How to Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" [in 2022]

How to Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" [in 2022]

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

1) Keep It Professional and Brief When answering, try to keep it under 1-2 minutes, at most. 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 first internship went, or what you studied in high school.

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

You want to stick to your main selling points that are relevant for the job. Pro tip: If you can see that the interviewer is getting distracted, you should take that as a sign that it might be time to wrap up. Here’s how you WOULDN’T answer this interview question...

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

2) Practice, But Don’t Memorize You’re bound to hear “tell me about yourself” on just about every interview. So, all you have to do is practice your answer a bit! Grab a friend and do a quick mock interview. Keep in mind, though, that you shouldn’t memorize your answer. Sure, it might seem like the safer option, but if you end 

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

up forgetting something on the interview, you might mess up your entire answer. Instead, come up with a general idea of what you’re going to talk about, memorize the structure, and just wing the rest on the interview.

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

3) Know Your Audience Or, know thy interviewer. It’s important to keep in mind who you’re talking to. Is it the HR? Business manager? The hiring manager? The CTO? CMO? CEO? You might be wondering, why does this matter? Well, the thing is, each of these people expect a different answer.

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

Let’s say you’re a software engineer, and you’re being interviewed by the HR manager. If you start going on and on about how much you love coding in Assembly, you’ve practically lost them. See, the HR manager doesn’t know anything about coding or assembly. They’re expecting a more generic answer about you, your career, and reasons 

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

for applying at the company. On the other hand, if you’re being interviewed by the CTO or the hiring manager, you can geek out as much as you want.

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

4) Remember W.A.P. (Work, Academic, Personal) Every good answer to “tell me about yourself” should consist of: – Work - This should make up about 80% of your answer. Focus on your previous experience and accomplishments here. – Academic - 10-15% of your answer should then be about 

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4 Essential Tips on Answering “Tell Me About Yourself”

your academic background (university, academic achievements, etc.). – Personal - Finally the last 5-10% should be about you as a person, while still keeping it relevant to the company. Keep in mind, though, that the W.A.P. rule isn’t set in stone. If you’re a student, for example, your entire answer could be about your academic career and personal interests.

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