Do You Want To Tell Us Anything Else About You? (Answers)

“Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is an interview question that trips up more applicants than it should. This is unfortunate because it’s straightforward and a great opportunity to cover anything important that’s been missed!

This resource helps you answer this question, figure out what to add, and provides some great example answers to make the process easier.

The Reason Interviewers Ask This Question

During a job interview, you’ll hear many questions about your skills, personality, work history, and more. These meetings can feel intimidating, but they’re often over sooner than most realize. It’s not until you hear a question like this that you realize your time with the hiring manager or interviewer is over.

“Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is a question that typically comes when the interviewer is wrapping things up. It’s a signal that the conversation is almost over. You might be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief, but you’re not out of the woods just yet.

Interviewers ask this question for many different reasons. The biggest is to allow you to talk about anything that didn’t come up during your conversation (which is why it’s a common final interview question). For example, maybe there’s an essential skill or piece of your work history that you believe is relevant to the interviewer’s decision. This is the time to bring it up!

Resumes and job applications only provide limited opportunities to discuss what you can bring to the table. They outline your basic qualifications and work history but don’t cover soft skills, unique experiences, or other essential details. This question gives you the opening you need to talk about those details.

Another reason you’ll hear a question like this is to help you provide clarity on a detail. Interviewers understand that things happen and nerves get in the way. Perhaps you blurted out something you didn’t want to say earlier in the conversation, or maybe your words came out wrong and created confusion. Whatever the case, this question is your opening to provide clarification and set the record straight.

“Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is an interview question that you should view as an opportunity to deliver a closing argument. It’s your last chance to leave a positive first impression. What do you want to talk about before the meeting ends to ensure that you look as qualified of a candidate as possible?

Use this opportunity to cement your interest in the role, remind the interviewer what value you have to bring to the company, and leave the conversation with a last memorable discussion.

How to Answer, “Do You Want to Tell Us Anything Else About You?” 

“Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is an interview question that’s actually rather straightforward! Unlike other questions you might get during the process, this one isn’t trying to trick you or unveil any secret information. It’s relatively straightforward and acts more like a functional wrap-up to your meeting.

That said, your answer to this question still matters. While it’s a great opportunity to clarify details and make a positive impression, giving a bad answer could hurt your chances of getting a job offer right as you cross the finish line.

To avoid that, here are some tips on how you can develop a suitable response.

1. Prepare

The best tip you can get for nailing any interview question is to prepare. Never go into an interview blind. Not only does that show unprofessionalism, but it’ll make it challenging to ensure that you’re creating the image you want for the interview.

“Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” might not seem like a question that requires much prep work, but that isn’t the case. The goal here isn’t to create and rehearse a specific answer. Instead, it’s to memorize what key points you want to make.

Think about the most relevant skills and experiences you want to talk about during your interview. You can even jot down the most important key points you want to make. Memorize that list. That way, you can quickly reflect and identify if any of those crucial details were missed.

That’s how you know what you talk about when this question arises. If you don’t prepare and develop a plan of attack for your interview, how do you know what talking points you didn’t get to share?

2. Stay on Topic

Another important tip is to keep your response relevant. “Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is a question that’s all about circling back, tying up loose ends, and discussing essential details that will help the hiring manager decide. It’s not for bringing up irrelevant facts or sharing tidbits of information that have nothing to do with the position.

Many applicants make this mistake. They hear the question, scramble to find something else to talk about, and end up bringing up a random accomplishment from their past. While it’s great that you’re proud of old rewards and academic feats, are they relevant to the job you’re trying to land?

Talking about something that holds no weight on the job can make you look scatterbrained and ill-prepared. It’s best to keep things relevant, focusing instead on skills you can apply. Remember: This is your closing argument! You don’t want to leave the interviewer puzzled about why you brought up random details.

If all else fails, reiterate previously mentioned points. Highlight the most important skills and qualifications you have. Ideally, you’d bring up the most recent skills you acquired and work your way back.

Match your answer to what the employer is looking for from a new hire, and you can drive the point home that you’re the right one for the job.

3. Keep Your Answer Brief

Don’t feel like you need to ramble on to fill dead air. That’s not the point of bringing up anything else you’d like the interviewer to know about you. There’s a good chance that they have to see many people after you. Dragging the process out will only make you look bad!

Think of this question as more functional than anything else. It’s there to help you connect the dots between you and the job requirements and talk about the things you missed. But that doesn’t mean it’s a green light to take control of the interview.

Hiring managers want to know about the most relevant skills to the job. They’re not interested in having a complete walkthrough of your work history. Keep your answer concise, to the point, and relevant.

4. Remind Them One More Time

Interviewers meet with lots of candidates and it’s easy for them to lose focus. Summarizing your top three to four qualifications is your last chance to show how you are a fit for the job… and interested. 

You may have learned information during the interview you hadn’t known before about something they need in the role or upcoming projects. If you have any experience or skills that will be relevant, be sure to mention them now. 

And if you are indeed interested in the job, include a sentence that explains what interests you about the role and company. This leaves a positive impression on the interviewer and they know where you stand. 

Even though you may have covered all the important points during the interview, wrapping it all up at the end can remind the interviewer of something they overlooked or missed. 

What Should You Avoid Saying in Your Answer?

Now you know what you should say, let’s go over some things you should avoid. Your answer to this question usually won’t have a major impact on your chances of getting hired, but you can ruin things at the last second by bringing up these topics in your answer.

Details That Don’t Matter

Earlier, we said that you should keep your answer relevant. That’s still true.

Many job-seekers make the mistake of thinking that they have to say something. So they’ll think of some random fact for the sake of having an answer. But because it is irrelevant to the job, the response comes off as strange.

Talking about things that don’t matter will only make you look unprepared and unprofessional. It’s the quickest way to sour an interviewer’s opinion of you in the final stretch. 

Remember: “Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is an interview question where it’s completely acceptable to explain that you have nothing else you need to go over.

Clarifying Too Many Points

Here’s another mistake many interviewers make. Those who are over-prepared may try to clarify several discussion points from earlier in the interview. Adding more detail to one or two of the answers is acceptable.

But eventually, that need to “fix” every response becomes a bit much. It makes you look like you have trouble not being in control. “Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” is a question that’s great for revisiting past topics, but that doesn’t mean you should go back and rehash every response.

Stick to a couple of extra details at most. Anything more than that, and you risk getting too wordy.

Weaknesses or Negative Details

If you have any negative aspects of your resume, you will probably spend tons of time developing a way to explain them. For example, you may have gotten fired from an old job or have a lengthy employment break. Whatever the case, it’s always good to develop an excellent way to address them.

But what if the interviewer doesn’t bring them up at all? If that happens, let it be! There’s no need to rehash a potentially negative aspect of your candidacy.

That includes discussing weaknesses, shortcomings, or anything that could make the hiring manager rethink their consideration. Address them if they come up, but don’t feel the need to double back if they aren’t mentioned.

Vacation & Time Off Requests

Some job-seekers incorrectly assume that it’s safe to discuss vacation time and time off when answering this interview question.

It’s fine to bring those details up when the interviewer is clearly interested in discussing job perks. However, answering “Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” isn’t the time to start making demands or requests. You’d be surprised how many applicants do this!

You haven’t got the job yet, so why bring those requests up now? Doing so will only ruin the positive impression you have already made.

Example Answers

What you decide to add in order to help the interviewer know you better can vary a great deal. To make things a bit easier, we’ve created a few example answers to help you out.

Example 1

In our first example, the applicant covered all their bases. The interview was a success, and they believe they discussed all the relevant details they wanted to cover. Their response serves as a concise reminder and moves the conversation forward.

Example 2

The following example is a little different. The applicant is seeking a managerial position and hoping to become a project manager. While the interview covered crucial collaboration skills, it didn’t go over one important detail.

The applicant uses “Do you want to tell us anything else about you?” as the perfect opportunity to bring up a necessary soft skill they have.

Example 3

Our final example answer is about covering the applicant’s journey towards improvement. It’s easy to talk about existing skills on a resume. But in this case, the job-seeker is learning new skills that could help them in the position they’re trying to land.

For this example, the applicant is trying to get a marketing job creating content for a firm. However, they hope to expand their capabilities into the more technical side of content marketing.

Conclusion

When an interviewer asks if you want to tell them anything else about you, it’s a great opportunity to cover something important that has been missed! If you’ve prepared well ahead of time, finding the right answer won’t be difficult (and will certainly improve your chances of getting hired).

The post Do You Want To Tell Us Anything Else About You? (Answers) appeared first on Career Sherpa.