Tell me about yourself as a new grad

You do not need years of employment. You need a role, one finished piece of work, and a reason this job is the first one you want.

Build your answer

Target role The job you are interviewing for. Years of experience Years in this kind of work. Use 0 for a first role or a career change. Current role or background A field, a path, or a short phrase.

Win 1 Include a number. Win 2 Optional. Win 3 Used in the long version.

Key strength One habit, not five adjectives. Why this company or role A reason that would be wrong for a different employer.

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30-second version

About 30 seconds · 76 words

A short cut for a recruiter screen.

Stop after one result. A short screen does not need the second story.

60-second version

About 58 seconds · 144 words

The default. Present, then past, then future.

If they lean in, drop the second result and spend the time on how the first one happened. Leave duties from the job description out.

90-second version

About 83 seconds · 208 words

A longer cut when they ask you to walk through it.

I'm looking for a new grad software engineer role. I've worked in computer science senior with one internship. Before that, the results are specific. I shipped an internship dashboard that 30 support agents used daily. I also cut a class project's test runtime from 11 minutes to 4. I then taught a lab section of 24 students through the semester. Each of those has a before and an after I can defend. The way I work, when it counts, is asking the constraint before I start building. What I want next is this new grad software engineer seat, because this team pairs new grads with a real on-call, and I want that kind of first year. On the job I'd stay this concrete about new grad software engineer, including what moved and what did not. The numbers in those results are ones I can defend, including what I owned. The decision under the first result is the part I know best. I checked the baseline before I called that result done. I would use the same judgment on the next new grad software engineer problem. The work I want next is still new grad software engineer work: a clear owner, a number, and a decision I can explain.

They can interrupt. Go present, then proof, then why this role. When they ask, go from the headline number to the decision you made.

When you can say the minute without the page, practice it live with Luna. It hears the question and helps you keep a line. 24 hours free.

How to answer it for this role

Say you are a new grad in the first sentence. Hiding it wastes the minute and shows up on the resume anyway. Then move straight to the most finished thing you have built: an internship project that shipped, a thesis with a result, or a class project you can demo. Course names are not results.

Numbers can be small and still be real. "The campus app had 400 weekly users and the crash rate dropped after we fixed the upload path" is enough. Do not invent scale. Interviewers have heard "served millions" from candidates whose project was a class of 30.

The future beat is why this team, not why software in general. A specific product, a language you have already used, or a problem you want to learn under someone senior. End there. Your GPA, your high school, and your clubs can wait.

What to emphasize

New grad, stated plainly.
One project that had a user, a grade with a hard constraint, or an internship owner.
Why this team is a sensible first job.

What to leave out

A chronological tour from freshman year.
Calling a class assignment production experience.

Sample 60-second answer

This is the sample loaded into the builder above. About 58 seconds, 144 words. Replace every fact with yours before you practice it.

I'm looking for a new grad software engineer role. I've worked in computer science senior with one internship. Before that, the results are specific. I shipped an internship dashboard that 30 support agents used daily. I also cut a class project's test runtime from 11 minutes to 4. The way I work, when it counts, is asking the constraint before I start building. What I want next is this new grad software engineer seat, because this team pairs new grads with a real on-call, and I want that kind of first year. In the job I'd bring that strength to the team's current goal, and I'd report what moved. Those results are the kind of work I want to keep doing as a new grad software engineer. I can explain the constraint behind the first result and the number I was willing to defend.

The 30-second cut is about 30 seconds. The longer cut is about 83 seconds. Both use the same facts in the same order. Read the longer structure guide if you want the timing rules in full: how long the answer should be.

Tips before you say it

Say the 60-second version out loud before you edit it. A sentence that looks fine on the page often runs long or sounds like a memo.
One number per win. “Improved the process” is a claim. “Cut hold time from 6 minutes to 2” is a result you can be questioned on.
Stay in order: present, past, future. If you start with where you grew up, the interviewer is waiting for you to arrive.
Leave a door open and then stop talking. The extra story you add in the silence is usually the one you did not prepare.
Keep your part separate from the team’s. “We launched” collapses the first follow-up. “I cut the scope, engineering shipped it” survives.

Other roles

Questions people ask

What if I have no internship?

Use a project with a constraint: a deadline, a user, a teammate, or a bug you can reproduce. Say it was a project. The follow-up will be kinder if you were accurate.

Should I mention my GPA?

Only if it is a real signal and they ask, or if the recruiter screen is explicitly academic. It does not belong in the spoken opener unless the rest of the proof is thin and the number is strong.

How long should a new grad answer be?

Sixty seconds is still the default. You have less history, so the answer gets shorter naturally. Do not pad it with clubs.