Be the HERO Of Your Story
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Do you have a compelling "2 Minute Pitch" to describe the package you bring to the table?

Your marketing pitch is critical to your career search, or for that matter any campaign to increase your visibility and influence. One variation vital to any interview is your "2 Minute Pitch."

This isn't called "2 minute" because it has to be that long, but rather because it should never be any longer than two minutes. No matter how interesting and varied your background, the longer the story, the less compelling it becomes. Two minutes should be enough to give the listener the highlights, and some strong hooks for follow-up questions and discussion, without leaving them wondering about your communication skills. And it meets a fundamental tenet of marketing: "Always leave them wanting to know more!" Your complete story will have much more impact when you are invited to share it, when the listener asks "" vs. when you simply do a brain dump up front.

There are many ways to approach your "2 Minute Pitch," so let me share with you a template that I've found very successful in constructing a compelling story: HERO

H = Headline
This is your 1 or 2 sentence statement of what you bring to the table at the highest level. This IS NOT your career objective, which is about you. It should be focused on what you can do for the listener.

E = Experience
Instead of the reverse chronological order used in your resume, try going from the start of your career forward. You don't need to say a lot about your oldest jobs, and can even combine multiple companies or jobs into one sentence or completely eliminate them if they aren't all that critical to your story. Most importantly, be sure to include at least 2-3 accomplishment / result - oriented statements about the jobs you've held, instead of talking mostly about job titles or duties held.

R = Rest of qualifications
This is where those qualities you bring to the table can be brought into the story, if they aren't already covered in the "E" section - your leadership and negotiation skills, your ability to communicate technical subjects to non-technical audiences clearly, your creative and strong work ethic, etc. Again, it's more powerful to present these as much as possible in terms of results you can produce because of those qualifications.

O = Objective
In an interview, this could be focused on exactly the opportunity you are there to discuss, or on where you want to be headed longer term, and why this job appears to be a great step to get there. In a networking meeting, it should be about your focused objective for your search or next step in your career.

The point of the HERO template is to give you a way to tell your story that's interesting, that flows and shows the progression in your career, and that leaves the listener with a number of promising places to ask follow up questions. And by keeping it to 2 minutes or less, it satisfies the "Leave them wanting to know more" criteria. Put this template to the test and make yourself the HERO of your own story!