"Tell me about yourself."

[011235813]

How do you go about answering the question "Tell me about yourself?" Do you think your response is informed by your type (MBTI or enneagram or whatever)?

You can also answer the question itself.

 

[/DG/]

Is this a job interview?

I really can't imagine anyone asking this question outside of that context. And even in that context I'm really not fond of the question. It's much too open ended for anything useful to come out of it in that situation.

 

[Amargith]

Im likely to ask the person asking this question to narrow it down. What exactly are you looking for when asking this question? How specific and broad do you want me to get?

And yes, I suppose it would be informed by enneagram and mbti, due to what Ive learned through those tools about myself, but no, I wouldnt bring them unnecessarily.

If you re asking whether each type would answer this question differently, I suppose that could be true. I can see Ts being more suspicious about this question, and Fs going in more detail, particularly Fi perhaps.

 

[RDF]

How do you go about answering the question "Tell me about yourself?" Do you think your response is informed by your type (MBTI or enneagram or whatever)?


You can also answer the question itself.

I use an old sales trick called the "personal commercial."

In the sales profession, they say that you should write up and practice a “personal commercial,” i.e., a quick introduction saying who you are and what you’re about. Something you could give in the duration of an elevator ride in case you bumped into someone you wanted to meet.

I use the same thing for meeting people on a daily basis. I include several items of standard personal info: Name, residence (name of town, not specific), what I do for a living (when I worked), where I originally come from and what brought me here, and some basic interests/what I do with my day.

I don’t necessarily dump it all out there in one rush. But that’s my starting point: To get that info out there and then start questioning the other person for the same info from them.

I don't think use of the "personal commercial" is informed by my MBTI. Basically I started using the "personal commercial" because previously I would always fumble situations when I had to introduce myself or talk about myself. Before learning about the "personal commercial," I tended to blank out and have difficulty coming up with much of anything.

 

[Mole]

'Tell me about yourself' is a cliché, so I would be inclined to answer it with humour.

However I feel the cliché would tell me more about the inquisitor than about me.

 

[21%]

I think "Tell me about yourself" (where no clarification follows) is just lazy. So, if someone asks me this I will definitely not answer.
[MENTION=3325]Victor[/MENTION] 's suggestion is also good: answer with humor.

 

[citizen cane]

I think I may have said this before, but its perhaps my least favorite question ever- it's far too vague.

 

[011235813]

The reason I asked the question is because I saw the "Tell me about yourself" question on a type me questionnaire somewhere and wondered how people would feel about it.

Like most of you, I dislike this question and usually panic internally when it's asked in job interviews. You would think I would have learned how to answer it smoothly by now.

The creator's justification for putting it in was that people actually do have the freedom to answer it any way they choose without having to answer overly narrow questions that obviously seek confirmation of one type-related characteristic or the other but don't say very much about them as a real, living, breathing person.

On the other hand, it does appear that most people find it too difficult to answer it without any kind of structure to frame their responses. This should be taken into account when asking questions: you can't expect to get useful information out of it if people have no idea how to answer and don't want to try.

I was wondering if anything this open ended would go down well with people at all. How about "Tell me a story about yourself?" Would you prefer that? I think I would.

 

[Nicki]

Terrible question, so vague, what are you supposed to say? "I'm a human being" "I like casseroles and the rain" It causes so much awkwardness.

 

[mintleaf]

How about "Tell me a story about yourself?" Would you prefer that? I think I would.

Sure, as long as it wasn't supposed to be hugely representative of who I am. That would be really stressful, trying to come up with one anecdote to sum up your personality.

 

[Ginkgo]

It seems like the easiest way for me to honestly tell someone about who I am is to inform them of my personal history. At face value, I imagine this information is a dry means of sidestepping the essence of the question, but I'd rather leave it up to them to make their own inferences and conclusions about my character than to convince myself that the contrived description I give them is true. Descriptions of personal history also offer measurable proof of my past abilities and skillsets, which ventures into territory closer to who I am, since abilities are more or less the footprints someone will leave on the world.

I do think my answer would be formed by my knowledge of my enneagram/mbti type. I think I've actually done this a few times but I wasn't satisfied with my description or how I appeared to have made an impression on the person I was speaking with.

 

[011235813]

It seems like the easiest way for me to honestly tell someone about who I am is to inform them of my personal history. At face value, I imagine this information is a dry means of sidestepping the essence of the question, but I'd rather leave it up to them to make their own inferences and conclusions about my character than to convince myself that the contrived description I give them is true. Descriptions of personal history also offer measurable proof of my past abilities and skillsets, which ventures into territory closer to who I am, since abilities are more or less the footprints someone will leave on the world.

I do think my answer would be formed by my knowledge of my enneagram/mbti type. I think I've actually done this a few times but I wasn't satisfied with my description or how I appeared to have made an impression on the person I was speaking with.

Bravo, Ginkgo. You get a gold star for actually answering the question in the OP. And a too.

 

[Ginkgo]

Bravo, Ginkgo. You get a gold star for actually answering the question in the OP. And a too.

 

[EJCC]

"Who are you" is SO much worse.

How I answer the OP question depends on the situation. If it's a job interview, I answer based on the characteristics and experience that the interviewer is looking for. (I will have prepared an elevator pitch in advance.) If it's someone I'm networking with, I'll give an elevator pitch, too. But if it's some random person I'm getting to know, I'll probably give my name, where I'm from, my educational background (since I don't have a job yet), and that'll be enough to get us started in a conversation. If not, I'll keep going to talk about my interests and the activities that I enjoy.

Edit: I think this is, in fact, type-related, because of how much my decision re: what to say is based on results. What do I want to achieve, in answering this question? What do I want them to think of me? What will get a conversation going? Honesty is implied, but it's more a matter of deciding how I spin the facts, and which facts I emphasize.

 

[Aquarelle]

I like to answer it by throwing out a bunch of weird, random facts about myself:

I can name the US states in alphabetical order. I speak French. My favorite color is blue. I've been a member of a hung jury. I was born in Arizona. I have two dogs. My favorite flowers are daffodils and lilacs. I've showered at a truck stop. I play the flute. I know how to use a sword. I'm addicted to coffee. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite dessert. I met my husband online. I love Star Trek. I enjoy line dancing. I don't paint my nails.... and so on and so forth.

"Who are you" is SO much worse.

Definitely! There is no good way to answer this question. Either you can simplify and answer with the symbol that represents you in your totality (i.e. your name), which likely gives the person no new information, or you can list of every single thing about yourself, which is obviously impossible, but is also the only accurate way to answer the question.

 

[garbage]

"I'm an ENFJ. Look it up."

I guess that answer would be type-related

 

[93JC]

I usually answer "I like long walks on the beach," because that's the quickest way to let the person asking the question know I'm a jackass.

 

[Lexicon]

Typically, if it's job-related, I'd answer as Tater would.. as that's the most apt response for a broad inquiry like this. I don't really attribute this to knowing my type; it's been the same formula since I started working at 14. Know what people want, share what you've done to illustrate what you're capable of and willing to do/learn. /shrug
Knowing MBTI didn't change anything really- it merely added terms for a kind of understanding that was already there, if that makes sense.

When it's a stranger who asks me, "Tell me about yourself," or [I moved a lot growing up] - when teachers tried to make me answer this.. I used to stumble through my hobbies, where I was from.. etc. Scraping around my mental filing cabinet for something that "fit." Eyes darting about the classroom, glancing at desktops as if the answers would be there. Hated it. Sometime in elementary school I started asking "why?" instead. I kind of understood back then that disciplinary action in elementary school had no actual bearing on my life (there is no "Permenant Record" - the after-school-specials lied, guys). So part of me stopped caring about how uncomfortable asking "why?" made people. I knew I wasn't truly doing something "wrong." This didn't earn me more or less friends, but sometimes it seemed to gain me some respect from people, including teachers, however most of them seemed irritated more than anything else.

I've done the same thing ever since. I go to see a friend's band play a show at a bar.. unfamiliars arrive, as well. One picks up conversation with me. "Tell me about yourself," or "What's your major?" "Where are you from?" I always ask "Why?" - and smile a bit at the pause, the flicker in their eye when the thought track gets shoved over, the vinyl scratch. Then I usually take apart that very introductory social protocol, noting how awkward stock questions can be, making some jokes here and there, point out that I'm a social retard, & more or less accept it. Seems to loosen things up. The person tends to stop fishing for questions/words, and we begin organically interacting (vs just exchanging info lists) like we've known eachother for much longer than we have. Either that, or they give me a blank look and get uncomfortable with the unexpected response.. but that's been sort of rare. In the end, no one's night seems wrecked, no one's offended, so.. I just go with it my own way. I do try to be nice to people no matter what, but, just because a stranger asks doesn't mean I owe them an answer, either way.. I don't particularly mind. The majority of the time, though, refusing to really answer that question seems to sufficiently answer it simultaneously, and we both pick up a new friend or pleasant acquaintance to say hello to at the next show.

Again, I dunno if that has anything to do with knowing my type (doubtful) - I also don't bring MBTI up to people in regular conversation.


I haven't spent much time around anyone beyond my insane family, and doctors for far too long.. so I'm interested in seeing how I'll handle interacting with the world again. Probably going to be a big twitchy weirdo for awhile.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Hypothesis: This question is easier to answer for Fi dom/auxes than Ti dom/auxes.

As for me, I'm not a fan. The answers I give all make me sound incredibly dull, even though I don't think I am. The question also comes up on first dates, too, not just job interviews.

Two more I loathe: Tell me about your hobbies. What do you like to do?

How about letting these things come up organically over the course of getting to know someone instead of trying to get spur of the moment answers that are likely to be inaccurate?

 

[chickpea]

I'm just a squirrel tryna get a nut.