By Carlo Coumoutsos, Managing Partner at Landing Point
What’s the Best Way to Tackle the “Tell Me About Yourself” Question?
The “Tell me about yourself” question is often the first in an interview—and yet it’s one of the hardest for candidates to answer confidently. Candidates frequently struggle with how much personal information to share, where to begin, and how to end.
This question is more than a formality. Interviewers are assessing both your professional background and your interpersonal skills. Your answer sets the tone for the conversation, builds rapport, and gives you a chance to demonstrate personality alongside experience.
Watch as Carlo Coumoutsos, Managing Partner at Landing Point, breaks down how to craft a compelling and natural response to this common interview opener.
[Video of Carlo Coumoutsos, Managing Partner, explaining how candidates can answer the “Tell me about yourself” interview question by blending professional experience with personality to create a human connection.]
Key Takeaways
Start with a professional outline — Share your background, education, and relevant work experience in a concise, logical order.
Include personal touches — Add small details about hobbies, interests, or hometown to make the conversation memorable.
Engage the interviewer — Sprinkle “breadcrumbs” that invite the interviewer to relate or ask follow-up questions.
Build human connection — Show personality to demonstrate you’re someone people can work alongside comfortably.
How to Nail “Tell Me About Yourself”
While seemingly simple, this question is a critical opportunity to frame yourself professionally while conveying who you are as a person. Here’s how to maximize your answer:
- Craft a narrative: Begin with your education or early career, summarize your relevant work experience, and conclude with your current interests and motivations. For example, mentioning a connection to a school, city, or industry can spark rapport.
- Blend personality with professionalism: Employers want to know that you have the skills to succeed, but also that you’ll fit into the team culture. Sharing a hobby or interest provides that human element.
- Keep it concise: Aim for a 90-second response that’s structured but leaves room for back-and-forth conversation.
- Practice without scripting: You want your answer to feel natural, not rehearsed, so practice key points rather than memorizing word-for-word.
- Leverage recruiter insights: Landing Point recruiters can help you tailor your response to what employers are really looking for.
Related reading: Interview Preparation Tips for Junior Candidates
Ready to Improve Your Interview Skills?
Mastering the “Tell me about yourself” question is all about striking the right balance between professionalism and personality. By framing your experience as a clear narrative and weaving in authentic personal touches, you can set the tone for a strong interview in the first few minutes. With preparation—and guidance from recruiters who know what employers want—you can turn this challenging opener into a powerful first impression.
Transcript
Carlo Coumoutsos:
When you’re on an interview, the hardest question to prepare for should be the easiest, which is, tell me about yourself. Because people have difficulty knowing where to begin, where to end. How much do I say? How much do I reveal? Do I give off personal information? Do I not? And there’s no one-size-fits-all all. You really don’t know what the interviewer is looking for, what they’re going to relate to or grab onto.
If it’s one of the first questions you get in an interview, I think it’s important to start at the beginning. Maybe not from birth, but you say, here’s where I’m from. So I will tell you about me. My name is Carlo. I was born and raised in Queens, New York. I went to school at Fordham University, where I majored in accounting. When I graduated, I started at PwC, where I joined their audit practice working on asset management clients.
And then I would go into my work experience a little bit in an outline, and then I’d end with saying, in my free time, I enjoy traveling. I enjoy watching the Knicks, the Yankees, the Jets unfortunately. I get a little bit of personality there. And then say, and I’m eager to learn more about you and about your firm because this definitely seemed like an exciting opportunity. You’re putting the ball in their court to say, hey now, tell me about you guys.
But also, you’re sprinkling some breadcrumbs about your history, where you’re from, what you like to do in your spare time, where you went to college. Things that they might then say, oh, you went to Fordham. My daughter went to Fordham, or you’re from Queens, what part?
You want to engage in as much of an ongoing, fluid conversation as possible, and that’s the way to do it. There has to be that human connection. They have to feel like they can work with you and alongside of you for most of the day, most of the week. So show them who you are.
About Carlo Coumoutsos
Carlo Coumoutsos is the Managing Partner at Landing Point, where he oversees the firm’s Accounting & Finance, Capital Formation & Investment Support, and Tax & Family Office practices. He partners with clients across the Tri-State area and beyond on executive search and finance leadership hiring for asset management, private equity, and family office platforms.
With a background as a CPA and former PwC auditor, Carlo brings precision, credibility, and deep financial acumen to every search. Notable searches include CFOs and financial leadership roles across diverse investment entities and multi-family offices.
A hands-on mentor and integral part of Landing Point’s growth, Carlo leads the firm’s training programs, continuing education, and partnerships with academic and community organizations that support career readiness. He is known for a balanced approach that combines technical expertise with relationship depth and long-term client partnership.
Carlo holds both a BS and MS in Accounting from Fordham University and lives in New York with his wife and four sons.