Your Two Minute Pitch is the backbone of your search you'll use it in job interviews and networking, and in your cover letters. You'll be ready when someone calls and says, "So tell me about yourself."
Your "positioning" statement or resume summary statement serves as the starting point for your two minute pitch. Keep in mind:
- to whom you are pitching
- in what they are interested
- whom your likely competitors are
- what you bring to the party that your competitors do not
Don't tell your life story. Instead:
- Let this person know that you are competent and interested in the area he or she is interested in.
- Say things that are relevant.
- Come across at the right level.
Case Study: Phil
Pitch for Target One vs. Pitch for Target Two
Here is a pitch Phil developed when he wanted a position in adult education:
I have eighteen years experience in all aspects of education and training. I've set up and run training centers, and have hired and managed trainers. I've developed a variety of training programs for stand up training, video training, and computer based training. I've developed the training materials, including the layout, the design, and the logo. I have trained over eight hundred people in individual and group programs, and have even designed and coded the student registration and grade reporting systems. I wanted to talk to you today because your company is known for its excellent training programs.
Phil met with a number of people in the training and education market, and things looked promising. But a friend knew Phil had another love: personal computers. In fact, the training centers Phil had set up and run were PC training centers. Phil's friend suggested he meet with Deirdre, who actually had a job opening. Phil was very excited about meeting Deirdre, and he and I met to prepare for this meeting.
When I asked Phil to do his two minute pitch, he did the pitch you see above. However, Deirdre would be interested in Phil's experience with personal computers, not his background in education. How much did Phil know about PC's? A lot. "Why, I can make PC's dance," he said. "The only problem is that the hiring manager would probably want someone who could network them together, and I've never done that."
If your pitch the way you position yourself is wrong, everything else about your search will be wrong. Phil's first pitch is good if he wants to specialize in education, but terrible if he wants a job working with PC's. Phil needed a new pitch to suit this completely different target, and it would also be better if Phil had the experience Deirdre was looking for.
I asked Phil if he could network computers together, and he said, "Of course." Then why not quickly get the experience and have a stronger pitch for the interview? That night, Phil networked together the computers he had at home. Then he attended the meeting of a group that specialized in computer networking. Phil asked one of the members if he could go along on a computer networking call. Here was Phil's pitch only one week later:
I have eighteen years experience in computers, specializing in PC's. I have built PC's from scratch, and I've done software applications programming on PC's. I also understand how important networking is. I've even networked together the PC's I have at home, and I belong to a group of PC experts, so I always know who to call when tricky things come up. I can do anything that needs to be done with PC's. I can make PC's dance!
I'm excited about talking to you because I know your shop relies on PC's. I'd like to hear more about your plans and tell you some of the specific things I've done.
He'd managed to tailor his pitch to a specific situation. Both pitches are true about him. But each is tailored to his target market. In the first pitch, for example, he mentions that he has developed educational software. In the second pitch, the software application (education) is not important, but the fact that it was on a PC is important. Notice, however, that each pitch starts with a summary statement of how he would like the interviewer to see him, one as an experienced education expert and one as someone with PC experience.
Think through what you want to say to your target market just as you did when you were developing the summary statement on your resume. Think about whom you are talking to.
Know Something About Them
If an interviewer immediately says, "Tell me about yourself," how will you know how to position yourself? If you don't know anything about why he is interviewing you or about the position he has in mind, you may say, "I'd be happy to tell you about myself, but could you first tell me a little about the kind of work you do here?"
What Point Are You Trying To Make?
Most people write their two minute pitch and rehearse it in front of a mirror. Say to yourself: What point am I trying to make? What impression do I hope they'll get about me?
Barbara had spent her life in the not for profit arena, and now wanted to teach grant writing. In her old pitch, she recounted the jobs she had held, and expected the listener to notice the parts of importance to them. When prodded, she admitted that the point she wanted to make was that she was seen as one of the best grant writers in the country. Her new pitch, which she used in her cover letters, started like this:
Would you like to meet someone who is seen as one of the "best grant writers in the country," and is also an excellent trainer?
I have been in the not for profit sector for almost two decades and have been able to attain grants for a variety of programs. For example,...
Ask yourself: What is the most important point I am trying to make?
One client said, "I just want them to know that I have eighteen years experience in capital markets. Whether it's in aerospace or petroleum, metals and mining, or real estate my experience is in capital markets." That's a great pitch. Why not tell them exactly that?
