Tell me about yourself.

Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
What You Need to Know
Experienced Example

According to one of Meta's Full Loop Interview Prep Guides, one of the purposes of your interview is to assess whether you would thrive or flounder in Meta's fast-paced and highly unstructured environment. They want to learn more about your background, what you're passionate about in tech, and what kind of impact you want to make. So come prepared to share a well-structured narrative of your background and interests, what you're passionate about in tech, why you're looking to make a change in your career, and what kind of impact you hope to make at Meta. "It's important to prepare ahead of time for interviews designed to get to know you better." This is your opportunity to share stories and examples of your past work, what you've learned along your career journey, what it's like to work with you, and how you feel about the types of challenges you'll face at Meta.

One of the signals your interviewer will watch out for will be how effectively you communicate your answers throughout your interview. This may inform them of how well you'll communicate with their teams, and with their cross-functional partners, and whether you can tailor your communication based on your work and/or your audience. To help construct your answer, Meta's recruiters recommend you use the STAR method.

"Use the S.T.A.R. method to mentally organize your thoughts. This will provoke a well-thought-out and chronological action of events. Easy to describe, easy to follow. You can practice this method using the Journaling Exercises in the Preparation Hub within your Career Profile. S: One or two sentences about the SITUATION: What happened? T: Describe the TASK: What was your specific goal? A: ACTIONS you took to overcome the obstacles and complete your objective. R: The tangible / quantifiable RESULTS of the situation: How did it help the team/company? Have concrete examples or anecdotes. Support each question with practical experiences and examples. Avoid theoretical answers. If you go into a theoretical tangent, your interviewer will redirect you to provide a concrete example."

"I first grew intrigued with code when I was teaching myself how to build my profile page on Myspace. Then, when Facebook came along, I abandoned Myspace of course. But I was still addicted to code and created a few apps here and there. Small fun games. For quite a while, it was a dream of mine that I'd create the next big app and Facebook would buy it from me. Although I have developed a few, and some I've sold to smaller outfits, I later landed a career developing apps for companies. But the dream of working with Facebook was still there. So, I revamped my career goals and steered my development and learning with the aim of working for Meta. Having gained the right skills and experience, and learning all I can about the company, I feel like I am already a metamate, and hope to meet the rest of the teams."

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How to Answer: Tell me about yourself.

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Facebook job interview.

18. Tell me about yourself.

Why the Interviewer Asks This Question

According to one of Meta's Full Loop Interview Prep Guides, one of the purposes of your interview is to assess whether you would thrive or flounder in Meta's fast-paced and highly unstructured environment. They want to learn more about your background, what you're passionate about in tech, and what kind of impact you want to make. So come prepared to share a well-structured narrative of your background and interests, what you're passionate about in tech, why you're looking to make a change in your career, and what kind of impact you hope to make at Meta. "It's important to prepare ahead of time for interviews designed to get to know you better." This is your opportunity to share stories and examples of your past work, what you've learned along your career journey, what it's like to work with you, and how you feel about the types of challenges you'll face at Meta.

Written by Kevin Downey on January 17th, 2024

What You Need to Know

One of the signals your interviewer will watch out for will be how effectively you communicate your answers throughout your interview. This may inform them of how well you'll communicate with their teams, and with their cross-functional partners, and whether you can tailor your communication based on your work and/or your audience. To help construct your answer, Meta's recruiters recommend you use the STAR method.

"Use the S.T.A.R. method to mentally organize your thoughts. This will provoke a well-thought-out and chronological action of events. Easy to describe, easy to follow. You can practice this method using the Journaling Exercises in the Preparation Hub within your Career Profile. S: One or two sentences about the SITUATION: What happened? T: Describe the TASK: What was your specific goal? A: ACTIONS you took to overcome the obstacles and complete your objective. R: The tangible / quantifiable RESULTS of the situation: How did it help the team/company? Have concrete examples or anecdotes. Support each question with practical experiences and examples. Avoid theoretical answers. If you go into a theoretical tangent, your interviewer will redirect you to provide a concrete example."

Written by Kevin Downey on January 17th, 2024

Experienced Example

"I first grew intrigued with code when I was teaching myself how to build my profile page on Myspace. Then, when Facebook came along, I abandoned Myspace of course. But I was still addicted to code and created a few apps here and there. Small fun games. For quite a while, it was a dream of mine that I'd create the next big app and Facebook would buy it from me. Although I have developed a few, and some I've sold to smaller outfits, I later landed a career developing apps for companies. But the dream of working with Facebook was still there. So, I revamped my career goals and steered my development and learning with the aim of working for Meta. Having gained the right skills and experience, and learning all I can about the company, I feel like I am already a metamate, and hope to meet the rest of the teams."

Written by Kevin Downey on January 17th, 2024

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