Why You Should Have an Elevator Speech Prepared When You Interview

Interviews can be nerve wracking and intimidating, but they can also be fun. This is your chance to sell yourself like only you can do and communicate to the organization why you are the perfect candidate for them. One way of doing this is to have an elevator speech prepared.

In an interview, often one of the first questions asked is, “Tell us a little bit about yourself.” This is your chance to shine, as a seasoned human resources professional I am looking for roughly a five - minute personal bio that tells me why I should hire you. My suggested framework is two minutes about you personally and three minutes about you professionally. Why the two minutes about you personally? Because I need to know that you have a human side, this is your chance to provide us with a glimpse into you, your sense of humor, personality, likes, what you do for self-care, etc. Hopefully you have done your homework on our culture and you can weave this into these two minutes. The next three minutes are all about you as a professional. Talk about accomplishments, civic activities, ongoing education that you have pursued and the benefits, make it succinct and impactful. Practice this until it becomes a relaxed and natural.

Have fun during your interview remember you are interviewing the organization as well to see if they are a good fit for you and your career path.