How To Answer “Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You?” – Zippia

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Summary. Answer the question “Is there anything else we should know about you?” so that you add additional value to your qualifications as a candidate. This could be a hobby that makes you unique or a relevant story that shows off your skills.

It’s the end of the interview and the hiring manager asks:

“Is there anything else we should know about you?”

It can be an intimidating question, but it’s a common job interview question that’s pretty much perfect for the interviewer. It indicates that they have no further specific questions about you and opens up the floor for you to talk about yourself, but does so with a pretty handy constraint.

They’ve already seen how you respond to all kinds of questions, but now they want to see something very specific from you. They want to see how you brag.

But with a question as open-ended as this, it can be tough to decide how exactly to brag without going overboard. It’s like “tell me about yourself” but with a little extra pressure.

Key Takeaways:

• When in doubt, use the question to summarize your strengths.

• Be clear and concise in your answer. You don’t want to waste time!

• Do not refuse to answer this question. If you don’t have an answer, then ask questions about the next steps in the hiring process.

• Interviewers ask this question because they genuinely want to know more about you.

How To Answer to “Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You?”

To answer the question “Is there anything else we should know about you?” requires you to have a thorough understanding of yourself — your strengths, your weaknesses, even just how you tend to come off in conversations with those around you.

The biggest thing here is to be memorable without throwing up any red flags. The recruiter wants you to be different, but not because you got too excited and flipped a table while you were talking about the one time you were an editor for your school paper.

Here are some ideas to help you come up with an answer:

1. Consider what makes you unique. One great thing to do here is to bring up some of your more niche hobbies or interests. As we described in our other article on talking about what you do for fun, this is a good thing to ease into.

   Bring up the general hobby that you have, then become more specific as your interviewer asks more and more questions about it.

2. Interesting (relevant) stories from your past. Think about any relevant experiences you might have that don’t fit into any of the other questions, even if they’re from a long time ago. This can help you stand out and show your interests in the position.

   This is a good time to bring up things that you did in college, like extracurriculars, which ordinarily wouldn’t be great to bring up (they can sound a little juvenile in the real world). This is great to do especially if you are a recent college graduate, since those extracurriculars are your relevant work experence.

3. Drive home your strengths. Whatever else you say, you always want to use this opportunity to recap your qualifications as completely as you can (more on this below).

Tips for Answering “Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You?”

As we mentioned above, it’s always good practice during this part of an interview to recap and reiterate your various qualifications that you’ve discussed at large throughout the interview.

It’s easy to get lost as you’re going through the interview process, and you know much more about yourself than the interviewer does.

Highlighting the skills and qualifications that you’ve discussed up to this point can, therefore, be an excellent way to keep the CliffsNotes version of what makes you an excellent candidate in the forefront of your interviewer’s mind.

Some good tactics for you to do this include:

• Reiterating major points from the interview itself. If you had any major anecdotes, list the main points of them one by one, highlighting the skills you were demonstrating in each of those.

• Be clear and concise. You want to be thorough, but don’t waste the interviewer’s time with extraneous details. This is an end-of-interview question, after all — you should already have explained these main points to death.

  All you should be doing now is recapping your strengths in a way that makes them easy to remember.

• Pitch yourself. If you have an elevator pitch prepared for yourself, now’s the time to roll it out.

• Prepare. It’s a good idea to prepare a list of these skills ahead of time, even if you can’t really look at them during the interview (unless it’s a phone interview, in which case you can look all you like).

Why Interviewers Ask If There’s Anything Else They Should Know

Whenever someone asks you “what else should we know about you,” it’s easy to worry that this is one of those trick questions you lt;a href=”>Why Interviewers Ask If There’s Anything Else They Should Know

Whenever someone asks you “what else should we know about you,” it’s easy to worry that this is one of those trick questions you should have prepared for. And sure, it’s always possible that someone is using the question this way. The most common interview questions can be traps or walks in the park, depending on your preparation.

But generally, this question is asked because interviewers are genuinely looking for the best person for a job, and that means people who know and understand themselves well enough to tell other people what makes them interesting.

Some things that a hiring manager or recruiter might be trying to discover about you by asking what else they should know about you include:

• Go over additional qualifications. The interviewer may be interested in particular qualifications or skills that for some reason weren’t covered under the other questions.

• Wants to hear about accomplishments. It’s possible you have noteworthy accomplishments that aren’t directly relevant to the job, but relate to your work ethic or another positive attribute.

• Professional goals. The interviewer could want to hear about any aspirations or hopes you have career-wise, or other positions or responsibilities you might be interested in pursuing at the same company.

• Build a connection. This is an opportunity to discover any points of connection the two of you might have — any hobbies or interests that you might not ordinarily have brought up, but that give you and your interviewer some common ground.

• A test of your interpersonal skills. How you answer this question reveals your confidence and ability to continue the conversation into a great last impression.

Common Mistakes When Answering “Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You?”

The most common interview questions also have common mistakes to look out for. As you’re getting ready for the job interview, here are some things you shouldn’t do.

• Don’t bring up your weaknesses. If the recruiter wanted to know about a weakness, they should already have asked you about it (and maybe they did). But this is the point when you should be driving home the details about yourself that you really want to stick in the mind of your interviewer.

  Your weaknesses should not be among those.

• Don’t take too much time recapping. It’s easy to go overboard going over all the things you want the interviewer to remember about you, but remember that the more that you say to them, the less they’re likely to retain.

  Keep it short, keep it sweet, and be mindful of the fact that this person is basically asking this question in order to end the interview. Don’t waste their time.

• Don’t forget to reiterate to them how thankful you are that they’ve taken this time out to talk to you. Especially if they’re asking you about what else they should know about you, that means they’re really giving you a chance to show them what makes you unique.

  Make sure that part of that uniqueness is your passion and appreciation for the work of those around you.

• Don’t just say no. It’s actually okay if you don’t have anything else you’d like to share and you’re confident that the interview went well. Still, don’t just say no and call it a day. Ask about the next steps in the hiring process and transition smoothly into the end-of-interview phase.

Example Answers to “Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You?”

Let’s start with some bite-sized sample answers that you can use to start forming your own answer to this question:

Example Answer 1

“There’s a side project I’ve been working on recently that we didn’t get to talk about that has some overlap with this role.

Let me explain that in a bit more detail…”

Example Answer 2

“It’s kind of hidden on my resume, but back in college, I formed the first-ever rotisserie chicken club.

That experience let me…”

Example Answer 3

“I just want to clarify a point we were talking about earlier concerning my experience working on this particular project.

I didn’t get to mention that…”

Now let’s try some long-form answers so we can bring together all our advice:

1. Thanks for asking, I think we covered how my organizational skills have helped optimize processes in the past, but I’d like to add that I’m working on improving those.

   I’m a naturally curious guy, so I’ve started taking classes in Java and Python so I can add value in new ways. I know this role will work alongside programmers, so I think these newly developing skills could be beneficial for fitting in with the team.

   Any chance I get to learn new skills, I jump on.

   Why it’s a good answer: Programming skills may not have been part of the job description, but that makes this job candidate’s natural desire to learn all the more impressive. Everyone who applies for this job is going to have basically the same skills, so if you can stand out as the one with all those skills plus one, you’re in good shape.

2. We covered my experience working as a content marketing strategist, but I’m also really proud of some contract work I’ve done for clients over the years. I brought along a portfolio of some of that work if you’d like to take a look at it.

   I love being able to blend creative tasks with some of the more technical aspects of SEO work, which I think could bring a unique perspective to the position.

   Since this role would involve managing content writers, this perspective would really come in handy for understanding realistic expectations and communicating with writers in general.

   Why it’s a good answer: This interviewee proves that they’ll bring something unique to the table if the company were to hire her. She’s not just ready for the job; she understands it from all angles, which could be a tricky thing to bring up naturally in the rest of the interview.

“Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You?” FAQs

1. What if I don’t have anything else to share?

   If you don’t have anything else to share, summarize your strengths then redirect the question back to the next steps of the hiring process. It is OK if you feel like you have already shared all your qualifications. However, do not ignore the question “Is there anything else we should know about you?”

   Instead, in a concise manner, summarize what makes you a good candidate and ask what comes next for applicants. This shows that you are serious about your interest in the position.

2. Do interviewers always ask this question?

   The question “Is there anything else we should know about you?” is quite common. Similar to “Do you have any questions for us?”, this question is a great way for interviewers to wrap up their session. It provides one last chance for you to show why you are the best candidate for the job, so take advantage of the opportunity!

Final Thoughts

When answering this question, its important to remember the question is not at daunting as it seems. The most important things to keep in mind are: Your answer should be short and sweet, you should reiterate the main points of the interview, and you should remember that this is your last shot — anything else you want your interviewer to know about you, this is the time to say it.

As they say, speak now, or forever hold — well, you get the picture.

References

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Author

Ryan Morris

Ryan Morris was a writer for the Zippia Advice blog who tried to make the job process a little more entertaining for all those involved. He obtained his BA and Masters from Appalachian State University.