How to perfect your interview pitch

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• Super Admin
• February 7, 2019

Interviews and rugby might not seem like they have a lot in common, but both rely on preparation, delivering your best performance under pressure and the ability to think on your feet. Your ‘pitch’ can be the most difficult part of your interview, but arguably, it’s one of the most crucial. Having a great pitch that highlights your past ‘wins’ is a great confidence booster. An effective pitch can create the right fist impression and set the tone for the rest of the interaction. As the Six Nations gets into full swing, RoQ Recruitment looks at how to score your best try yet.

Preparation & focus: Players won’t hit the pitch without significant training and preparation, and the same goes for your interview. Things don’t often go exactly to plan, so having some solid facts behind you will act as a good back-up. Your pitch is basically a concise introduction to yourself and your background. The process of creating one also helps you to focus on what employers want and helps you to specifically demonstrate how you meet their requirements. Often referred to as an ‘elevator pitch,’ you should aim to talk for around 60 seconds – theoretically, the same time it takes for an elevator to travel from the top floor to ground level!

Don’t miss a pass: The ability to receive a pass securely is crucial both on and off the pitch if you don’t want opportunities to slip through your fingers. Your pitch is a good way to answer open questions such as: Tell me about yourself? Why do want this job? Why are you the right person for the role? Why should we give you the contract?  These questions can be difficult to answer as they often come at the start of the interview and pass control to the interviewer without much guidance. If you have a tendency to ‘waffle’ under pressure, this can waste a valuable opportunity to highlight your strengths. Having your pitch ready can help you to relax into the interview process with a clear and concise answer. It can also allow you to influence the rest of the interview by highlighting important information that the interviewer might ask you elaborate on.

Strategic tackle: From kick-off to the final whistle, a great match follows a narrative structure. Likewise, your pitch should have a logical flow instead of randomly skipping backwards and forwards. Having said this, the interviewer doesn’t need a complete run down of your work history as they already have your CV. It’s a good idea to research the company and the contracting role – LinkedIn and the company website are good places to start. This will give you a tactical advantage as you can pick out key skills and attributes that they’re looking for, demonstrating these with examples from your personal and professional life. Your pitch should deliver something unique, memorable and relevant. For this reason, avoid generalisations and buzz words as these will come across as white noise to interviewers who have heard them many times before. Instead, try to gain their interest by thinking carefully about your story and how to convey it. Top tips to think about here are:

-Avoid making generic statements without backing them with specific examples

-Think about what advantages you have over the opposition that make you unique

-Tailor your pitch for each contracting role

-‘Bring it home’ and end you pitch with why you want to work for the company

Score a try with plenty of practice: Although you should feel free to adapt your pitch depending on the tone of the meeting, you should avoid situations where you’re delivering their pitch for the first time in the interview. Words and phrases can sound very different when they’re spoken out loud. Try to find a volunteer to practice pitching to. They will be able to point out any nervous habits or odd phrases that you might not be aware of. It’s important to sound clear, concise and sure of your words without sounding over rehearsed and unnatural. Practising your pitch will also help you with your pacing and timing, ensuring that you don’t speed-talk your way to an early finish or send the interviewer to sleep by going overtime.

If you’re looking for permanent or temporary employment we can help, to speak to one of our team call: 0800 971 7070