Notes · Note 07 · 3 min read
What to say when someone says “so, tell me about yourself”
It sounds like the easiest question in the world. It’s also the one that makes grown adults list their job title and then stop.
The question is wide open on purpose. The person asking wants to see what you pick. Most of us panic at the choice and fall back on a list: job, city, hobbies. Lists are hard to listen to and easy to forget.
01Pick one thread
Choose one thing that explains a lot about you. Maybe it’s that you switched careers, or that you grew up between two cities, or that you can’t stop fixing things. Start there and let the rest hang off it.
02Give it a now, a before and a next
A simple shape works almost everywhere. What you do now, how you got there and what you’re curious about next. In an interview the next points at the job. At dinner it gives the other person something to ask about.
A list is hard to listen to. A thread gives people something to hold.
03Add one detail nobody else would say
“I work in marketing” could be anyone. “I write the emails you delete at 7am” is you. One specific detail makes the whole answer easier to remember.
04Say it out loud before you need it
This is one answer you can prepare without sounding rehearsed, because the shape stays the same and the details change with the room. Say a version of it out loud a few times. Then stop at about a minute and let them ask something back.
Try it tonight
Answer one question out loud and watch Young Woman with a Water Pitcher color in while you talk.