Nobody is going to believe you want the job unless you believe it!!
How do you make a great first impression when someone says, “Tell me about yourself?” Do you have a good answer for this? Do you go into autopilot and start right at the beginning of your career all the way to today?
Here’s the thing. No one wants to hear about your resume or has time for a long-winded explanation about who you are and where you’ve been. What should you say instead? The strategy that works best is to lead with your destination – where you want to go next with your career.
What is the goal of your pitch
The goal of your first conversation or interview is not to get hired or close the deal. It’s not to land your next project or the client of your dreams. It is much simpler than that. The goal of your first conversation is to get offered a second conversation.
Monologue or conversation
What is more engaging? Listening to a long monologue about your career or – having a dialogue, back and forth, give and take conversation? A conversation where you get asked questions and respond with answers that create intrigue, interest, and a desire to engage you further is more engaging. Keep your sights set on this goal so that you have the next conversation.
Framing your pitch
No no one cares that you started out at the Woolworths checkout, moved on to being a Team Leader, then switched over into managing a department at Myers and now you have an executive role. You will not get your next job by only talking about where you have been. You have to talk about where you want to go next and why you are the absolute right person to do it. This is the only way you are going to get people to take a chance on you.
Here is the formula for framing your pitch:
- Lead with your punchline – your destination.
- Look forward. Ask yourself, “Where am I going next? What am I excited about?”
- Go to your backstory and connect all the dots.
Why does this formula work
This formula works because it does not rely on you having to memorise ANYTHING! You don’t have to spend hours crafting and committing to memory your 30-second pitch. All you need to do is remember three things: – your destination, your backstory and how to connect the two.
When you are clear about these three things, and believe them, you can pull them out as needed in an interview, a back-and-forth conversation for the job you want.
Leading with your destination
Your career destination is the most essential part of your pitch, and it’s also the hardest. Why? We often don’t know where we want to go next or what we want to do. Have you ever been in an interview and wondered, “Why am I even here when I don’t really want this job?”
Before you even apply for a job you need to know your destination, where you want to go in your career. Then, when you in the interview, you will present a believable story about:
- Why you are there?
- What you are trying to accomplish?
- Why you really want the job?
If you don’t know the answers to these three questions, there is no way you are going to make a good impression. If you cannot give a good reason why you want to work for ABC Company, then why would they want to employ you.
The destination is often the hardest thing to identify. You have to ask yourself:
- What am I excited about right now?
- What do I want to do next with my career?
- What am I trying to achieve in this interview?
If you can’t answer these questions in an interview, why would you be offered a second interview or even the job? This is what happened to Robert when he started to tell his story in an interview for an investment position. This is how it went.
“Hi. It’s so nice to meet you. My name is Robert. I started my career in marketing straight out of university. I did this for a while and then found a job I really loved. It just so happens that I also started managing my own money and I think that maybe this is what I want to do.”
What do you think happened? Nothing!
Instead, Robert could say, “Hi, it’s really nice to meet you. I’ve been managing my own investments for the past 3 years with amazing results. So, now I am excited about starting a career in Investment Management.”
When Robert used the second approach, he was asked further questions like, “Good for you. What did you do before?” This was Robert’s invitation to talk about his backstory and connect the dots to why he wants a career in Investment Management. Did Robert get a second interview? I certainly did!
The reason you don’t get offered a job is not about your qualifications or experience; it’s because you did not tell a believable story.
Explain your backstory
This is the easiest part as we can all talk about ourselves. We know what we’ve done and where we’ve gone to school. It’s all on our resumes. But, the interview is not about your resume! The interview is not the time to give a verbal version of your resume from when you finished university to now.
When you talk about your background you are going to create your backstory. You are the author of your backstory and you get to pick and choose what you want to talk about in the interview. There are two things you can choose from:
- 1. Relevant skills.
- 2. Transferable skills.
For example, you have applied for a retail marketing position talk about your consumer retail experience, the products you have launched and digital marking campaigns you created.
If you don’t have relevant experience talk about your transferable skills. Are you strategic – a big picture thinker? Are you great neck deep in the details? Are you calm, cool and collected under pressure? Are you the world’s best multitasker? Can you adapt quickly without losing focus? What is it that you bring to the table?
Connect the dots
You connect the dots by talking about how everything fits together, what you’ve done in the past, what you’re aiming for in the future and how you are going to deliver.
The reason you don’t get that next call for a second interview or land the job, isn’t because you don’t have the skills or experience or qualifications. It’s because:
- The interviewer was not convinced about your destination.
- You did not connect the dots.
- You haven’t given enough evidence that you’re worth the risk when you are tyring something new or different, or challenging.
- You haven’t given the interviewer a reason to get on board with you.
How do you turn that all around and set yourself apart from the pack? You must be 100% convinced that this is THE CAREER you want. Lead with your destination, explain your backstory and then connect the dots.
If you would like to know more about the author Kathryn Burke, click here.
Need Assistance With Your Interview Pitch? We Can Help!
While most of these tips can help you to prepare for your next interview, we can also help you create an entirely new interview pitch if that’s what you need! Contact our Career Consultants today. We can show you how to put together your interview pitch that will demonstrate how your experience and skills relate to the employers need. This will increase your chances of making it to the next stage in your job application.
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