“Tell me about yourself.”

Arguably, this is the most important question you’ll ever get asked in an interview.

Why is it a BFD?

Because this is the best, the earliest, and possibly the only opportunity you have to control the interview. You - deliberately or by accident - set the tone and direction of the interview.

“Tell me about yourself.” Too many of these answers are tl;dl. I’ve heard long rambling answers in both real and mock interviews. True confession, I can remember giving a long, meandering response to this question myself. I didn’t get invited back... The interviewer doesn’t care where you grew up, how many siblings you have, what your favorite dog breed is - your favorite sports team, hobbies, where you just went on vacation….the list is endless. You’re not telling them anything they want to learn, so they start to tune out. And most likely, they never truly, fully, re-engage.

So what should you say when invited to “Tell me about yourself?” For interview nerds, this is often called your personal positioning statement. Your answer should be concise and powerful. And potentially game changing. Because this is your chance to set the agenda for the interview. 

Concise in my world is somewhere between 120-150 words. Any more risks rambling and a loss of focus. Powerful means making every one of those words count. You want to keep it short and punchy so the interviewer doesn’t miss your setup at the end.

I recommend your 120 words covers four topics, not all of them equal.

1. “I am a <title that aligns with the job description>”

2. Something about your recent work experience that is relevant to the position you’re interviewing for. For example, “For the past 5 years I’ve worked on…..”

3. Articulate your strengths, especially those that align with the job description. For example, “I’ve successfully launched new products, I’ve managed a small team for over 3 years, and feedback from my manager is that I’m very skilled at….”

4. Now this is where it gets interesting. You could wrap up with, “And I’m now looking for….” But what if you lean hard on the detailed research you’ve done on the company instead? You can set yourself apart and lead the interview in the direction you want it to go. Doing deep research on a target company used to be a heavy lift, now it’s just a good prompt. What are the company’s growth initiatives? What product developments are on the road map? How is the company’s competitive strategy shaping up? What does the view of financial analysts tell you about opinions outside the company bubble? How powerful would it be if you closed your personal positioning statement with something like: “I saw in your recent investor presentation that ACME corp is planning to grow in Latin America. I’ve launched products in Latin America and enabled the sales teams to win early adopters in those markets. I’d love to use my proven experience to help you do the same.”

That’s your most important words of the whole interview, right there, in the second minute. You’re leading the interviewer to ask you about the experience you want to discuss, and the skills that make you stand out.

“Tell me about yourself” is a gift. Don’t squander it.