MBA Interview - Tell me about yourself

The "Tell me about yourself" question is similar to "Walk me through your resume" in terms of contents but requires a slightly different structure and formula when answering this question.

Following are the most important take-aways.

Objectives of "Tell me about Yourself"

The answer to this question should not take more than 2-3 mins and should contain a concise yet strong overview of your career choices and your take aways in each of these choices. 

Your answer to this questions should

• be between 2 -3 mins long
• highlight your employers & your positions
• point out how each position has contributed to your development (in other words: take aways)
• explain the reasons why you changes positions
• end with describing your current position and explain your motivation for pursuing an MBA

Many people say you should also highlight strengths in your answer. This is totally up to you. From my point of view you indirectly highlight your strengths by explaining what you have learned. It is great to mention you learned skills such as "Communicating effectively", "Working in cross-functional teams", etc. If you make sure your take-aways match these type of answers, you indirectly highlight your strengths.

And even if they don't, there is always a question that asks about your strengths and weaknesses.

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Tell me about Yourself Formula

With this formula you should be able to rock this question. Start by introducing yourself with your current role and highlighting your country of origin if you come from an underrepresented country (Note that underrepresented is a good thing in this context as it adds diversity into the classroom.)

My name is [NAME], I am from [Country, if you are an international student] and I am currently working as [Position] at [Company Name].

Follow by briefly summarizing how many years of work experience, what industries you have worked in, and what education you have achieved.

I have a total of [X] Years of work experience in the [X, Y, ...] industry/(-ies) and I hold a [Bachelors/Masters/PhD] degree in [Major] from [University & Location].

Now that you have given an introduction of who you are it is time to speak about your past experiences, what you have learned, and why you switched the job or role.

I started my career as [POSITION] at [COMPANY] where I [brief description what you did there].  I got first insights into [SKILL / AREA] and learned [SKILL AREA] and discovered my interest for [INTEREST]. In order to [Follow my Interest / expand my knowledge / evolve further ... depends what firs your story] I joined [Company #2] as [Role #2]

--> Continue with that formula for each and every position you've had. Make sure you mix up the wording a little bit so it does not sound all too redundant

After you talked about your past experiences and take aways it is time to close the answer by conluding your current position, your short term goals and why you want to purse an MBA.

I have worked in my current position for [X] years and feel that I have come to an edge of what is possible w/o a [formal business education / an MBA ] and I'm looking to complement my [MAJOR] profile with the necessary business knowledge in order to purse a career in [SHORT TERM GOAL]

This last part will vary a little bit depending on your profile. Basically, you want to highlight you short term goal, make clear that you can't achieve it w/o an MBA, and how an MBA will help you.

You can read my article "Reasons for an MBA" to fund an adequate reason that suits your profile best.

Read the article Tell me about yourself examples to see this formula applied to different profiles.

View Most Common Questions in MBA Interview