It's one of the most ubiquitous interview questions, and often one of the most difficult. With such a wide breadth of possible answers, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.
Hint: If your go-to response includes a run-down of where you grew up or what you studied in college, you've probably already lost your interviewer.
While the hiring manager does want to get to know you, at this point they are only focused on figuring out if you're the right person for the job — and your most critical task is showing them that you are, writes Skip Freeman, the CEO of executive search group Hire to Win, in a recent LinkedIn post.
To prevent hurting your chances before the interview even warms up, Freeman breaks down this question into a simple three-part response that will hook the interviewer without inundating them with unnecessary details. Here's his technique: