How To Tell If You Are Service To Self Or Service To Other

All interviews start with the same question:

Tell me nigh yourself

The question sounds easy on paper, sure. Later on all, we talk about ourselves all the fourth dimension.

But when y'all retrieve about information technology, it's a actually open up-concluded question.

Practise you start with your background? Do yous go through whatever'southward on your resume? Or practise you introduce yourself more as a person than a professional person?

Worried and unsure of how to answer?

Relax, you lot're non the only one!

Most people struggle with this question.

Hither's some good news, though: there's a very easy fashion to answer the dreaded interview question.

Want to learn how?

Why do interviewers ask this question?
How to answer "tell me about yourself" with a simple formula
4 essential tips to keep in listen when answering
iii sample answers for experienced professionals, students, and prospective students

Permit'southward take it ane step at a time

How to Reply "Tell Me About Yourself" Interview Question

tell me about yourself

To better answer the question, you outset need to empathize why they ask information technology in the first place.

Hint: the interviewer isn't looking for your life story, or what yous had for dinner last night.

Rather, the question is a way for them to ease into the actual interview and go a general idea of what you're all most.

It acts as an introduction and depending on how you answer, it's going to assistance the interviewer make up one's mind what to inquire adjacent.

This is your opportunity to exit a lasting beginning impression.

Give a skillful reply, and the interviewer will enthusiastically bombard you with more than questions.

Reply wrong, though, you lot'll instantly exist labeled as the "OK Candidate."

So, what's a "skilful answer?"

Well, it'south actually pretty straightforward. A skilful respond should exist

Tailored - Applying for an accounting chore? The recruiter doesn't intendance about your piece of work experience as a existent estate agent. Your answer should be tailored to the task you lot're applying for.

Based on Feel & Achievements - Your answer should be super-specific. Don't just say "so um, my proper noun's Mike and I'yard a sales manager." Your respond should consist of background (what did you study?), top achievements (how do y'all stand out from the other candidates), and interests (why are you applying for this chore?).

...And...

Structured - Your answer should follow a simple, easy-to-follow format. We'd recommend sticking to the tried-and-tested "By-Present-Future" formula. Meaning, structure you answer as follows:

The past - what is your background and relevant work experience? How did you go to where y'all are now?
The present - what is your electric current role? What do yous do and what are your top accomplishments?
The future - what are yous looking to do adjacent? Why are you lot interested in the position?

Keeping these tips in heed, hither's what a good reply to "tell me almost yourself" would look similar:

"Sure, so, my name is Joe and I am 27 years old.

For the by 5 years, I've been working as a business organization analyst at Company X and Y.

I have some background in data assay, with a caste from University XY. What really got me into the field, though, is the internship I did at Company Z.

Throughout my career, I've noticed that I've always been proficient with numbers and handling data.

For case, when I was working at Company Ten, I led a project for migrating all operations information to a new data warehousing arrangement to cutting downward on costs. The new solution was a much better fit for our business, which eventually led to savings of up to $200,000 annually.

Moving forward, I promise to expand my experience across different industries. Peculiarly fintech, which is why I'm interested in your company.."

Here'south what's done right:

The answer is tailored. Joe doesn't stray off-topic, he talks nigh his experience as a concern analyst, and his past achievements in working with data.
The answer is based on experiences and achievements. Joe talks about his work experience as a business organisation analyst, and covers some of his top achievements.
The answer is structured right - past, present, futurity.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Awesome!

Now that we've covered the basics on how to reply "tell me well-nigh yourself," we're going to cover several essential tips that can help you stand out fifty-fifty more.

Then, permit's go started.

4 Essential Tips on Answering "Tell Me About Yourself"

1) Proceed It Professional and Cursory

When answering, endeavour to keep it under 1-two minutes, at almost.

No, the HR manager doesn't want to know your entire life story.

They don't care about which kindergarten you went to, how your outset internship went, or what yous studied in high schoolhouse.

You want to stick to your principal selling points that are relevant for the job.

Pro tip: If you can see that the interviewer is getting distracted, y'all should take that as a sign that it might be fourth dimension to wrap up.

Hither's how yous WOULDN'T answer this interview question...

Well, I've e'er been interested in tech.

But information technology all probably started when I was a child, and at the age of 9 I showtime got my computer.

I always loved playing around with code and learning new things. Only it wasn't until that high school where I first had my starting time class about it that actually made me fall in dear with the subject.

Since so, I started learning more about it and decided to major in IT at University 10 where I learned how to.

2) Practice, But Don't Memorize

You're leap to hear "tell me well-nigh yourself" on merely nigh every interview.

So, all you have to exercise is exercise your answer a bit!

Take hold of a friend and do a quick mock interview.

Continue in mind, though, that you shouldn't memorize your answer. Sure, it might seem like the safer choice, but if you end up forgetting something on the interview, you might mess up your entire answer.

Instead, come up with a full general idea of what you're going to talk about, memorize the structure, and just fly the rest on the interview.

3) Know Your Audition

Or, know thy interviewer.

It'southward important to keep in listen who you're talking to.

Is it the HR? Business manager? The hiring manager? The CTO? CMO? CEO?

You lot might be wondering, why does this matter?

Well, the thing is, each of these people expect a different reply.

Let's say you're a software engineer, and you're being interviewed by the Hr manager. If you offset going on and on about how much you dearest coding in Assembly, y'all've practically lost them.

See, the HR manager doesn't know anything almost coding or assembly.

They're expecting a more than generic answer about you, your career, and reasons for applying at the company.

On the other hand, if you're beingness interviewed by the CTO or the hiring manager, you tin geek out equally much every bit you lot want.

4) Think Due west.A.P. (Work, Bookish, Personal)

Every proficient reply to "tell me about yourself" should consist of:

Work - This should brand up about 80% of your answer. Focus on your previous experience and accomplishments hither.
Academic - ten-xv% of your answer should then be most your bookish groundwork (university, academic achievements, etc.).
Personal - Finally the last 5-10% should be about you equally a person, while withal keeping information technology relevant to the company.

Proceed in mind, though, that the W.A.P. dominion isn't fix in stone.

If you're a student, for example, your unabridged answer could be about your academic career and personal interests.

iii Tell Me Virtually Yourself Sample Answers

Need some inspiration? Here are 3 sample answers for:

Experienced professionals
Fresh graduates and college students
University admissions

Fix? Permit's beginning with:

Sample Answer for Experienced Professionals

Sure, I'd exist glad to. I'k an tech-focused project managing director for up to 8 years now.

I graduated from University X, where I made the Dean's Listing, with a major in business administration and a minor in calculator science. After that, I first got into the manufacture working as an administrative assistant at Company X. There I provided clerical support with interdepartmental communication, helped in managing schedules, and maintained the digital filing system.

After that, I was working as a project manager for Visitor Y that provided cloud computing solutions for about 6 years. At that place, I personally managed five+ teams of software projects, and made sure everything went smoothly in terms of business goals, deadlines, upkeep, and more.

In my downtime, I savour reading about AI, tech, and robotics. Since y'all guys do all iii, I thought I'd utilize.

Sample Answer for Fresh Graduates and College Students

My name is Jane Doe, I'chiliad 22 years old and I recently graduated from University Ten with a B.A. in international business. While there, I learned a lot of theory in subjects like corporate advice, international economics, corporate governance, and more. I was as well part of the student government, and maintained a GPA of iii.six.

I've worked hard in my education and now I'm ready to apply my knowledge into practice.

While I don't accept whatever real-life work experience, I've had a lot of exposure to the business surroundings. A lot of my courses involved working with real companies to solve real bug.

Now, I'm looking to leverage everything I've learned in uni and become some easily-on work experience.

Sample Reply for University Admissions:

So, my name is John, and I'm a senior at Schoolhouse XYZ.

This year, I managed to maintain a 3.7 GPA, while working on a few different school projects. I started an 'Ernest Hemingway Book Society' which has upwards to 15 active members as of now. And I besides launched a recycling program for the campus, through which we raised awareness and invited an outside guest lecturer to speak nigh the subject.

I tend to be teamwork-oriented and reliable, as I've never missed a deadline. I'm as well proud of my ability to preserve and overcome any challenges every bit they come upwardly. For example, concluding year, I was having some trouble with trigonometry. I realized I needed to dedicate more fourth dimension to the bailiwick, so, I met with a teacher outside the form and set bated two actress hours per solar day for the field of study. Somewhen, I ended upwards with an A in the subject area.

At University 10, I'm planning to either major in English or Journalism. I love reading and writing, so I call back both programs are going to be interesting and relevant to my interests.

Key Takeaways

Now, to epitomize, here's the nigh important tips on how to answer "tell me about yourself…"

Structure your reply in a way that makes sense. Stick to the past-nowadays-future format, and yous're all good!
Keep it relevant and brief (i-two minutes max). No one wants to hear your whole life story.
Mention any of your summit achievements and relevant work experiences.

At present, equally this is only the starting time of the interview, expect them to follow up and ask a bunch of other questions.

And then, if y'all want to brand sure yous're definitely ready for the interview, cheque out our list of the most common interview questions and example answers: