Nail The ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ Job Interview Question

The “tell me about yourself” job interview question isn’t just a warm-up question — it’s a chance to sell yourself as the perfect candidate for the job. Prepare your best answer with this three-part statement approach.

Photo by Ambrophoto.

The Personal Branding Blog recommends you craft your answer to include a summary of your career history (one sentence), an example of one career accomplishment (one or two sentences), and a summary of what you want next in your career that’s relevant to the position at hand (one or two sentences).

Here’s the example given:

“I am a chemical engineer with eight years of experience, four which were in process engineering at Clorox working on improving plant productivity and four in specialty resin chemical sales where I help customers develop new products that improve their competitiveness in the marketplace. (Part One)

“Recently, through networking, I learned of a company that had great products except for their concrete coating line. I knew that we had a resin that would enable the company to develop a faster drying concrete coating, thereby improving the company’s ability to compete more effectively in their marketplace. I called on the decision-makers, got their interest, worked with R&D and helped them develop a product line that resulted in $US2 million in new sales for the company in the first year, which meant $US400K in new sales for us. (Part Two)

“For the next step in my career, I would like to be with a larger firm with more resources so that I can continue to drive business and grow sales for both the company and my customers in a wider variety of applications. Once I have proven myself and earned the right to get promoted, I would like to use my skills to lead and develop a sales team.” (Part Three)

Note that the answer is targeted to the job, not a personal biography — because hiring managers don’t really care where you grew up. What matters most is how you’ll contribute to the company.

Beware the “Tell Me About Yourself” Job Interview Question! [Personal Branding Blog]