your needs. 

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 14/15
2/25/2020 How to answer the "Tell me about yourself" question — Interview Genie

7 Likes Share

 How to answer behavioral intervi How long should your interview ... 

https://interviewgenie.com/blog-1/2017/7/30/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself 15/15