Tell me about yourself and how to balance authenticity with structure

Hi Jan,
 

For the “Tell me about yourself” question, the key is to stay concise while creating a structured, impactful narrative. A good approach is the PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE framework:

    1.    Past: Briefly highlight your background, education, and experiences that led you to this point. Focus on achievements or roles that align with consulting.
    2.    Present: Share what you’re currently doing and the skills or experiences you’re gaining that are relevant to strategy consulting.
    3.    Future: Explain why you’re interested in EYP and how this role fits into your career goals.

Keep it to about 1.5-2 minutes max and tailor the content to make it relevant to consulting. Focus on themes like problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, and curiosity.

To balance authenticity and structure:
    •    Be genuine in how you share your story—let your personality show.
    •    Practice your answer to make it smooth but avoid over-rehearsing so it doesn’t sound robotic.
    •    Connect your narrative to EYP’s values and the consulting skillset.

Since I work at EY-Parthenon myself and conduct interviews, feel free to DM me if you’d like more tailored advice or coaching to prepare.

Best,
Evelina

Hi there, 

Some recommendations:

• Stay concise. If it is a 30min interview, would recommend to time-box it to no more than 2-3 mins. Your response is supposed to start a conversation, not to cover your whole life experience in a comprehensive manner. Taking too long will make interviewer lose interest or just lose focus among information and ended up missing impactful information
• You want both authenticity and structure -  These two are conflicting each other. Being authentic is about presenting real story about your life and career experiences. Being structure is just the way you present it. But you first need to dig deep into your life and pick stories that are most relevant and impactful to the interview, then structure the way you tell the story to be top-down and easy to follow, which gives you the structure
• Script it but avoid sounding like scripted. I recommend preparing a storyline before the interview, with some nuances/details that you want to highlight. Then practice with people and gather feedback. Another helpful way to practice is to record yourself and listen to see if you sound scripted. 

Recruiters and interviewers typically follow up with things they found interesting during your initial intro, so it is one of the most crucial components of an interview to get right. I have helped many candidates dig into their experience to succeed in personal experience prep, because I truly believe this is where you can set yourself apart from other candidates, but it is often times being overlooked. Another tricky part is a balance between undersell and oversell yourself. If helpful at all, feel free to reach out directly. 

Good luck on your upcoming interview!

Han

Hey Jan! 

I normally advise my mentees to keep your pitch concise—aim for around 2-3 minutes. Start with your background after school, highlighting key academic and professional milestones that shaped your interest in consulting. Make sure to connect the dots and show how your experiences, skills, and passions have led you to this opportunity at EYP. Structure helps, but keep it natural by focusing on personal motivations and authentic moments that demonstrate your fit for the role. Let me know if you'd like to practice your pitch—happy to help! 😊

Alessa