How to Answer “Tell Me about Yourself”

The open-ended question “Tell me about yourself” is one of the most inevitable interview questions. Usually, this is the question with which the interviewer will welcome you to the session. The purpose of the question is to help break-the-ice and makes you feel more comfortable while the interviewer gets to know more about you.

Providing answers to the question “Tell me about yourself” requires some tactics as well as preparations. If you failed to make adequately preparations beforehand, you may be saying too much or too little, or just making some incoherent statements that may jeopardize your chances of getting the job. Just by hearing the interviewer pronounce the statement: “Tell me about yourself,” you will be thrown off-balance.

Ordinarily, this question should give you the opportunity to sell yourself to the interviewer, using the window to highlight those values you have that will make your candidature the best fit for the vacant position. But, if you’ve been having challenges with answering of this question, then this post is for you. The tips provided here will help you to gather your thoughts, and as such, you will be able to provide succinct answers that will help brighten your chances of securing your dream job.

Now here is how you should answer the question “Tell me about yourself” in an interview. These tips will help you to answer the question concisely.

Tip 1: Practice your response in advance

Practice makes perfection. If you want to make your response logical and coherent, then you should make a script about yourself and practice it before attending any interview. The more you rehearse it, the more you get familiar with you. Making sufficient practice beforehand will make you sell yourself better.

Tip 2: Simplify your response

You don’t have to memorize the entire content. Just highlight some valuable points that will help you stay on track as you provide response to the question. The interviewer is not asking for your entire history or that you mention all your qualifications. No. Other more specific questions will come up later. All you need to do is to mention your name, qualifications, and three to five past experiences that are relevant to the position to which you have applied. This will help pass the message about what you want the interviewer to know about you.

Tip 3: Share your expertise

While highlighting your relevant experiences, it is also important that you integrate about three to four of your personal qualities, skills, and expertise that will further make you the attractive candidate. Just make it concise. The interviewer doesn’t have all the time. About 2 minutes response will suffice.

Although you might be tempted to want to share as many as possible of your qualifications that you found compelling, try to limit your response to those qualifications that are relevant to the job at hand. This will make you response more organized and comprehensible.

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