In job interviews, this question often serves as a conversation starter. The information you choose to reveal about yourself gives your interviewer a sense of what kind of person you are, and hence, what kind of employee you'd be.

The best way to answer this question is to stick to business: talk about your past career, things you've accomplished, and what made you decide to apply for this position. Include details about skills you have that directly relate to the job you are applying for.

A good format to use is as follows:

1. Introduce yourself
2. Tell what your current status is (i.e. last job title or student status)
3. Describe what you do at work or school
   
4. Describe one or two things you've accomplished or excel at that directly relate to the position
5. Mention why you decided to apply for this position

A few sentences, and around 30 seconds, should be enough to give your interviewer a positive idea of who you are and what you've done, as well as put your application in a good context. The following examples demonstrate this format:

Example 1: (1) My name is Jamie Johnson, and (2) I'm a senior at Washington High School where (3) I'm preparing to go to college for psychology. (4) I'm good at public speaking, and I've been a group leader on several school projects. (5) I want to get closer to the subject of psychology, so I think being the receptionist in a doctor's office would be a good step for me.

Example 2: I'm Kurt Smith, and I've been a hardware store manager for seven years. I'm especially skilled with electrical hardware, and I was previously the supervisor for the store's electrical department. I'd like to move more towards that industry, so I'm applying to be an electrician at your electrical repair business.

Using this format, you can tell your interviewer about your best skills, your recent accomplishments, and why you're applying, in a way that sounds organized and logical.

You can also use this question as a way to match your goals to their needs. If you know the company is planning to expand into another city, and you have future plans to move to that city, pointing that out during the interview aligns your plans with the company's goals, further making you an attractive candidate. And knowing the company's goals comes from researching the company, which is why research is such an important step.

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"What do you know about the company?"

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