Tell Me About Yourself-Example

In the interview, employers usually ask open-ended questions like salary expectation, why you want to join an organization, how to see yourself after five years and tell me about yourself. There is no specific time they can throw this question towards you. Maybe he can ask this question in the start, mid, or at the end of the interview. But the question tells me about yourself is mostly asked din the start of the interview. Therefore, it is important to prepare for an appropriate answer so interviewer gets convinced and move to further process of interview.

The question may pop up at any time. The main reason is that the employers are ambiguous and you cannot identify what the interviewer wants from you and how he will respond to your answer. Thus, it is good to avail the opportunity and be prepared so you can give the response that can convince the interviewer.

If you are preparing for an interview and want to respond in the best way then it is important to learn some answers, guidelines and know the importance of this question. Before we move towards the tips to prepare for this question first it’s good to know why employers ask this question.

Why do Employers ask this question?

At the beginning of the interview when you sit on the seat, you may have to encounter the question that tells me about yourself. You have to be confident and give a little decent smile before you answer. This shows you were prepared for this question and you can answer him appropriately. The purpose of this question is to initiate the talk in a reasonable way. Basically, interviewer wants to know your tone and interest about the job. So, be prepared for it. Moreover, the interviewer expects from you a short, summed up version of your skills, background so he gets an idea about your qualifications and experience verbally. Although he has your resume in front of you but he wants to listen to you to judge either you have stated the same things in your CV that you are speaking.

Furthermore, the interviewer wants to know about your interest in the position, your know-how about the projects related to your field, your confidence, how good you are under pressure, and what you want to do?

Sometime interview asks this question to break the ice between them and the candidate so they can start to proceed to further steps of the interview.

These are the few reasons the interviewer asks these questions. Now let’s move towards a few tips you should follow and a few things you should avoid to create a good impression.

What you should do or you should answer?

• You have to connect your personal strength by giving some examples related to your experience.
• Response in just two minutes or less
• Focus on your experience and outcomes you can quantify
• Speak your goals and what you want to do
• Mention your success and past experiences
• Tell about the job responsibilities you can cover
• Highlight your personality
• Mention your hobbies, community involvement, and intellectual development
• Try to write your answer and practice to speak before going to the interview.

Things to avoid

• Avoid speaking your resume word to word
• Do not describe personal details and interest
• Don’t mention highly personal information like affiliations, marital status, and about children
• Don’t list the vague strengths without giving examples. Use the polished sentences to describe examples but don’t elaborate on them.
• Don’t describe the old, robotic, and unnatural information
• Don’t rush to the conversation regarding the role in the company, benefits that the company will give you, or the interview process.
• Avoid all this information as it may create a negative impression and the interviewer may ask you to walk out of the interview. So be careful and keep everything precise and natural.

What things to mention in tell me about yourself answer

Now, let’s move towards the tips to answer this question. For each do’s mention about you need proper information. Now, let’s know what you should answer for each important aspect of yourself.

The qualities that make you fit for the position

This is an important part of this question. You have to think about what makes you stand out for this role. Perhaps, it will be a year of experience and to get training and skills. Thus, review the job description carefully and note the ways to describe them efficiently.

The Reason for Your Interest in This Job Position

Brainstorm about the facts to know why this position excites you, how you fit your career goal and what you should do to reach to next level.

The reason for getting the job in a particular company

For this, you have to search for the company, its projects, awards, and team dedication towards the projects. Moreover, understand the goals and missions of the company. In this way, you will expand your knowledge about the company and will able to explain about your interest in the company more efficiently. Moreover, you start explaining about yourself tie together similarities among your experiences and the company’s goals. This will enable you to answer to convince the interviewer. Plus, it will help the interviewer to know that you know industrial trends.

Positive traits and characteristics that you own to remain stable in the job

This part of the answer will explain about your personality. That is, you can talk about the views of your friends and colleagues about you. Means you are curious? Generous or entrepreneurial? Tell about how you think about yourself and how others see you. Thus, explain about your characteristics. Don’t over exaggerate rather tell in a normal tone.

Explain what is unique about your personality

One more thing you have to prepare is to explain about your background and some unique characteristics. You have to explain something that will hook the employer. You have to talk about an inspirational lie you have interest in making building crafts when you were in school or you have strong computer knowledge when you were only 8 years. Think about yourself and prepare for what you own. Thus, it must be inspiring.

How to explain your answer

Now you have gathered information and you have different aspects to explain about yourself. But now the question is how to briefly summarize all about your personality. For this, you can follow the simple formula of answering. That is use the structuring response. This is preset the past and future.

First, you have to talk about the present role, its scope, and describe any big accomplishment. If you are a fresh graduate you can tell about the final year project or your excellent results.

After that move towards the past. Describe about accomplishments and previous experience with other companies you were doing the job before applying for the current position.

Lastly, describe what you want to do, what is your inspiration and how you will tackle to meet your goals.

This is a way to build a response but this is not the only thing. selection of right words, friendly tone, facial expression, and right startup all also matters. Lastly, you have to explain everything regarding the job and its position. Don’t go out of track and make sure all your descriptions tie to the job ad company. You should be certain that your interviewer has the impression that you are talking about the job and its role.

More tips to follow

Tailor your answer about the company and role

When the interviewer asks you about tell me about yourself then it means he is asking about yourself as well as your interest in the company. Therefore, you have to gather such words that not only describe about your personality, background but also about the company. They want to listen to how you take this job, how you will play a role for this position, and what your qualifications to prove either you are eligible for a position or not. So, bring to the table that aligns with the company and the responsibility for the position. This is a nice way to describe your objective and your purpose to get recruitment in the company.

Be professional

Remember you are in an interview to get the job. Therefore, be professional. Don’t be frustrated or louder. Rather be polite and explain with confidence. Moreover, explain about yourself but there is no need to explain your personal life. Discuss the education, experiences, achievements, and roles for the company.

Show your passion

Although you have to keep your answer professional yet you can add a slight touch of your passion also. You have to shed light that why you are passionate and you can tell about the story in a brief way. Thus, it helps the engagement of the interviewer and he can judge your enthusiasm. Don’t be robotic and explain a simple answer. Rather you can briefly show your interest to get admiration. 

Avoid explaining your resume

Although the interviewer has a side about qualifications, your experiences yet he wants to listen about yourself. So, don’t explain your CV A to Z rather add some other experiences that were not necessary to mention in the resume. Explain about the experience in a few seconds or maximum wind up in one minute. It is because if you prolong and add wordiness then the interviewer may lose steam and may don want to continue the interview with you. So, give precise information about yourself and your experience. It must only be convincing and interesting and not be boring.

Practice and practice

This is the very common and favorite question of the interviewers. Basically, it is the question whose answer will build the foundation of your interview. Therefore, if you want that interviewer asks the next question then practice the answer. You can take the help of seniors, choose appropriate words, and practice in front of a mirror so you can confidently as well as professionally explain the exact words that the interviewer expects from you. But remember, don’t memorize asit will give an impression of the robotic answer. So have an idea of what you have to answer then explain in your own words to create a positive impression.

Be positive

The last thing that you should not ignore is the positive reply. No matter what you are explaining be positive. Even if you have some bad experience with your previous company describe positive aspects t the interviewer. Thus, you have to explain everything in a positive way to get an admiring response from the interviewer.

Few examples you get inspiration.

Here are a few examples that you can read and the inspiration from them.

 Well, I am working on an account position in the company. There I handle our top-performing clients. Before this job, I worked with an agency were managing three different brands of health care department. Although I enjoyed working in the company yet I want to utilize my skills in the well-known leading company in the country. This is the reason I am passionate about this job and want to work here.

I have been in the marketing industry for seven years. First, I worked as an accountant and then in project management. I have recently worked as a senior PM for a large tech company. I want to expand my experience for that reason I am applying for this job. I want to show my talent and abilities and want to work with a well-known company in the software industry.

Final thoughts

Answering the interviewer to such questions is not an easy task. Although the question talks about yourself seems straightforward and simple but the expectation of the interviewer is high. Therefore, it is essential to prepare the right answer. Moreover, it is your duty to prepare for it. If you want to achieve your goals and want to catch your favorite seat in the company then be professional, positive, and explain the answer in a logical way. This will create a positive impression and you will increase your chances to get the job in an organization where you want to make your career.