(Photo credit @d_mccullough)
Almost all interviews start with you introducing yourself to your interviewer. The vast majority of candidates waste this golden opportunity to shape the interview conversation. Let me give you some tips here on how to develop a good intro (aka pitch) and why it’s so important.
Why is it important to develop a good interview introduction?
One of the required orientation workshops that I led for all incoming Cornell Johnson MBAs was “Developing your Pitch.” This is also known as your interview introduction. It is worth it to develop a really good pitch for a few reasons:
Your intro helps you to set the stage for the overall conversation by framing you & your experiences for the interviewer(s).
This is your chance to provide context for your career story so the interviewer understands how you got here and where you are heading.
What should your goals be when developing your pitch?
You want someone to be excited about engaging with you further after hearing your intro and for them to be clear on where you are heading in your career.
You need to balance giving the listener enough information to understand your story, but not so many details that they get distracted from the career goal you’re trying to communicate.
What is included in a good intro/pitch?
I’ve coached candidates in using these 3 pitch components for many years, but I like how Jodi Glickman has framed them.
The three main parts of a good pitch are:
Destination: defining your future-focused career goal
Back Story: share specific details about your background + your skills/qualifications
Connecting the Dots: use one line to help the listener to understand why your goal makes sense
When to use different pitch lengths?
There are 3 different pitch lengths to consider developing:
15-second pitch: this one is often the hardest as it’s the most concise version of your entire career history. You usually use this if you’re in a larger group networking situation and everyone is providing a quick intro.
30-second pitch: while 30 seconds is a bit of an arbitrary amount of time, it gives you a good target for how much info another person can take in while listening to your intro, especially if they don’t have your resume in front of them. This is the standard pitch/intro length and the first one you should aim to develop.
2-minute introduction: think of this as an expanded version of your 30-second pitch. You are basically keeping the same framework and adding more content to each of the 3 parts (Destination; Back Story; Connecting the Dots). This is used most often in the interview situation - so most candidates aim to deliver a 30-second to 2-minute introduction (depending on the type of interview).
Earlier this week, I was invited to participate in The Digital Workplace Tweetathon, where around 100 panelists interacted with thousands of attendees on Twitter over a 24-hour period. Here’s a link to my intro video from the Tweetathon - critique away!
