Tell Me About Yourself: How To Craft An Answer

“Tell me about yourself.” It’s a squirm-inducing question most of us can expect from any job interview, and it’s one of the toughest to answer well. But the question is also an opportunity for you to shine and lay out some appropriately humble-bragging about why you’re the perfect fit for the job.

As you would for any other part of the interview, you should be practicing and prepping for the question ahead of time. Thankfully, you shouldn’t need to study up to craft an answer about yourself, but it’s still important to think carefully about what to include in your response.

Here’s how to craft an answer for the interview question, “Tell Me About Yourself.”

Your first priority in talking about yourself is establishing a sense of professional experience. Your interviewer has likely already read your resume, but it’s the details of your job history (and day-to-day responsibilities) that rarely jump off the page. Still, you don’t want to get bogged down rambling about the intricacies of your last few jobs: paint in broad strokes and hit buzzwords along the way. In general: keep it short and to-the-point and try to finish with a note about why you want to work for the company. The best thing you can do is explain how your career momentum has brought you to this company you want to work for and make a case for the job being a logical next step.

Even if pressed, don’t overshare with personal information. While detailing your every life move and passion—where you grew up, went to college, why you love movies, etc.—might help build a rapport with your interviewer, you want them to remember you for professional reasons, not because you both like a particular sports team. The best type of personal info to share is current, like, why you invested in the locale and plan on sticking around for a while.

Take a look at a possible response below and remember to keep your answer professional but personable.

“I’m a senior copywriter at HAL, where I work directly with clients and a team of designers. Before my current job I worked at another agency where I wrote copy for a handful of local technology businesses. After spending a few years as a copywriter I’ve found I enjoy working directly with software clients most of all, which is part of the reason I jumped at this opportunity to work here.”