Interviewers want to work with candidates they like. Leave a good and deep impression and it will increase your chances of success. Most of us are not strangers to self introductions as we meet new people now and then and have to introduce ourselves every once in a while. However, self introductions in interviews are slightly different from real life - you need to tweak it to your advantage - tailor the self introduction to the role and company you are applying for! Your self introduction evolves as you grow and are at a different stage of your life.
An "elevator pitch" originates from a journalist trying to pitch an idea to an editor. The only time to catch the editor was in the elevator and she had only around 30 seconds to do so. The key elements of elevator pitches include:
- Short - You have limited time!
- Direct - As you only have limited time, you should get to the point
- Attention-grabbing - Present your most attractive ideas
Whether you're at a job fair with hundreds of other candidates and you have limited time or you are simply explaining who you are to a potential connection or client, it is important to be able to clearly and accurately describe your knowledge and skill set quickly and succinctly. Your self introduction is an elevator pitch for yourself!
Include who you are, who you work for (or school and major), and what you do.
- For internships, you should mention the following: name, school and major, focus areas, past internships and/or noteworthy projects.
- For full-time roles, you should mention the following: name, past companies, noteworthy projects (best if it's a public consumer product that they might have heard of).
Does this look familiar? It is similar to your resume! Your resume is a condensed version of your knowledge and experiences and your self introduction is essentially a condensed version of your resume. As you grow older, professional experience becomes more important and school background becomes less important. Hence your self introduction changes as you become more senior.
Tell them some highlights from your favorite or most impressive projects and including some numbers if they're impressive or challenges that you've overcome. Do not delve into the depths of how you reverse engineered a game and decrypted a packet to predict when to use your DKP on a drop. Tell them the executive summary: "I reverse engineered X game by decrypting Y packet to predict Z." If this catches their interest, they will ask further questions on their own.
Tell the interviewer why you would make a good hire. Is your experience relevant to the company? Have you used a similar tech stack as the company or built relevant products? What unique talent(s) do you have that may give them confidence about your ability to contribute to the company?
Lastly, you must practice your pitch! Having a great, succinct summary of your skills only helps if you can actually deliver it rapidly! You should practice keeping a quick but easy-to-follow pace that won't overwhelm them but won't bore them. It's a precarious balance, but can be ironed out with practice.
After coming up with your self introduction, keep it somewhere where you can refer or tweak in future. Memorize them and in future you can just use it when you need to. But don’t sound like you’re recalling it from your memory when you’re actually saying it out. Sound natural!
Having an elevator pitch on hand is a great way to create a network and happen upon new job opportunities. There will often be times when you can't prepare for an interview or meeting, and it is incredibly handy to have a practiced pitch.
Prepare a self introduction that follows the following outline (inspired by "Cracking the Coding Interview" by Gayle McDowell):
- A sentence about your current or most recent role.
- A few sentences about your (academic) background. What did you focus on?
- Some sentences about your professional experience after school. Where did you work? What projects did you deal with? What were the typical challenges and tasks? Which technologies did you use?
- Finish with a statement saying why you are seeking a new job opportunity and why you are interested in the role you applied for.