Me in 30 Seconds

Me in 30 is passed off in an online interview with your new boss.  Pretend this is a real interview with real questions and a real job offer at the end. You will receive a link to the online interview room.

You will give your Me in 30 Seconds during that interview.  You will not be asked directly to give your self pitch, so you will need to look for cues in the interview where you can.  Sometimes, the interviewer will throw a softball question that can be used to introduce yourself. An example of a softball question would be, “Tell me about yourself”. Listen for those.

Me in 30 Seconds
The name of this speech is pretty self-explanatory. People want to know all about you as quickly as possible. They want to know your strengths and attributes. They want to know your personality and how you work with others. Listing all of those characteristics are not enough though. They want it to sound as natural as humanly possible. Natural means they don’t want to know that you are trying to tell them all about yourself. It should just feel like a normal conversation. And of course, you should do it in 30 seconds. This is going to take some practice and rehearsing, so don’t leave it until the last minute!

So, What’s the Point?
Why would should you do this speech? Say you happen to bump into the CEO of the company you want to work for or the person who happens to be the boss at the place you just applied for. What would you want them to know about you if you only had 30 seconds to talk to them? How would you do it without coming off as overly needy or weird? Or say you have an interview and they ask you about yourself.

There are four things you should have in a Me in 30.

1. Use YOU language.  Why should they be listening to you and what does it have to do with them?
2. Give them a BENIFIT.  What may happen because they show interest to you (i.e. increased productivity or they will increase sales).
3. Tie in some sort of EMOTION (i.e. they will have peace of mind or they will be happier).
4. Give them some QUALIFICATION evidences.

Don’t just tell them you are a hard worker.  Describe how you are a hard worker and how they are going to be better with you on the team.

How Will I Be Graded?
You will be graded on how natural you sound and how well you stick to the time limit. You will have 30 seconds with a 10 second leeway.  This is an introductory speech, and is one way to get to know you. However, don’t take this lightly because this is very important for when you do your interview later in the semester.