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.
