Tell Me About Yourself - Structure a Strong Answer

Summary

This video offers a detailed strategy for answering the common interview question, 'Tell me about yourself.' It introduces the present, past, and future answer structure, which focuses on your current role, past achievements, and future goals. The highlight method is also discussed, emphasizing the use of concise, impactful examples to influence follow-up questions. The video concludes with a sample answer and stresses the importance of preparing this response to set the right tone and boost confidence for the rest of the interview.

Takeaways

• 🎯 The 'Tell me about yourself' question is pivotal as it sets the tone for the rest of the interview and can influence subsequent questions.
• 📈 Use the present, past, and future format to structure your answer effectively, providing a clear narrative of who you are, how you got there, and what value you can bring.
• 🏆 Highlight your current role, recent achievements, and success metrics to showcase your professional identity and accomplishments.
• 🌟 Employ the highlight method to draw attention to key strengths or experiences that align with the job requirements, prompting potential follow-up questions.
• 📚 Tailor your past experiences to the job you're applying for by focusing on attributes that the role seeks, even if your experience is not directly related.
• 🔮 The future portion of your answer should briefly reinforce your fit for the role and paint a picture of how you could contribute to the team.
• 💼 For professionals, detail your current role, achievements, and how they relate to the job you're interviewing for.
• 🎓 Students can apply the same structure by discussing their field of study, recent projects, internships, and leadership experiences.
• 📊 Keep your answer concise, relevant, and under one minute for each section to maintain the interviewer's interest.
• 🔗 Use data and results from your experiences to demonstrate your capabilities and the value you can bring to the role.

Q & A

What is the purpose of structuring an answer using the present, past, and future format?

The purpose is to provide a clear and concise snapshot of who you are currently, how you got to your current position, and what value you can bring to the role you're interviewing for.

Why is it important to keep the present section of your answer within one minute?

Keeping it within one minute ensures you stay focused on the most relevant and current aspects of your professional life without going off-topic.

What should you include in the present section of your 'tell me about yourself' answer?

You should include your current role, the success metrics you're measured against, and a recent achievement you're proud of.

How does mentioning your success metrics in the present section demonstrate your results orientation?

It shows that you are goal-oriented and confident in your abilities, as you're highlighting your achievements and the standards you're held to in your current role.

What is the main goal of the past section in your 'tell me about yourself' answer?

The main goal is to highlight key strengths or takeaways that you want the interviewer to remember, by sharing experiences that align with the attributes the role is looking for.

How can you make your past experiences relevant to a role you're interviewing for, even if they're not directly related?

You can focus on the transferable skills and attributes from your past experiences that align with the requirements of the new role.

What is the highlight method mentioned in the script?

The highlight method involves taking a small, impressive part of a larger story and including it in your answer to trigger follow-up questions from the interviewer.

Why is it beneficial to use the highlight method in your 'tell me about yourself' answer?

It helps keep your answer concise while still impressing the interviewer, and it can lead to more in-depth discussions about your experiences during the interview.

What should the future section of your answer accomplish?

It should reinforce why you're a good fit for the role by painting a brief picture of how you could contribute to the team in the future.

How can sharing a sample answer, as provided in the script, help viewers prepare for interviews?

It gives viewers a practical example of how to structure their own answers, highlighting the importance of aligning personal experiences with the job requirements.

What is the significance of the 'tell me about yourself' question in an interview according to the script?

It sets the tone for the rest of the interview and can boost your confidence if answered well, as it influences what the interviewer will ask next.

Outlines

00:00

🎯 Setting the Tone for a Strong Interview

The video introduces the importance of answering the 'Tell me about yourself' question well, as it sets the tone for the rest of the interview and can influence the interviewer’s follow-up questions. The video skips common advice and focuses on structuring a strong response using a 'present, past, and future' format, the 'highlight method' to guide the interviewer's focus, and offers a sample answer. While no universal answer exists, the goal is to provide a strong structure adaptable to various use cases.

05:02

📊 Present: Who You Are Right Now

The 'present' part of the answer should give a snapshot of your current professional life, staying under one minute. It should highlight what you do in your current role, how your performance is measured, and a recent achievement. This section helps establish your professionalism and keeps the answer focused and relevant. Examples are given for working professionals, such as a consultant organizing training workshops, as well as students, who can focus on academic projects and internships.

⏳ Past: Showcasing Key Strengths

The 'past' section allows you to showcase strengths and experiences relevant to the role, again staying concise within a minute. It should focus on two or three attributes the role requires, and tell brief but impactful stories that highlight these qualities. The video gives examples of how to tailor the same experience for different roles, such as marketing versus accounting, emphasizing that the same experience can highlight different strengths.

🔮 Future: Reinforcing Your Fit

The 'future' section is a quick 30-second conclusion that ties everything together and reinforces why you're a good fit for the role. The goal is to have the interviewer visualize you as part of their team. The example provided features a candidate for an accounting position emphasizing her past experience managing finances and how it relates to her future aspirations in the field.

🌟 Using the Highlight Method for Impact

The 'highlight method' involves briefly mentioning a significant part of a larger story to spark the interviewer’s curiosity. This method ensures your answer remains concise while triggering follow-up questions that allow you to expand on the story later. The video highlights how the method has been woven throughout the 'present, past, and future' structure, for example, using a $500,000 deal as a highlight to engage the interviewer.

💼 Sample Answer: Demonstrating the Techniques

The video concludes by providing a sample answer from Jeff, a product marketer at Google. Jeff uses the 'present, past, and future' format, mentioning his role in Google’s App campaigns and his achievements in shifting a major event online, leading to a significant increase in signups. He then reflects on his past experience in sales and consulting, emphasizing his communication skills. Finally, Jeff ties his experience to his fit for the new role, showcasing how the answer can be structured to highlight strengths and accomplishments.

📢 Final Thoughts: Mastering the Key Question

The video wraps up by reinforcing that mastering the 'Tell me about yourself' question is crucial as it sets the tone for the rest of the interview and builds confidence. It encourages viewers to apply the methods discussed to create their personalized answers and invites them to subscribe for more tips and insights.

Keywords

💡Interview

An interview is a formal meeting in which one person, typically an employer or a member of a panel, assesses the suitability of an applicant for a job or position. In the context of the video, the interview is the central theme, focusing on how to effectively answer the 'tell me about yourself' question to set a positive tone for the rest of the interview.

💡Answer Structure

Answer structure refers to the organization and sequence of ideas in a response. The video emphasizes the importance of structuring one's answer using the present, past, and future format to convey information about current role, past experiences, and future aspirations effectively.

💡Present, Past, and Future

This concept is used to structure the 'tell me about yourself' answer. The 'present' part focuses on current professional role and achievements, 'past' on previous experiences and key strengths, and 'future' on how these align with the job being interviewed for. The video provides examples for each part, such as mentioning current role at Ernst and Young and a significant achievement.

💡Highlight Method

The highlight method is a technique where a candidate selects a key moment or achievement from their past to emphasize in their answer. This method is designed to keep the answer concise and engaging, prompting the interviewer to ask follow-up questions. The video illustrates this with an example of using a $500,000 deal as a highlight.

💡Influence

Influence here refers to the ability to affect the interviewer's thoughts or actions. By strategically mentioning certain achievements or experiences, a candidate can guide the interviewer's subsequent questions. The video suggests that mentioning an impactful achievement can plant follow-up questions in the interviewer's mind.

💡Professional Capacity

Professional capacity denotes one's role, responsibilities, and contributions in their current job. The video advises starting the 'present' part of the answer with a snapshot of oneself in their professional capacity, such as being a management consultant at Ernst and Young.

💡Success Metrics

Success metrics are the standards used to measure performance and achievements. The video suggests including these in the answer to demonstrate a results-oriented mindset and confidence in one's capabilities, like mentioning organizing training workshops as a contribution.

💡Relevance

Relevance in this context means ensuring that the information provided in the answer is pertinent to the job being interviewed for. The video stresses the importance of staying on topic and avoiding irrelevant personal details to make a strong impression.

💡Concise

Being concise means delivering information in a clear and brief manner. The video advises keeping the past portion of the answer to a maximum of one minute, emphasizing the need to be succinct while still effectively showcasing one's strengths.

💡Attributes

Attributes in this context refer to the skills, qualities, or characteristics that are relevant to the job. The video instructs identifying the attributes the role is looking for and selecting experiences that best demonstrate these, such as communication for a sales role.

💡Follow-up Questions

Follow-up questions are additional inquiries made by the interviewer based on the candidate's initial answer. The video discusses how mentioning highlights can trigger these questions, allowing the candidate to delve deeper into their experiences and achievements.

Highlights

A great answer to the 'Tell me about yourself' question can influence the interviewer's subsequent questions.

Structure your answer using the present, past, and future format to create a strong narrative.

In the present portion, focus on your current role, success metrics, and a recent achievement.

For working professionals, clearly state your current role and responsibilities to show professionalism.

Mentioning your success metrics demonstrates that you are results-oriented and confident in your abilities.

Highlighting a recent achievement keeps the interviewer engaged and encourages follow-up questions.

For students, the present portion can focus on field of study, recent class projects, internships, and leadership experiences.

In the past portion, highlight key strengths or takeaways relevant to the role you are applying for.

Identify two to three attributes the role is looking for, and use experiences to showcase these attributes.

Select key moments within your experiences to serve as highlights in your answer.

The same experience can be tailored to highlight different attributes depending on the role.

In the future portion, reinforce why you are a good fit for the role, making the interviewer imagine you on their team.

Use the highlight method to mention an impressive part of a larger story, encouraging follow-up questions.

A sample answer combines present, past, and future aspects to create a compelling narrative.

Nailing the 'Tell me about yourself' question sets the tone for the interview and boosts your confidence.

Transcripts

- Most people realize that a good answer

to the tell me about yourself question

sets the tone for the rest of the interview.

What some people miss is that a great answer

will help you influence what the interviewer will ask next.

In this video, I skip all the common advice

you might find in other tutorials

and dive right into number one,

how to structure a strong answer

using the present, past and future answer format.

Number two, how to use the highlight method

to influence the interviewer.

And number three, leave you with an answer I'd give

if I were interviewing right now.

Although there is no one-size-fits all answer

to the tell me about yourself interview question,

there is a strong answer structure

that is universally applicable.

So while I do provide a sample answer at the end,

the main takeaway of this video

should be the methods I use

and how you can apply the same structure

for your own use cases.

Number one, using the present, past

and future answer structure.

Interviewers want to know in order of importance,

who you are right now,

how you got to be there, and what value you can bring

to the role you're interviewing for.

Present, past and future.

Starting with the present,

this is a snapshot of yourself

in your current professional capacity.

It should be kept within one minute

and include the following.

What you do in your current role,

the success metrics you are measured against,

and a recent achievement you are particularly proud of.

If you're working professional,

the present portion might look something like this.

I'm currently a management consulting with Ernst and Young

focus on Finance Shared Service Center projects.

My primary contributions to the team are number one,

organizing training workshops for our clients

adopting the new SAP system.

And number two, putting together pitch decks

through market research

for future business development opportunities.

A recent one I'd like to share is when I use data

from a free trial of eMarketer to put together a deck

on B2B marketing trends in China, which ended up helping

my senior manager close a $500,000 deal.

By stating your current role right off the bat,

you show the interviewer that first and foremost,

you are a professional.

This will also help you stay away

from going off topic into something too personal

and therefore irrelevant.

The town you grew up in, the musical you're a part of.

Then mentioning your own success metrics

shows that you are results oriented.

You know exactly what your goals are on the job.

It also shows you're confident in your capabilities,

because why else would you bring it up?

Finally, the impactful achievement that you briefly touch on

keeps the interviewer engaged with your story

and plants follow up questions in their minds.

Wow, which eMarketing report was this?

Why was the client sold on the B2B marketing trends?

And we'll talk about this concept of influence

a bit more later on.

Although the example I gave just now

was for working professional,

if you're a current student,

you can use the exact same structure.

Simply start off by saying what field of study you're in,

then dive immediately into recent class projects,

internships, and leadership experiences.

Don't worry about the impressiveness level of your story,

but rather the qualities you're conveying about yourself

as you tell it.

If you found this first tip helpful,

drop a like and comment down below

to help me with the YouTube algorithm as they say.

Now on to the past portion of your answer.

This is where you really get to show off

and highlight key strengths or takeaways

you want the interviewer to remember.

This part should be another minute maximum.

Coming up with stories that make you look good is easy.

Keeping them concise, relevant and under one minute is hard.

So here's what we wanna do.

First identify two to three attributes

you feel the role is looking for.

If it's sales, this would be communication,

stakeholder management.

If it's accounting, this might be attention to detail,

strong analytical skills.

Then scroll through your mental Rolodex of experiences,

projects, internships, to figure out which one's best suit

the attributes that they're looking for.

Finally, and this might be the hardest step,

select one key moment within each experience

to serve as the highlight of that experience.

If you're a student interviewing for a marketing position,

your past portion might look something like this.

As the events coordinator for our business fraternity,

I'm responsible for planning, executing

and tracking our weekly workshops.

Since this requires a lot of promotional marketing materials

such as fiscal flyers and email newsletters,

I took the initiative to try free online tools

such as Canva and MailChimp to better engage our members.

After other student bodies

noticed our new marketing materials,

they actually came asking for help.

And so I conducted a small group training

for 30 other event coordinators as a result.

The training received a satisfaction score of 98%.

Some of you might be thinking right now,

well, Jeff, her experience is related to marketing.

So that was an easy answer.

I'm applying to a role I don't have much experience in.

Okay, imagine the same candidate

were applying for an accounting position.

In that case, the same event coordinator

should focus on how she managed the budget

for the entire year

and how she kept track of her fraternity's expenses.

As you can see, the same experience can be

and should be applicable

for the different attributes you wanna highlight.

Finally, the future portion,

this is just a quick 30-second wrap up

where you reinforce the reasons

why you're such a good fit for the role.

The objective here is that the interviewer imagine

ever so slightly,

how it makes such good sense for you to be on their team.

Following the previous example,

let's just say that our event coordinator

is applying for the accounting position.

Her future portion might look something like this.

As someone who has been managing our fraternity's finances

for the past year,

I'm glad to have been able to apply the concepts

that I learned in my accounting classes

in real life situations.

This has further reinforced my interest

in pursuing accounting as a full time career.

My experiences combined by international background

make me a strong asset

to the Financial Advisory Services team at Ernst and Young.

By the way, I have a Facebook group

where I share weekly tips,

consider joining if you haven't already,

I'll link it down below.

Number two, the highlight method.

In a nutshell, the highlight method

is where you take a small part of a larger story

that you have already prepared for

and only include that part

in the tell me about yourself answer as a highlight.

This helps you keep your answer concise

while mentioning something impressive.

If done right, the highlight that you mentioned

should trigger the interviewer to ask follow up questions

that lead to your larger story.

If you've been paying attention up to this point,

you've probably already noticed

that we've been sprinkling in highlights

throughout the present past and future answer structure.

For example, in the present portion to US$ 500,000 deal

that you helped close is the highlight

and you should have the rest of the story prepared

using the star format.

All right, putting off that together.

Here's a sample answer I'd give

if I were interviewing right now.

So Jeff, could you tell me a bit by yourself?

Sure, I'm currently a product marketer

here at Google covering the Greater China region.

I mainly work on App campaigns,

a Google product aimed at app developers.

Specifically, I have two objectives, number one,

to reach as many new-to-Google app developers as possible.

And number two, increase product adoption

among our existing app advertisers.

My team and I achieve these goals

through a mix of online marketing campaigns,

offline events and content marketing.

For example, one of the tentpole events I helped launch

is called Start on Android China,

where we leverage resources

from our Play, Ads and AdMob teams

to deliver a comprehensive training bootcamp

for Greater China App Developers.

The goal is to address their pain points

at each stage of their app export journey.

A notable achievement was when we decided to pivot

from a three-day offline event format

to a three-week online one.

That actually resulted in a five times increase

in eligible signups before marketing,

I was a key account manager in the sales team

covering around 30 B2C Chinese exporters.

Since that's quite a few clients

for just one person to cover.

I actually created YouTube videos to better engage

my clients at scale.

Funny story, you can still actually find those videos

on YouTube right now.

This in addition to the support

for cross functional team members

helped me achieve revenue attainment

without missing targets for two years straight.

Before joining Google, I was a management consultant

with Ernst and Young for two years.

One year based out of New York City

and another out of Shanghai,

I worked on a variety of projects ranging

from supply chain management

to shared service centers.

Due to the nature of these projects,

I would often find myself

as the only consultant physically on site,

and therefore I was really able to develop my communication

and relationship management skills.

Having spent the past six years

in predominantly client-facing roles,

I believe the communication skills I've developed,

combined with my international background,

would make me a strong asset

to your global business development team.

(claps) And there you have it a step by step guide

on how to nail

the tell me about yourself interview question.

I sincerely believe this is the most

important interview question to get right.

Not only because it sets the tone

for the rest of the interview,

but also if you do get it right,

it gives you a huge confidence boost right at the beginning.

I hope this video helped.

Subscribe if you haven't already,

and comment down below if you have any questions.

See you on the next video and in the meantime, (clicks)

have a great one.

(soothing music)