Why "Tell me about yourself" keeps going wrong

Why the resume walk-through fails

"So I did my engineering in 2014, then I joined..." The interviewer has your resume. Reading it back to them takes three minutes and tells them nothing new. Worse, it starts with your oldest, least relevant job.

Now, proof, next

1. Now: what you do and for whom, in one sentence.
2. Proof: one or two things you did that this role will care about. With a result.
3. Next: why this role, at this company, is where that goes.

An example

Under a minute. Three sentences. And it hands the interviewer an obvious follow-up: tell me about that rebuild.

Tailoring it per role

Keep the "now" the same. Swap the proof for whatever the job description leans on hardest. Rewrite the "next" for every company. If your "next" works for any employer, it is not saying anything.

If you are changing careers

Lead with what carries over, not with the apology. "I have spent five years running operations for a logistics company, and the part I was best at was the data work, which is why I am moving into analytics." The old career is the reason you are interesting, not a gap to explain.

Practise it out loud a few times with HUNT's interview practice, which scores it for structure and concision and measures your pace. See interview prep.

Related: How long should an interview answer be?, Practising behavioural interviews without scripts and STAR method without sounding like you memorized STAR.