Self Introduction

Introduction

Interviewers often form their first impression within the first few minutes, or maybe even seconds. As a non-native speaker, investing time in mastering your self-introduction offers the highest return on investment.

Not only does it create a strong first impression, but it also gives you a strategic advantage. By choosing which skills or experiences to emphasise, you can guide the rest of the conversation toward areas where you stand out.

It’s also the one question you can be 100% sure you’ll have to answer!

Answer Structure (Overview)

Your self-introduction has four key parts:

1. Start Strong - Begin with a polite and natural greeting.

2. Background Summary - A high-level summary of who you are, followed by a brief summary of your current role and career path before this.

3. Tech Stack and Work Style - Core technical skills and how you like to work.

4. Motivation - Why this role/team/company?

Answer Structure (Detailed Breakdown)

Start Strong

Begin your pitch with a polite and natural greeting.

Why?

Apart from being polite, it shows confidence and gives you a moment to compose yourself before you begin your full answer.

The interviewer will probably begin with asking a question like:

Background Summary

High-level summary

To start, clearly state your job title, how long you’ve been in the role, and the types of industries or fields you’ve worked in.

I’m a Product Manager with 5 years of experience in B2B SaaS platforms.

Current position

Next, describe your current or most recent position.
Don’t just list your responsibilities, but focus on your achievements.

Most recently, I worked at XYZ where I led the redesign of the customer onboarding experience, reducing churn by 18%.

If possible, include measurable results.
For example, instead of “I was responsible for writing tests”, say:

I wrote automated tests that reduced manual QA time by 40%.

Previous positions

If you’ve held several positions, there’s no need to list every position and responsibility – briefly summarise them or focus on those most relevant to the new role.

My background combines software engineering and user experience.

Students or graduates

Your background summary should state your degree or area of study, and then move into relevant experience such as internships, academic projects or even personal or open-source projects.

My internship at company ABC taught me how to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

How to Talk About Your Tech Skills & Working Style

Tech Stack

Focus on your strongest tools, and those most relevant to the job you’re applying to.

I have a strong foundation in both backend and frontend development.

Your tech stack involves:

• Programming languages

• Frameworks/libraries

• Tools

• Platforms

• Methodologies

Examples: Python, JavaScript, Django, Git, Tableau, Notion, AWS, Agile, CI/CD, Jira, Confluence

I work mainly with Python and SQL, and I’ve recently been studying for an AWS cert.

Working Style

This is your chance to show how you like to work and what motivates you day to day.

I really enjoy solving tricky backend challenges.

Be specific. Mention things like what kind of tasks you enjoy or how you prefer to collaborate.

I work well in environments where I can collaborate closely with other teams.

If possible, find your USP (unique selling point) and highlight what really sets you apart from other candidates.
This could be a specific combination of skills, a unique experience, or a strength that’s especially valuable to this team or company.

Motivation

The final part of your self-introduction should briefly explain why you’re interested in this specific opportunity. It shows the interviewer that you’ve done your research and that there’s a good match between your goals and what the company offers.

I’m drawn to the fact that you’re solving a real user problem at scale.

You don’t need to go into too much detail here, just one or two sentences is enough. This question often comes up later in the interview (“Why do you want to work here?”), so keep it short for now and be ready to expand if they follow up.

I’ve been looking for a role where I can take more ownership and this opportunity really stood out.

Model Answer

Hi, I'm Natalia. Thanks for speaking with me today.

I’m a full-stack developer with around 4 years of experience, mainly in React and Node.js.
Most recently I was at a SaaS company where I led the front-end development for a real-time dashboard used by over 5,000 users.
Before that, I was part of a smaller startup team where I built several internal tools from scratch. That experience taught me how to move fast and own features end to end.

I really enjoy turning complex problems into clean, user-focused interfaces and collaborating with teammates to deliver features that make a real impact.

What interested me about this position was your work in real-time analytics, which I’d love to contribute to.
I’m looking forward to learning more about this role and your team.

FAQs

How long should my pitch be?

A good self-introduction should be 1-2 minutes long. For more senior or experienced candidates, a maximum of 3 minutes. Any longer, and the interviewer may lose interest!

Should I give lots of detail?

No, save details for follow-up questions.
Your introduction is like a movie trailer – give just enough information to spark interest.
Leave space for the interviewer to ask about the parts they want to hear more about.

Should I talk about my hobbies?

It depends. Assess the vibe of the interview and how relaxed it feels.
If it seems right, keep it short.
Something like:

Outside of work, I love to be outside. I live near the mountains and usually spend my weekends hiking or cycling.