Nice to meet you, I'm.... - The art of the elevator pitch

Palms sweaty but smile unnaturally wide, I thought to myself, ‘when will this be over?’ Then the interviewer asked the dreaded, ‘tell me about yourself.’

During one of my course discussions, an interesting topic was brought about, ‘brand you’. It intrigued me. The professor explained further how vital personal branding is while developing and maintaining a reputation as well as impression of an individual. He explained it by giving examples of people on who we subconsciously base opinions simply by how they have branded themselves.

It was an insightful discussion particularly when it came to the ‘how’ of personal branding. One way of personal branding is the 'elevator pitch' which must be clear, credible, connected and, communicated effectively.

While discussing, I thought back to a moment when I wish I knew the importance of personal branding.

During my first job interview, 5 minutes in and the interviewer asked, 'tell me about yourself'. I geared up and started explaining my background, qualifications, experiences, my love of collecting stamps, etc.

As I spoke, dread took over, the person across the room, legit, yawned. He looked bored out of his mind and started fiddling with his pen.

Surprise, surprise, I didn’t get the job. Upon receiving feedback from the HR contact, I discovered that “the interviewer felt that Wardah doesn’t quite have a firm grasp on who she is.” This correlates perfectly to what was discussed about personal branding being what people say about you when you are not in the room. Back then, I was confused and gutted, but oddly curious about what he meant. He asked a simple question and I answered, it wasn’t rocket science therefore I hadn’t a clue what went wrong.

If I had known then what I knew now, I would have implemented the elevator pitch.

Let’s consider this, suppose you had 30 seconds to introduce yourself to someone that can change your life, what is the most important thing you NEED them to know about you. That's the elevator pitch. Lauren Berger states that you can only answer this when you are 100% sure of your core values and what you can offer to that individual or company.

I have now figured out, what the interviewer meant. He didn’t want to know my life history, or what brand of stamp glue I like but he wanted a grounded response about what value I can bring and what makes me ‘me’.

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With this newfound experience, the next time someone asks to ‘tell me about myself’. I won’t flounder, or talk about unnecessary details, but I will take a deep breath, smile, and reply with 'Hi, nice to meet you, I’m….

Final takeaway:

Firstly, first interviews often suck and if things don't go well, that feeling of not being good enough' can stick around for a while especially if you find yourself stumbling on an easy & basic question. But oftentimes, those basic questions tend to confuddle us the most, 'is this too much information, is this too little, etc.?'

Here's the good news: Nobody is perfect. You know this and hiring managers know this. It's OK to make a mistake. I wanted to smack my forehead multiple times because of my interview answers but I told myself it's a learning experience.

I didn't get the job but that's OK. I will use the knowledge gained to set up a growth mindset and learn from those mistakes to prepare in advance. One way for me to prepare is to have a snazzy elevator pitch ready in my arsenal to deliver a phenomenal first impression which I believe is the key to finally hearing that much-awaited 'welcome aboard to the team'!