Research the company. Each company has its own unique personality and culture. Describing the attributes you possess that reflect the company’s values demonstrates interest and shows forethought.

• For example, if you are applying for an entry-level position a tech start-up, try discussing your interest and experience with innovative technologies, their product(s), and your desire to work in a creative, start-up environment.

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Anticipate that you will be asked to talk about yourself in an interview. Thinking about possible answers to typical questions ahead of time allows you the ability to think things through.

• Creating a working list of your attributes or accomplishments can help you decide which of your characteristics are important and eliminate descriptions that might be redundant or less valuable.

Consider the position. Study the job description both for details about what the job entails and the necessary qualifications. Describe yourself in terms of your interest in performing job duties as well as your ability to do so.

• If you are applying for a management position, you may want to describe yourself in terms of leadership strategies you’ve implemented at a similar company. For example, “I am the director of sales at my current company. I have recently implemented new software to track our sales success.”
• You may want to describe yourself in terms of your multitasking abilities or give examples of your strong organizational skills if you applying for an assistant position: “I am currently assisting four associates. They are very pleased with my organizational and interpersonal skills and have recently given me all office ordering responsibilities.”
• As an entry-level candidate, you may consider describing your flexibility and willingness to learn a new role. For example, “I am a recent graduate and do have some internship experience with offset printing, but am looking for more experience and opportunities to build on my knowledge.”
• As a prospective graduate student, describe yourself in terms of fitting into the graduate program. Discussing your scholastic achievements, outside interests, travel plans, and other things you value give a good picture of you as a whole: “I have been interested in hand paper making and have been conducting some experiments on my own. I am really interested in seeing how I can integrate this experience with your art program’s bookmaking courses.

Describe yourself using concrete examples of things you have done versus “fluff” words. If you are a great organizer, merely writing that you are highly organized doesn’t mean much. If, however, you talk about a specific time when you were tasked with organizing a large conference of a hundred top executives, you have made you and your abilities much more real. [1]

Stage a practice interview with a friend. He or she might be able to provide valuable feedback and offer suggestions for topics to discuss or omit.

Know the difference between confidence and arrogance. Discussing your accomplishments because they are true and relevant to the discussion is completely acceptable.

Talking about your accomplishments and good qualities without any evidence or regard for the conversation may work to your disadvantage. [2]

Stay positive. Play up your positive qualities and avoid criticizing yourself.

Keep talk about yourself short and concise. An interview is not a good time to tell a comprehensive life story. Describe yourself and your accomplishments as succinctly as possible.

• Highlight 2-3 points when asked to talk about yourself. Follow up with one example illustrating how your attributes were beneficial in a specific situation. [3]

Be professional. Choose words that describe you as a competent professional. Avoid words such as fun, sexy, awesome, or pretty.

Method Two of Three:
Describing Yourself at a Networking Event Edit

Have a goal in mind. Networking events are opportunities to connect with people either in your current industry, or in an industry you hope to enter. If you are looking just to build relationships with others in similar roles in your industry, your introduction and interactions may be different than those of a job seeker speaking to a recruiter. [4]

Develop your key messages. Key messages, or “elevator pitches”, are succinct summaries that describe who you are and what you do. These summaries highlight the most important, memorable things about you. Here are some questions to ask while developing key messages:

• Who am I? “I am a writer.” “I am a recruiter.” “I am an office administrator.”
• What organizations do I work for? “I work for an online art magazine.” “I work for a start-up software company.” “I work at a small-business non-profit.”
• What do I help my organization do? “I review local art openings for an international online art magazine.” “I seek out and secure new talent for specialized software development roles.” “I work with businesses to hone their launch strategies.”

Find your passion and hone your pitch. Answering the above questions may help you identify what you value and what you are passionate about. Use this knowledge to organize your answers into short, fleshed out summaries:

• “I am an online writer for an online art magazine with an international audience. It’s a great opportunity because I get to attend and review local art openings.”
• “I am a recruiter at a small software start-up. I get to seek out and meet with new talent.”
• “I’m an office administrator at a small-business non-profit. I offer support to new businesses who are honing their launch strategies.”

Listen to others. Rather than beginning a conversation by jumping right into a pitch about yourself, ask questions. Offering others the opportunity to speak about themselves is really a means of learning about them and their needs.

• Active listening is the chance for you to create a meaningful exchange. You are able to both listen to another attendee’s key messages and assess whether you might be able to offer input or fill a need.
• Listening and replying with thoughtful feedback (and not just an “elevator pitch”) goes a long way to forming good business relationships. People who offer information honestly and freely tend to form real connections at networking events and maintain those relationships long after the event ends. [5]

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