On Friday, October 28th, MBS executive coach Abbe Rosenthal, MA, PCC, gave students the secret to a successful interview—to lead with their destinations. In this installment of PSM's Virtual Friday series, Rosenthal shared advice from Jodi Glickman, CEO and founder of GreatOnTheJob.com, about how to answer the interview question “tell me about yourself.”
Rosenthal laid the framework for crafting a personal pitch, noting that students should find the language to comfortably describe themselves.
Framework for Success
Rosenthal and Glickman break down the process into three steps.
Lead with your destination. The key to a good pitch, say Rosenthal and Glickman, is to lead with your destination. Find out what excites you. Determine where you are, what you are trying to accomplish, and where you would like to be next. Enter the interaction with the intention of engaging the interviewer. Take some of the pressure off yourself—instead of monologuing about yourself, start a dialogue. Talk about what you would like to do in the future. At this stage, don’t worry about landing a job. Instead, focus on creating a conversation. This will help propel you toward a second meeting or interview.
Describe your past. After starting with your goal, share your backstory. Although you may be tempted to share your entire past, pick out what is relevant. Your pitch should be short, concise, and engaging. There’s no need for a lengthy discussion. You are the architect of your own story.
- Highlight relevant experience
- Mention transferrable skills. These skills may not directly relate to your goal, but they will help you along the way to your destination.
Connect the dots. How does your background relate to your destination? In the final part of your pitch, talk about what makes you unique. Discuss any part of your background that aligns with your goal. Apart from discussing the MBS degree, here are some of the opportunities our program offers that will help you differentiate yourself:
In Practice
As students found out after Rosenthal’s talk, the best way to learn is through practice. Students crafted their own pitches, broke into groups, and received constructive feedback.
What’s Rosenthal’s destination? Rosenthal says that her destination--and her backstory--is MBS. Her goal is to share the MBS degree, its opportunities, and its students.
For more information on how to pitch yourself, check out Glickman’s LinkedIn Learning course.
If you would like to attend upcoming installments of our Virtual Friday series, check out our events page. You can also follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay up to date.