11 Steps Of How To Answer “Tell Me About Yourself” In Interview

If we would ask you what is the most tricky questions or hard questions that you hear in your job interviews then most of you would say it’s the “Tell Me About Yourself” questions.

I am sure this question seems one of the most simple questions that can be asked in an interview but it’s certainly not the case. The question is much more than it seems. Some might say, this one is the most crucial question in the whole interview. The interviewers seek so much information in this part of your interviews that he might decide whether or not you deserve a place in his company.

This one is also a tricky question too because most people don’t know how to answer this question. It’s not like they don’t know about themselves but they can’t seem to find a good word or perhaps the suitable words to answer the question.

In this article, we are going to help you answer this typical question in the interview with some tips on how to answer tell me about yourself questions in the interview. But before giving tips on how to answering the question, you should know why interviewers ask this question. Knowing the invention behind questions would help you to shape the answers and you would know what kind of answer would be expected from you and why.

Why Do Interviewers Ask “Tell Me About Yourself” Question?

It’s probably the first thing they would ask you when you introduce yourself to them. The answer you give them would make a picture of your personality in their head and it will also lead to the follow-up questions. So it can be an icebreaker question that would lead to the next questions in your interview. The interviewers would also like to know your personal achievements and what you like or dislike. These things can also have a huge impact on your interview.

There are a lot of ways in which the interviewer can ask you these questions and some of the major one’s are the following:-

• I have read your resume but tell me more about yourself
• I would love to hear more of your journey
• Tell me more about your background and past achievements
• Walk me through your experiences

So these are the simple ways in which these questions can be asked and now you also know why interviewers ask these questions. Since it’s not an easy question and you can take it for granted, you gotta have to prepare for this question for your upcoming interview. Don’t worry we are going to help you with that too.

Here we are presenting you with a few tips on how you can shape the answer to this interview and how you can present the best and an impressive answer as well. So do go ahead and read the following tips to answer Tell Me About Yourself questions in the interview.

Also check – Internship Interview Questions / Job Interview Questions

1. Include the Role and the Company in Your Answer

This question does ask you to tell them more about yourself but that doesn’t mean all you have to talk about is yourself. What you can do is, structure your answer in such a way that includes your role and the company and how you are willing to commit yourself to the company and excited to work there.

This can be your golden opportunity to tell your interviewers what you have are capable of doing and how useful you can be to the company as well.

You can mention your last job, your passion, your achievements, and your qualities, and then you can mention the requirements of the job and the company and give them a brief description of how you would be the perfect person for the job. Of course, it should not look that structured but you can certainly spend some days on this part and give them a reason to consider you for the job.

2. Keep It, Professional

When they ask you to tell them about yourself, they are not interested in your personal life and your personal information, such as the members of your family, what your parents do or how is your relationship going kinda things.

What they do wanna know is about your professional life such as where did you study, what were your major, what are your skills, your past achievements, your future goals, and your ambitions. These things are the only things that they would be interested in. So what you need to do is to avoid giving them too much personal information and keep it highly professional.

3. Mention Only the Big or Relevant Achievements of Your Life

It’s important that you only talk about the necessary achievements. So skip talking about the prize you won for art and craft in high school or if you were the prom king or queen (if it’s irrelevant to the job you are interviewing for!). Make sure you only talk about the important achievements of yours and avoid the irrelevant ones for good.

4. Keep It Short and Brief

You mustn’t waste their or your time by making the answer too long. Remember they don’t want to sleep. Keep it as short and crisp as possible and avoid talking about unnecessary things. What you need to do is present an answer with the minimum words possible and still giving them a brief idea about your past, present, and future.

Also check – Guest Relation Executive Interview Questions / FireEye Interview Questions

5. Be Passionate About It

Show some enthusiasm when you talk about yourself and make it seem like you are very passionate about the job and the future that this company might hold for you.

You should be comfortable telling these stories and also be passionate about it as well. Be proud of yourself and be as passionate as you can be. So do figure out how you can sound passionate when you are telling them about yourself.

6. Research About the Company

One of the most important things that you have to do before going for your interview is to research the company you are interviewing for.

Your research would help you a lot with the interview as they might ask you why you want this job or why do you wanna work for us. What’s more important is if you know the background and history including the current status of the company, you can easily tailor your answer concerning the company.

Also check – Interesting Questions To Ask In An Interview

7. Know What They are Expecting to Hear

Sometimes you have to know your audience and provide them what they are looking for. This is very true in the case of being interview as well. You must know what your interviewers are expecting and then you can tailor your answer to their expectations. Know that you might be talking to your future boss and how you should treat them as well. The research for your company or the people who are taking the interview might help you.

8. Keep It Positive and Optimistic

Whatever you are saying, say with a positive and optimistic tone. Your interviewers must see your positivity and optimistic nature of yours with your answers. Choose the right words and place them in the right order. Your answer should not be negative in sort of way and you should sound hopeful to get the job.

9. Be Confident

Being confident during the entire time is the key to crack any interview. So if you do are going for the interview then you should work on your confidence. Keep eye contact, offer a strong handshake, and have confidence in your voice should be the most important things. Apart from this, your posture and dressing style also made an impact too. So whichever question you are answering, you should answer with confidence.

10. Know That It Is Your First Impression

You might have heard the phrase, the first impression is the last and it is very much true. As we have said earlier, this might be the question they would ask so your answer would be the first impression of yours. You have to keep that in mind too.

11. Practice Your Answer

You must practice your answer before going for the interview, so you will have fewer chances to ruin it! A Straightforward and Simple Formula to Answer the Tell Me About Yourself Question in Interviews. We have given you all the tips on answering the most asked question in the interview, still, we would like to sum it up for you and provide you a simple formula to answer the questions.

One of the most simple ways to structure the answer to this question is to analyze the past, present, and future of yours and sum it up in a short and brief description. Here what you need to include in the answer,

• Present:- your current life should have the minimum amount of focus in your answers. So just talk a little about your current life, maybe a recent big accomplishment, or the fact that you are looking for a job now for better opportunities.
• Past:- your past should be the most highlighted because this would tell them what you have done in your life and what you are capable of doing as well. Your past achievements and experiences should be well highlighted in your answer.
• Future:- tell them what you plan to achieve in your future and how you are going to accomplish your goals as well. You can also tell them why you want the job right now and how it is going to help to achieve your future goals.

These are the pretty common ways to structure your answer to these questions. The past, future, and present should be well balanced in your answer.

Conclusion

Here we have managed to tell you some of the best ways and tips to answer the Tell Me About Yourself question in interviews. These tips came straight from the experts and some professionals who know a thing or two about the interviews and how candidates can impress the interviewers with their answer to this question. So with this, we call it an end to our article and let’s just hope you found everything you have been looking for and our article was helpful to you as well.