Tell Me About Yourself: Here’s how to craft a memorable response

If you’re going into an interview soon, you can expect to answer some form of the question “tell me about yourself”. Employers want to know about you – your experience, your background, and how you will contribute to the company’s goals. Career Coach Libby Scanlan has a formula to create a memorable reply.

Have background information before the interview.

You’ve heard this before and it’s important. Prepare for your interview, and how to respond during the interview, by doing background research about the company before the interview.

What are you known for and what is your expertise?

Think about the types of problems you’ve solved and what you’re really good at doing. Start your response with: “I’m known for X and am an expert at (the kind of problems you can resolve).

What are you proud of?

Your next sentence is “What I’m most proud of is…” Use the problem example you set to talk about what made you proud of yourself. Did you accomplish a personal goal? Did you learn something unexpected or achieve exactly what you meant to?

Which other industries have you worked in?

Follow up the earlier discussion of your background by talking about the other industries or environments you’ve worked in. Talking about how your expertise has solved problems for other communities gives credit to your claims.

How will your skills help the company?

Close your statement by talking about how your skills will benefit the company. You can say: “based on what I know about your company (again, background research), I believe (say what you can do to help the organization meet it’s goals).

A Career Coach can give you personalized advice for making the most of your job search strategy. Sign up for your own Career Coach today.