A recruiter recently posted on LinkedIn, calling out a common mistake: most of us are pitching ourselves all wrong.
Instead of delivering a sharp, compelling elevator pitch, many candidates take the long way up, giving what she called a “take the stairs to the 5th floor” introduction. You know the type: a rambling career history that leaves recruiters zoning out before you even get to the good part.
Curious to dig deeper, I asked her a simple question: “What do you actually want to hear when a candidate pitches themselves to you?”
Here’s what she had to say:
For Students & Early Career Professionals
“As a university recruiter, I want to know
- Academic background (major, year in school, where you go to school)
- What roles you’re seeking
- A professional ‘fun fact’ – where you’re interning this summer, an area of the field you’re passionate about, a leadership role you have on campus, etc.
Where people go wrong is going too far with #3. I don’t need to hear about every internship you’ve ever had, every club you’re in on campus, and every class you’re taking this semester.”
Jaylyn Jones, University Recruiter @ Duolingo
For All Professionals
“I want to hear a high-level overview of your most recent project, your specific focus on the project and the general overview of the type of work you have done within the last 5 years (if you don’t want to be pigeon-holed into one project and have more skillsets)
Ex. for someone in IT: I started my career in IT Development with a degree from blahblah. I worked as a back-end engineer within network development in my most recent project, but the last five years I have worked front and back end development for projects X size with Y as my end-users. I tend to focus my work on the development side, but have also lead non-technical stakeholder meetings/trainings during go-live.”
Maura H., Talent Acquisition Partner @ City of Garland
“You need a narrative. A carefully crafted story of your career that highlights the most compelling things you have to offer as a potential employee. One you can tell over and over and over from memory that sounds as though it’s being delivered extemporaneously.”
Erin Riska, Talent Acquisition Partner @ Search & Rescue – Talent Strategy Solutions
“1) the impact you’ve had 2) that this company and this role are of specific interest 3) why they should hire you instead of some other person.”
Joaquin Aslan, Fractional Chief People Officer @ Level-Up Love
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