"Tell me about yourself"

The job interview opener

It's often the first question, and most people answer it with a list of jobs and dates. The panel already has your CV. What it can't show them is how you work, and one short story can.

The shape

One story, five parts, about two minutes

1. Setup. A sentence or two on where you were: the role, the team, what was normal.
2. Catalyst. What changed: a problem landed, a project went sideways, a decision had to be made.
3. Tension. Two or three sentences on what you tried and what got in the way. This is where they see how you think.
4. Climax. The moment it turned: what you noticed, decided or changed.
5. Resolution. What you do differently now, and why that fits the role you are applying for.

How it can sound

I'd led a small support team for three years, and we were proud of answering everyone within a day. Then a system change two weeks before our busiest month doubled the queue overnight. Overtime was my first answer, and it just wore everyone out. What turned it was sitting with the queue for an afternoon and seeing that half the tickets asked the same four questions. We wrote four short guides and put them where people got stuck, and the queue halved in a week. That's how I work now: I look for the pattern before I add more effort.

The one detail to find

One moment you would want them to remember. Build the answer around it and cut whatever does not lead to it.

Leave out

Your whole career in order, anything they can read on your CV, and a setback with no learning at the end.

Build it

• Story Structure Builder: Choose the Job Interview setting and fill in the five parts, a sentence or two each.

Go deeper

• Module 4: Context Is Everything: The Same Story, Five Different Ways: The same story told for an interview, a dinner and more
• Module 4: Story Length Adaptation: 2 Minutes, 5 Minutes, 10 Minutes: What to keep at two, five or ten minutes