Diana Knoles, Business & Career Coach
Winston Churchill once said that, “It takes at least six weeks to prepare a good extemporaneous speech.” You will be asked by neighbors, recruiters, interviewers and many others to, “Tell me about yourself.” You should be able to do that concisely and in an interesting manner so they can understand what you do and who they might refer you to. During your short sound bite you will communicate clearly your background, strengths, and career objective.
Be sure to include:
Your background information includes strengths, work history, education, training.anything that would be considered a “selling point” for you in this area.
Then slide into one or two accomplishments that relate to how you used your strengths to help a company or business.
And end with your career objective.
An example might be:
Background: I have 15 years of experience in financial management within Fortune 500 companies. I’m particularly skilled at helping senior teams understand how the financial reports act as a tool to help them achieve company goals.
Accomplishment:
For example, during a tight budget period, I worked with a senior team that sat down together and, with my facilitation, made cuts in a way that best served their common business goals. I helped them see that fighting individually at the expense of the company goals was not productive.
Objective:
I would like to find another senior financial position in which I could play a key role in helping the organization meet its objectives.
Write down your own “30 Second Commercial” and practice it often. A tape recorder and mirror are wonderful props. You can have versions from 30 seconds to several minutes, but be sure to keep to the point.