(This is a follow-up to Part 6, so feel free to read that first. You can find my other articles in my Job Hunt Miniseries here.)
Now that you have crafted your self-introduction (see Part 1 here if you haven’t), it’s time to practice introducing yourself. During an interview, you are going to have to explain it out loud in-person, so saying your self-introduction out loud works best. Too many people only write it and never practice speaking it.
Take a friend or family hostage for 30 minutes to an hour, or if you can’t use someone you know, practice in front of a mirror. Pretend like you are introducing yourself to someone who you don’t know in an interview: “Hello, my name is _. My background is in…”
When practicing, make sure you explain WHY each of the points is true. For example, if working as a programmer made you discover your passion for solving complex analytical problems, say that, but also explain why: What about programming taught you that you love solving complex problems? What kind of analytical problems do you enjoy solving (there are many, many types), in what way did the programming problems you worked on match the analytical problems you enjoy, did you work on specific projects that did not click with you and if so, why, and what about those problems did you find compelling/interesting?
The first time you explain it, you may babble a bit. That’s fine: you are figuring out what is important to say. I sometimes call these “the fuzzies”: those awkward bits and loose ends as you are thinking through how to explain something. It’s better to wrinkle these out during this preparation period than to have to stutter through them during your first interview. Maybe you only realize at the end how you should have phrased it the whole time. Don’t worry: that’s normal.
Say it a second time now that you have a sense of how to do it. Maybe a third or fourth time or as many times as you need.
Once you get the hang of it, take your spiel and cut it in half. Limit yourself to a certain number of sentences or a certain amount of time: say 10 sentences or 2 minutes. Then slowly cut that in half each of time. I often start by restricting myself to 10 sentences, then 5 sentences, then 2 sentences. Still keep your main points, your main narrative thread each time you shorten it, but you can summarize or condense any details as you need to.
(Note: If you use a sentence limit, you don’t have to include your greeting at the beginning: your “Hello, how are you? My name is _” or whatever. Only count the sentences you talk about yourself. But, these sentences must be normal sentences without semi-colons: no Dickensesque page-long sentences about it being the best of times and worst of times.)
Continue cutting it in half until you have a thirty second version. Practice that a few times. You are done. You now have your elevator pitch, and these few slightly longer versions will help in case someone is asking for more detail.
Now you are ready to go. Get a feel for it during any informational interviews you may have with professionals in that field. In the next part, I will talk about how to refine your self-narrative based on giving it in actual conversations with other people.