Answer: “Tell me about yourself” (the right way)

It's the most predictable question in any interview, and somehow still the easiest to fumble — because “anything” is harder to answer than “something.” The interviewer isn't testing your biography. They're offering you the wheel for ninety seconds to frame the whole conversation.

Present, past, pull

• Present — one sentence on what you do now, tuned to what they're hiring for. Not your title; your relevance.
• Past — one or two beats of how you got here, chosen because they explain a strength you'll use in this role. Skip everything that doesn't serve the story.
• Pull — why this role, specifically, is the sensible next step. Name something real about it. This is where prepared candidates separate from rehearsed ones.

Keep it at ninety seconds

Long answers here are a tax on the interview: they eat time you'll want later and hand the interviewer reasons to interrupt. Ninety seconds, landing on the pull, ending with your voice going up — an opening, not a monologue.

Practice it out loud, not in your head. The head version is always smoother. Say it three times and the seams show up — the sentence you always trip on, the beat that runs long. Fix those and the answer stops sounding rehearsed, because it isn't anymore; it's just known.