Structure for 'tell me a little bit about yourself' question in FIT?

Hi,

“Tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume”- this is how Consultants usually begin the interview. It's an opportunity for them to learn about you and to pick some interesting facts. "Tell me about yourself question" is similar to "Walk me through your resume"

1. This is not the story, so you don't need to have the story STAR structure
2. This is not about the challenge, it's about your career path
3. Start with a short 1 sentence summary of who you are. You can mention your unique selling point and structure your lifepath around it
4. Depending on your experiences continue either from the first or from the last role (the later you are in your career the more sense it is to start with last one)
5. For each role in addition to the description add a memorable project or experience with high impact / cool companies and brands involved that will stay in the memory of the interviewer
6. In the end, say why consulting is a logical continuation of your career path

Best

That's a question I asked myself several times. I came to the conclusion, that the following is in my opinion a good approach on how to answer this question. The total answer takes about 2 minutes. By the way, I am not an expert, so it could be totally wrong.

1. General Facts (~15 seconds): Brief summary of your age, where you live, University ...

2. Adjectives that describe you well (~90 seconds)

"I would describe myself as  ,  and a  ."

2.1. Adjective one (~30 seconds)

"First..."

• thesis: e.g. "I would describe myself as an interdisciplinary person"
• reason: e.g. "I really enjoy working on the interface between business and technology"
•  example (facts from your CV): e.g. "That's why I choose the interdisciplinary study program business administration and engineering"

2.2. Adjective two (~30 seconds)

"Second..."

• thesis
• reason
• example

2.3. Adjectvie three (~30 seconds)

"Third..."

• thesis
• reason
• example

3. Why do these characteristics make you a good consultant (~15 seconds)

e.g. "Consultants have to be , , in order to ,  and "

Hope that helps.

Let me know, if you think that this approach is not appropriate :)

Chronological is obviously more standard - and more boring. Low risk, low reward.

A more interesting way is to go across to really hit on the various qualities you want to put forth. That will also allow you to really structure. For example:

"Over the course of my career, 3 different qualities keep popping up:

• First, I identify significant pain points and opportunities;
• Second, I am able to craft a story and sell it to the various stakeholders;
• Third, by bringing a diverse team of unique individuals together, we think up and implement creative solutions to unlock $multi-million value.

Let me explain with a couple of examples..."

Dear A,

Chronological structure for you FIT question might take a lot of time for you to reply and thus it's vry difficult to take the nessessary things. So, I would recommend you to start with a summary sentence of your background, why you are relevant for consulting (or some specific company).

Next, talk about 3-4 of your roles (may be professional, education, extracurricular). The more experienced you are the more you should speak about professional roles. It can be also the distinct roles within the same organization (Company, your responsibilities, you greatest achievements there), and also your main reason why consulting or this company.

Best,

André

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Furthermore, you can find 2 free cases in the PrepL case regarding FIT preparation:

Intro and CV questions > https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/introduction-and-cv-questions-fit-interview-preparation-200

Motivational questions > https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/motivational-questions-fit-interview-preparation-201

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes for the Integrated FIT Guide, since we still have some left from the launch!

Walk me through your resume OR tell me about yourself - nothing could be easier than this questions, and nothing can be tougher. the easiest way to make it your answer unstructure is to go through your resume in a chronological way. Basically the question behind this question from the interviewer is to get an understanding how is your experience, skills and accomplishments make you an ideal candidate for that specific role. 

So, to answer brilliant on this question take out from your resume the most relevant experience and structure your narration in a way that will reply to the following questions:

1. How led you to that role

2. What did you learn from that role

3. How did that influence your next steps

Does it make sense to you?

GB