Tell Me About Yourself: How to Answer the Number One Job Interview Question
Job interviews make everyone nervous, no matter the language or the job.
But doing a job interview in English, your second language? I know that can be stressful and scary. You feel the pressure of performing well + the pressure of the interviewer evaluating your English skills.
Let’s start with the number 1 question and – often – the most challenging question: “So, tell me about yourself.”
What does this question really mean? What does the interviewer want to hear? What should or shouldn’t you say?
There are several reasons the interviewer uses this question:
- Start a conversation
- Get a first impression of you
- Evaluate who you are/what you have to offer
- Quickly assess whether you might be a good fit for the job
Without a doubt, this is an important interview question. Because it is often the first question and it’s your first chance to present yourself, you want to do this well.
The good news is: No matter how nervous you feel right now, you can answer this question with 100% confidence in English.
I know you want to express yourself freely in English. You want to sound intelligent, like the professional you are. You want to feel confident. Today’s lesson will help you do that when you have to answer: Tell me about yourself.
You’ll learn 3 essential dos and don’ts for answering this question + I have a free workbook you can download to help you prepare your perfect answer, step-by-step.
Everything you need to know about the number 1 job interview question.
Tip 1: Choose the Right Focus
- Don’t: Give your life story
- Do: Focus on your experiences, accomplishments, and strengths that relate specifically to the job
The purpose of this question is to quickly get to know you and establish whether you might be a good fit for the job. The interviewer does not want to know where you were born or the story of your childhood.
To best answer this question, you want to focus on your career-related abilities, achievements, and goals that are connected to this particular job.
Bad example:
“Well I was born in New York but my family moved to Iowa when I was young. I always wanted to be an engineer but when I started university I realized I loved biology. Oh, that reminds me, during university I had this amazing travel abroad experience …”
Good example:
“I’ve been working in policy research for nearly 8 years. In my most recent position, I’ve become an expert on health care policy and how it impacts families with lower incomes. Just this past year I contributed significant research and policy advice to a presidential effort and we were successful …”
A FREE RESOURCE
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Tip 2: Stay Focused and Be Relevant
- Don’t: Repeat your resume word for word
- Do: Give a quick overview of your greatest achievements/strengths
Your resume will likely provide a complete history of your work experience. And that is great. But in this question, the interviewer does not want to know about your first job 15 years ago. So in this first question of the interview (remember – there are many more questions coming next!) just focus on the highlights of your career and expertise.
Bad example:
“Well, as you can see from my resume, I started as a cashier for a clothing store 16 years ago. I did that for a couple years while I studied at university. Then I became a …”
Good example:
“I’ve spent the last 6 years sharpening my design skills at the largest and most innovative architecture firm in Chicago. I’ve developed a reputation for understanding what our clients want and staying right on budget.
Overall, I think my greatest strength is connecting to people. When our clients communicate their needs, I truly hear what they want and I work tirelessly to find the design solutions that will match their needs.”
In the good example above, we immediately know the person’s strengths and achievements: design skills, understanding clients, staying on budget, connecting to people, and dedication.
But in the bad example, the focus is on one job after another without any information related to strengths or skills needed for this new position.
“I know you want to express yourself freely in English. You want to sound intelligent, like the professional you are. You want to feel confident. Today’s lesson will help you do that.”
Tip 3: Be Ready to Answer
- Don’t: Speak for too long
- Do: Have a precise, well-prepared and well-practiced answer
The interviewer uses the “Tell me about yourself” question to get a brief overview of who you are and what you have to offer to the company or the position. The key to that is sentence is the word brief. Most recruiting professionals recommend a 2-3 minute answer. No more. This isn’t the time to share your life story. Instead, this is your time to highlight your awesome strengths and achievements.
The best way to prepare for this is:
- Write your answer
- Practice and time yourself
- Edit and rewrite
- Practice and time yourself again
- Repeat this process until you are satisfied and ready for this question
Use the good and bad examples above + the FREE step-by-step workbook to help you create your best answer to this question.
Now it’s time to practice and share your answer.
Review this lesson and download the free workbook. Then share your answer in the comments section below. Or read what others have said for an example.
After you share, tell me: what continues to be your greatest challenge or worry about job interviews in English? I want to help you be as successful as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you in the comments!
~ Annemarie
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Hi Anne!
I’m Linh- your student :). I’d like to download TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF free workbook, but I don’t know where is your Free resource library? I found it in Fluency School Resource Library and I couldn’t see it.
Could you guide me how to download it?
Thanks and best regards,
LinhV.
Hi Linh!
Sure – you just have to enter your name and email address when you click on the image. When you do, you’ll immediately get an email with a link to the resource library where you can find the Tell Me About Yourself workbook. I hope this helps. 🙂
Best, Annemarie
Hi Linh,
I just wanted to see if you were able to download the workbook? Or are you still having troubles downloading it? Let me know so I can make sure you get it. 🙂
Best,
Annemarie
Dear Ms. Anne
Thank you so much for sharing me your lesson, it is really helpfull for me, you have done great job Ms. Anne. Hope i will get fluent in english soon like you do.
Have great day Ms. Anne😊
Hello Wahyu,
Thank you for the comment. I’m very glad to know it was useful to you.
Best, Annemarie
Dear Anna,
I’m Annisa from Indonesia. I’m so happy when I found your wonderful web. It’s very helpful. I have an interview on March 2, I hope they choose me as a part of their company. Wish me luck..
Hello Annisa,
Thank you so much for your comments and yes! I wish you much luck for your interview on March 2. I have several lessons available to help you prepare for a job interview in English. You can find all the links in this lesson about the number 1 job interview question.
And please do let me know how your interview goes. Best wishes, Annemarie
Hello Annemarie
I want to say that I have job experience of 5 years. I was a computer teacher in a reputed school. My job was so simple. I don’t have any achievement and no other extra activities.
So how can l prepare for another job by using your lesson. My introduction statement end up only after few sentence. There is nothing to make it good one. So how can I prepare it well.
Can u help me please.
Hello Archana,
Thank you for the question. Even if you feel your job was simple, you still used many skills as a teacher. I recommend writing down what skills you used to teach, clarify information, manage a classroom, create materials, etc. Many of the skills you use as a teacher can be used in other jobs as well. After you have your list, identify 3 or 4 of the most important or useful for the new job you want. This is a great place to start in a job interview.
Best, Annemarie
Hello Annemarie,
I’m really excited to join this practicing page to improve and practice my English. I’m a second year Software engineering student. I have a very good computer skills using Microsoft office and programming using C++,Java and C# . I don’t have a job experience yet, but I’m a fast learner, team sprite and hardworking that looking for this position to utilize my proven and developing programming skills.
It will be great if you reply to my email and tell me if I made mistakes.
Thank you,
Hello Nahid,
I’m very happy to know this lesson was useful to you. And I hope it will help you fully prepare for future job interviews you might have in English. It sounds like you have many strong skills to get you started.
Thank you for sharing your comments! ~ Annemarie
I mean, when I talk about myself I do talk about my extraclass activities, a social project that I lead, my exchanging program in USA…
Hello!
I am applying for a chemical engineering intern position. The first step is a video interview. I have 3 minutes to answer these questions:
1. We want to know more about yourself…
2. Why did you choose your degree? What do you do when you are not in class? Tell us about your experiences, exchanging programs, volunteer work…
3. Tell us about a a difficult fact that you have faced. How did you solve the problem? What were the outcomes?
4. What would you change in the way we display our products in order to improve the selling?
The “problem” is that they want just the first question to be answered in English, the others must be in Portuguese.
How do I do that without being repetitive?
Hello Thayna,
I’ve just seen this question. I know I’m late in responding and you were already successful in your interviews, but I wanted to respond because someone else might have the same question.
In this case, my advice would be not to worry too much about repeating yourself for two reasons:
1. The first question is giving you a chance to show that you can communicate in English. You may repeat some details in the following questions using Portuguese but…
2. The “tell me about yourself” question is a big-picture question. The interviewer wants a 2-3 minute overview with a few highlights. The following questions, which you’ll answer in Portuguese, allow you to provide much more detail and get specific.
I like to imagine this situation: You’re in an art museum. You’re standing across from a painting that you really love and you have some distance between you because you want to see (and admire) the whole picture. You want to get a feeling for it. And then, after some time, you walk much closer to the painting so you can see the fine details and to understand how the painter created it.
Tell me about yourself is a way to highlight the whole picture of you – your strengths, experiences, expertise, and/or accomplishments. The following questions allow you to provide the details.
I’d love to know how the interview went for you and how did you decide to answer the English vs. Portuguese questions in the end? Best, Annemarie
Good Day Mrs Annemarie
I have recently signed up here in your speak confident english, first i want to thank you for this awesome advices really i found them helpfully, i have read all the comments of our colleague and i wont be shy to admit my difficult too in english, as every one i have difficult in speaking i cant speak i have to take time to think and translate the words from my mother languege then speak i know this is not a good way to speak a foreign language.
anyway thank you so much for these emails i will you from nowadays
have a great day
Hello Alami,
First, welcome to my Confident English community! Thank you for joining. And also, thank you for commenting. I love hearing from all of you.
I’m glad to know this lesson was useful to you. And your feeling about having to take time to think and translate from your mother tongue is exactly why I started Speak Confident English and my Fluency School course. 🙂 I’m certain you’ll continue to find the weekly lesson helpful to you.
Best, Annemarie
Hi Anne Marie ,
I’m glad to meet you in this challenge and i hope to improve my speaking
frankly , my biggest difficulty in English is speaking
I take some time to think about replying during speaking and translate my words from my native language to English
i need your helping for that
I’ll be grateful for you if you help me
thanks
Thank you for your comment, Mohamed. The best practice for improving your speaking is to speak. Do you have others you can practice with at work or school? If not, a conversation partner can be a great way to get regular speaking practice or a speaking course. I wish you continue success. ~ Annemarie
Hi Anne Marie! I’m Aksh. I have recently signed up for your fluency challenge. I am extremely excited and look forward to a wonderful and enriching learning experience. As my first task I have attempted to frame the interview answer.I am not a professional so i haven’t added any details to it
I am currently pursuing a degree in commerce. I am a diligent person and believe in passionately doing whatever job I take up. I am studious, hardworking and responsible person. I have participated in many co-curricular activities throughout my schooldays which include debating,writing and dramatics.Overall apart form scoring really well I have always paid due attention in honing other traits of my personality.I wish to know more about my field and stock market in particular interests me.I keep myself up to date with the recent happenings in the stock market.
I would like to share that the major problem I face while communicating in english is incorrect grammar and sentence formation. Particularly the tenses and use of had and have is something I am never able to understand. I am apprehensive when it comes to expressing myself in english because I fear using wrong words and generally end up doing so. I get so nervous and anxious at times that even if I was able to say something earlier, I become scared now from the fear of being wrong. If possible please suggest me a remedy or ways to shed my fear and improve my english.
Thank you !!
Hello Aksh,
Thank you for your comments and I’m glad to know you’ve signed up for my Confident English list with an opportunity for the next Fluency Challenge. Many of my students start classes with me because they have the same fears and challenges with English as you have. The good news is that with commitment and regular practice, you can overcome those fears, communicate more accurately, and speak fluently.
You’ve provide a good start to answering this common job interview question. I would recommend adding specific details that can demonstration that you are diligent or harding working or responsible.
Thanks again for your comment and I wish you continued success! ~ Annemarie
Hi I’m shahzad, i am new here. I have red all coments regarding to the lesson and got many new things from miss Annemarie and other ones. So my question to miss Annemarie could you help me to get fluent in English speaking. My problem is that when i try to speak i feel inconvenience and distribution. So plz help me to get ride from speaking impediments thanks
Hello Shahzad,
Thank you for your comment. I’m glad to know the lesson was helpful to you.
If you’re interested in classes, you can learn more about my courses here: Online Classes. Best wishes, Annemarie
You a very good teacher. And I am sure I will be able to speak and write english well in a few days.
If I didn’t work with any organization and I have only a field experience of not more than 4 months. How should I answer that question?
Hello Joan,
I’m glad this lesson was useful to you.
In this comments section, I answer a very similar question. Some Confident English learners are finishing university and have never had a job, so what should they say? You can find my answer to this question in the comments and I would recommend you use a similar outline.
Feel free to write your answer and share it with me here in the comments. ~ Annemarie
Thank you Anniemarie…..your confident in English lessons are really motivating me…..i’m not very good in English,,i’m trying with your help.
doing great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been working as a nurse for the past 10 years. My background through out my nursing carrier is A/E department. I love to work in A/E department and i’m proud to be an A/E nurse. i’m dedicated, sincere, honest and hard working in my field. i have a good experience, good communication skills and knowledge in nursing. I have done recent ACLS and BLS courses. i’m interested in updating my knowledge. i’m capable to new surroundings easily. i would like to be one of the team member in health care organization. i will give my best care to the community who is sick and injured.
please check and give me your feedback and corrections….thank you
Hello Aldrin,
Thank you so much for the comment! I’m thrilled that you find these lessons motivating and useful to you.
And thank you for sharing answer to the question, tell me about yourself.
A couple of notes:
If you are speaking to someone who is not in medicine, they might not know what an A/E Department is. I would recommend defining what that means the first time you use the acronym.
For your courses, we often use the words “complete” or “finish” when we are done with a course. How could you update that sentence?
One recommendation would be to include a specific example of how you are dedicated, sincere, honest, hard-working, or have good communication skills. Is there a short story or example you could use to highlight one of those characteristics?
And don’t forget, in writing, you should always use a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and the word “I” should always be capitalized as well (including I’m and I’ll).
~ Annemarie
Hi Annemarie,
Your advice about writing out and studying your potential answer is really powerful. I work with my students this way to prepare them for their interviews in English. It really helps with their confident and accuracy when they go to the actual interview.
Hello Sabrina, Thank you so much for the comment. And yes, it is certainly a powerful way to help students prepare for interviews (and for speaking exams as well!).
nadia on October06,2016.Hello Annemarie, I m very grateful to you for these lessons. I feel in good hands with you and Im very motivated to be one of your excellent trainees.
Hello Nadia,
Thank you so much for your comment. I’m thrilled that these lessons are useful to you and you’re feeling motivated! Keep it up! And I hope you’ll join me for the upcoming Fluency Challenge.
Best, Annemarie
hello annemarie , i’m glad that i meet your site and become one of this challenge , i’m sure i will be here always because i always searching for a teacher who tell’s me how much i have more mistake in writing and speaking .. thank you so much to give me this chance 🙂
I’m glad the lessons on Speak Confident English are useful to you, Salim. There are many opportunities to improve writing and speaking using lessons on this site. Feel free to review them all here: http://www.speakconfidentenglish.com/online-lessons/
Best, Annemarie
Thanks Annemarie for your valuable lessons.
Started practicing the topics , one for a day.
Also i was bit fast in speaking to others, can you suggest me how to reduce my speed ?
Hello Anne, Thank you so much for your comment! I’m thrilled that you are finding the Confident English lessons useful to you!
As for speaking quickly, it is very useful to hear yourself speak so you can identify what to improve. One thing I do with my students and I highly recommend is to record yourself speaking. You can practice answer this interview question and record yourself (with video or audio). Then listen and ask yourself these questions. When do you usually speak too quickly? And why do you do it?
Then practice the question again, try to slow down, and record it. Listen and repeat.
One useful way to help you slow down is to breathe more deeply between sentences or key points. Try saying one sentence, stopping with a deep breath and then the next sentence. It will feel very slow at the beginning, maybe even too slow. But it will help you find a natural balance when speaking.
I hope this helps and thank you again for the comment! ~ Annemarie
Annemarie,
I just couldn’t sit without telling you thanks so much. You are really a source of inspiration, motivation and future brighter. I found all your comments awesome and really helpful, I wish I will be those who will be so benefiting from your ideas. Anna I got one problem in ma life that’s, how to improve my punctuation in writing, vocally or orally am fluent and I can speak at any gathering because I have public speaking ability and confidence since I was young, because I do used to play Drama when I was going to school. I found it very hard to improve my writing skills, I hope you can serve as a great role for me in that point.
Thanks once again for you marvelous contribution and help.
Thank you so much for your comment and feedback. I’m very happy to hear that this post was useful to you.
While I focus primarily on speaking skills and fluency, I think it is a great suggestion to do a future lesson on punctuation. Would you mind sharing with me what is most challenging for you with English punctuation?
Thanks again,
Annemarie
Well I would say where to used commas and full stop are always ma main problem. If am writing fast, I always don’t know where I should used them and normally how to separate my ideas within the sentence. Thanks alot, you had gave me a lufe guide on the job interview, whichiI always dreamt of, I think preparing myself at the age of 18 with this familiar things will give me a more strength and confidence in my work career. Your explanations are well equipped and helpful.
Thanks a lot once again.
Hello, Anne Marie,
Thanks for good lesson and new look to the task.
I had experience on both sides and could advice interviewee – don’t make long pauses. It makes your more nervous what to say next – from one side and interviewer starts boring and probably thinking your are dumb. If you lost your thread it is better to admit it aloud with a smile. Interviewer will help you to gather.
Hello Eldar,
Thank you for the comment and what a great piece of advice.
Like you, I’ve been an interviewer and an interviewee. I can say you are absolutely correct. A great expression to help you move to the next thought is, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve lost what I wanted to say but …” and then continue with the next point.
Thanks again, Eldar. ~ Annemarie
It’s very good and clear what you said , i think i need alot of vocabularies to improve my english , anyway i am so glad to join you , thank you annemarie 😊
Hello Ahmed,
Thank you so much for your comment. I’m so glad this lesson was useful to you!
Best wishes, Annemarie
Today I received a great question about this topic! A reader asked:
“However, sometimes the interviewee has absolutely no experience or has not worked before .For example, here in [name of country removed] , we don’t have part time jobs. In this case, how should the interviewee answer the questions considering his 0 experience? What is the interviewee supposed to say to the interviewer?”
I really appreciate this question.
The reality is you can use this same process to answer the question but, instead of focusing on previous work experience, you can use your previous life experiences. You can identify your strengths, areas of knowledge, achievements, opportunities in leadership and your skills. Some examples include:
– University education
– Research papers
– Presenting at a conference
– Volunteer positions
– Participation in clubs (such as student government, the school/university newspaper, etc.)
You can consider the feedback your professors have given you that might highlight particular strengths or skills you have. Or think about the areas of research you have focused on for your university papers. If you participated in a club, what role did you play? What responsibilities did you have? What skills did you acquire?
When you are applying for your first job, the interviewer does not expect you to have previous work experience but will still ask you many of the same questions, so do not be afraid to use examples from your other life experiences.
I hope this helps to answer this great question!
Here is my attempt to tell about myself. Hope, I am on the right way 🙂
I have spent last two years as Deputy Editor-in-Chief at “Saint-Petersburg University” magazine. It was very interesting and exciting job. I like science, like tell about it and I really can do it well. Our magazine won a media competition for the best university magazine in Russia. It is not only my achievements, of course. We had a very good team and helped to each other for the best results. My biological background helped me a lot in this job, because a large part of the investigation at the university relates to medicine and biology. But I would like to do more in the popularization of science and now I have good experience and good skills for more ambitious projects.
I love this Yulia! Great job!
You’ve done an excellent job of briefly describing your background and most recent position. And your passion (a strength) is clear.
One question to think about: why/how do you know you are good at scientific journalism? That might be a follow-up question when you say, “and I can really do it well.”
It is nice that you describe the team efforts for the magazine in your achievement – it shows that you are a good “team player.” And you’ve included your educational background with how it contributes to what you do.
And finally, you finished with your ambitions. You did each step perfectly. Really well done, Yulia. There are a few small grammatical points that I can help you with via email.
Thank you so much for sharing your answer here. That takes a lot of courage! I’m impressed. ~ Annemarie
Thank you very much for your answer and coments! About my high level in my job skills I can say what, for example, I have published in good and popular magazines, not only Russian. Last year my article was published in the Science magazine. It is a big deal for every scientist or for science journalist.
Sometimes it is a bit difficult to tell about myself, because I don’t like to brag. But I understand, what job interview is a best moment for it. And I will be very appreciate you it you correct my grammar. Thank you very much, dear Annemarie!
Great Yulia, I would recommend including specific examples of where you have been published and highlight the languages you’ve been published in. When you talk about your skills and achievement, you can use something like:
For example, “I’ve been published in [example 1], which is very significant for every science journalist.”
If you want to add something like that to your example, go ahead and do so, then we’ll work on the grammar.
Nice work! ~ Annemarie
Thank ,you, Annmarie ! It is really very helpful and motivating. 🙂
Hello Iman, thank you so much! I am really glad you found it helpful to you!
Will you be doing an interview in English? ~ Annemarie