By : Denise Leo
As you actively pursue your next career move, you’re going to be talking to a lot of people. That’s a given. So there’s no excuse to walk around unprepared for conversations about your work experience and skills. How ready are you to have an off-the-cuff, five-minute conversation about yourself with an interviewer, a new network contact, or a complete stranger?
I’ve interviewed dozens of candidates who hesitate and stumble for words when I ask the simplest of career-related questions. Then there are candidates who go on and on, saying many words but not conveying much. Not only is it obvious they have not prepared, but they are also sending a message that they don’t know what they want to do. And that’s no way to impress an interviewer.
When you talk about yourself, your experience, or your job aspirations, you must exude confidence, hope and preparedness.
Write It Down
This is very important, so block off an uninterrupted hour or two to jot down positively phrased comments on these seven topics:
1. Your current job (not just your title, but the inspiring side of what you do and why it makes a difference to the company you work for).
2. The job you are seeking (see item 1).
3. What you want to do with your career.
4. The benefits you can bring to a firm.
5. A few major work-related challenges you’ve had, and how you overcame them (be succinct and pick several different kinds of challenges).
6. The things you love about your field.
7. The reasons you left, or are about to leave, your job.
Add a few more topics related specifically to your field. Pretend you’re the hiring manager; what would you want to know about a candidate before making a job offer?
Write out, refine and edit your thoughts down to two good sentences on each topic. Make them clear, simple, engaging and conversational. Say them out loud; you must feel comfortable delivering the words. Commit them to memory as best as you can. With these positive, streamlined insights queued up in your mind, it will help you make quick, confident conversation, even if you’re caught off guard or nervous.
Topic 7, why you left your last job, may call for some extra time and attention. It’s a big-daddy question – and I’ve seen it torpedo candidates’ confidence, as they apprehensively or loquaciously dance around the real reason they left their last job. Don’t be that candidate. Get your head squarely around a positive and truthful reason why you are no longer working for your previous employer. Write it down. Edit it until it no longer sounds like an excuse, and then practice it. Your diplomatic, positive response will let prospective employers know you have a healthy outlook on work, change and opportunity.
Prepare an Elevator Speech
I’m amazed by how few people can clearly and succinctly say who they are and what they want. So you’ll really stand out if you can spell it all out in 20 seconds or less. It’s called an ‘elevator speech.’ You can think of it as a tiny, prepared speech that you could deliver during a short elevator ride if needed. You’ll use it often, as in when you make a new networking contact or when someone casually asks what you do.
Write it out and work on the wording you use. Make it compelling. It should feel like storytelling at its best. Be specific, provocative and complete. And be you. As you work on your elevator speech, remember that it sounds a bit boring and selfish to simply say you’re looking for a job and you have a bachelor’s degree in English. Rather than use limiting job titles, give your audience concrete and memorable ways in which you solve problems or help people. It is much more likely to generate interest, conversation, and job leads.
Here is an example of a conversation that might take place at a job fair:
"Welcome to the Widget Works recruiting booth. What field are you in?"
"I help high-school students make some of the most important choices in life. For the past six years, counseling and college prep have been my passion. With each kid, I make sure I share a few of life’s hard realities and provide plenty of warm fuzzies. I love it, but my new career goal is to transfer that thinking into human resources. What can you tell me about the entry-level HR opportunities that Widget Works might have?"
Before you craft your own elevator speech, you may want to go online and review the useful dos and don’ts by author Katharine Hansen at quintcareers.com/elevator_speech_dos-donts.html.
Take Your Time
In an interview, once you say it, it’s out there. So take your time, even when you’ve rehearsed the answer. If you get temporarily stumped, stay calm and don’t get flustered. Try leaning on a phrase that will buy you some time while you consider your response:
* "I’m glad you asked that; it’s a topic I wanted to be sure we discussed today."
* "Funny you should ask. Of all my current job responsibilities, that’s actually one of the most."
* "That’s a good point. I think you’re bringing up one of the most important aspects of the work we do in this field."
Now that you’ve taken a breath, let your mind fall back on the solid prep work you’ve done ahead of time. If you still can’t think of exactly what to say, just start speaking your mind and you might get lucky. And don’t forget the words of Seneca, a First-Century Roman philosopher: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
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As you actively pursue your next career move, you’re going to be talking to a lot of people. That’s a given. So there’s no excuse to walk around unprepared for conversations about your work experience and skills. How ready are you to have an off-the-cuff, five-minute conversation about yourself with an interviewer, a new network contact, or a complete stranger?
I’ve interviewed dozens of candidates who hesitate and stumble for words when I ask the simplest of career-related questions. Then there are candidates who go on and on, saying many words but not conveying much. Not only is it obvious they have not prepared, but they are also sending a message that they don’t know what they want to do. And that’s no way to impress an interviewer.
When you talk about yourself, your experience, or your job aspirations, you must exude confidence, hope and preparedness.
Write It Down
This is very important, so block off an uninterrupted hour or two to jot down positively phrased comments on these seven topics:
1. Your current job (not just your title, but the inspiring side of what you do and why it makes a difference to the company you work for).
2. The job you are seeking (see item 1).
3. What you want to do with your career.
4. The benefits you can bring to a firm.
5. A few major work-related challenges you’ve had, and how you overcame them (be succinct and pick several different kinds of challenges).
6. The things you love about your field.
7. The reasons you left, or are about to leave, your job.
Add a few more topics related specifically to your field. Pretend you’re the hiring manager; what would you want to know about a candidate before making a job offer?
Write out, refine and edit your thoughts down to two good sentences on each topic. Make them clear, simple, engaging and conversational. Say them out loud; you must feel comfortable delivering the words. Commit them to memory as best as you can. With these positive, streamlined insights queued up in your mind, it will help you make quick, confident conversation, even if you’re caught off guard or nervous.
Topic 7, why you left your last job, may call for some extra time and attention. It’s a big-daddy question – and I’ve seen it torpedo candidates’ confidence, as they apprehensively or loquaciously dance around the real reason they left their last job. Don’t be that candidate. Get your head squarely around a positive and truthful reason why you are no longer working for your previous employer. Write it down. Edit it until it no longer sounds like an excuse, and then practice it. Your diplomatic, positive response will let prospective employers know you have a healthy outlook on work, change and opportunity.
Prepare an Elevator Speech
I’m amazed by how few people can clearly and succinctly say who they are and what they want. So you’ll really stand out if you can spell it all out in 20 seconds or less. It’s called an ‘elevator speech.’ You can think of it as a tiny, prepared speech that you could deliver during a short elevator ride if needed. You’ll use it often, as in when you make a new networking contact or when someone casually asks what you do.
Write it out and work on the wording you use. Make it compelling. It should feel like storytelling at its best. Be specific, provocative and complete. And be you. As you work on your elevator speech, remember that it sounds a bit boring and selfish to simply say you’re looking for a job and you have a bachelor’s degree in English. Rather than use limiting job titles, give your audience concrete and memorable ways in which you solve problems or help people. It is much more likely to generate interest, conversation, and job leads.
Here is an example of a conversation that might take place at a job fair:
"Welcome to the Widget Works recruiting booth. What field are you in?"
"I help high-school students make some of the most important choices in life. For the past six years, counseling and college prep have been my passion. With each kid, I make sure I share a few of life’s hard realities and provide plenty of warm fuzzies. I love it, but my new career goal is to transfer that thinking into human resources. What can you tell me about the entry-level HR opportunities that Widget Works might have?"
Before you craft your own elevator speech, you may want to go online and review the useful dos and don’ts by author Katharine Hansen at quintcareers.com/elevator_speech_dos-donts.html.
Take Your Time
In an interview, once you say it, it’s out there. So take your time, even when you’ve rehearsed the answer. If you get temporarily stumped, stay calm and don’t get flustered. Try leaning on a phrase that will buy you some time while you consider your response:
* "I’m glad you asked that; it’s a topic I wanted to be sure we discussed today."
* "Funny you should ask. Of all my current job responsibilities, that’s actually one of the most
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