Tell Me About Yourself

Warm-up: Your first 60 seconds

2 warm-up questions

• Have you ever been asked “tell me about yourself” — in an interview, or meeting someone new? What did you actually say?
• What do you think the interviewer really wants when they ask this question?

Reading: What interviewers are really judging

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What interviewers are really judging “Tell me about yourself” is usually the first question — and many interviewers admit they start forming a decision in the first minute. You're not being asked for information. You're being given 60 seconds to impress. In that minute, the interviewer is silently judging three things. Relevance: can this person do this job? Confidence: can they communicate clearly under pressure? Preparation: did they care enough to prepare? Most candidates fail by accident: they tell their life story in order — school, first job, second job… The interviewer switches off. Strong candidates answer with a structure that selects only what makes the interviewer lean in. That structure is what you'll master today.

Vocabulary: Language that impresses

6 items

Framework: The Present–Past–Future structure

Present – Past – Future, 3 steps

Present – Past – Future: The 60-second answer that interviewers love: where you are now, the experience that got you here, and why this role is your next step. Each part is 2–3 sentences — no life story, only what makes them want you.

Reading: Three model answers

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Three model answers Same structure, three very different people. Notice how every answer is under a minute, and every sentence earns its place. The software developer (applying to a fintech startup) “I'm currently a backend developer at a logistics company, where I specialise in payment systems — I rebuilt our checkout flow and cut failed payments by half. Before that, I spent two years at a bank, which gave me hands-on experience with the security side of money. I'm drawn to this role because you're building payments from zero, and that's exactly the next step I want.” The career changer (teacher → HR role) “I'm currently finishing eight years as a high-school teacher, where day to day I specialise in explaining difficult things simply and managing thirty personalities at once. Before that path, I trained in psychology, and I've taken ownership of our school's new-teacher mentoring programme. I'm drawn to HR because it's the same skill — helping people grow — applied to a company. This change is the next step I've been preparing for.” The recent graduate (first marketing job) “I'm currently finishing my marketing degree, where my final project — a real campaign for a local café — doubled their Instagram followers in two months. Alongside study, I've had hands-on experience running social media for my university's film society. I know I'm at the start, but I'm drawn to this internship because your brand was the case study that made me choose marketing — working here would be the perfect next step.”

Practice: Build the phrases

Gap-fill exercise, 6 items

• I'm ____ a project manager at a software company.
• I ____ in customer experience for online stores.
• I have a proven ____ record of hitting my sales targets.
• Before that, I took ____ of our three biggest accounts.
• I'm ____ to this role because of the international team.
• For me, this position is the natural next ____ in my career.

Dialogue: Your interview, live

Role-play: A real interview for a job you actually want. (3 lines)

• Thanks for coming in. So — tell me about yourself. Use the structure: Present (your strongest now), Past (one or two highlights with evidence), Future (why this role). Aim for 45–60 seconds.
• Interesting. Which part of that experience do you think is most relevant to US specifically? Pick ONE thing from your answer and connect it directly to their company. This tests whether your Future step was real.
• And where do you see yourself in three years? Stay consistent with your 'Future' — growth in THIS direction, at THIS company. Ambitious but loyal.

Discussion: Deliver your 60 seconds

3 discussion questions

• Now build YOUR real answer — present, past, future — and say it out loud. Aim for 45–60 seconds. (Tutor: time it!)
• Second take: say it again, but cut anything that doesn't make the interviewer want to hire you. What did you remove?
• Compare this with your messy version from the start of the lesson. What's the one sentence you want every interviewer to remember about you?