1-2 minute commercial & instructions

7/31/2019 1-2 Minute Commercial & Instructions

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Sample 1-2 Minute Commercial: 4-1-2-3-4 Approach

This is the answer to the most commonly asked

interview question, Tell me about yourself, orWalk me through your resume. Some expertsadvocate a 3-5 minute story, but most executiverecruiters and career management professionalsrecommend a 60-90 second response. This is just ateaser to whet their appetites on your professionalidentity and history. You have the rest of theinterview to get into detail.

Since it typically comes first, this is THE MOST

IMPORTANT interview question. In your answer, youabsolutely create an impression, positive or negative,in the mind of the interviewer, which s/he typicallyspends the rest of the interview justifying in his/hermind.

The 4-1-2-3-4 approach (4=most recent, 1=early

history) takes advantage of the primacy and recencyeffects: People pay the most attention at thebeginning and end of your story, so make sure in thebeginning to make a strong statement about yourprofessional identity and value proposition/brand.Describe your most recent role, and provide anachievement with a numeric result. Then, transitionyour listener to the beginning, and quickly workthrough your early history, mainly highlighting jobprogression, company names, industries, and

competencies/key words. If you have a long workhistory (20+ years), its okay to summarize 10+ yearsin one statement. You MAY have time to include anadditional numeric achievement, but remember thatyou have the rest of the interview to share yoursuccess stories. TIME YOURSELF, and make sure youdont exceed 2 minutes.

Order Example Guidelines Your Draft

Prof.ID Im a Career Management

Consultant. I specialize indoing workshops and one-on-one coaching on topicsacross the careermanagement spectrum,

The first few words should beyour professional identity, andkey areas of expertise, leanedtoward your career objective,and your audience.

Im a Marketing Manager,responsible for marketing andadvertising activities for Subaruacross 6 Northwestern States.Primary responsibilities include

product launch support,overseeing multi-channel


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including CareerAssessment, ResumeDevelopment, SelfMarketing, On-Line Brand,

Networking, andInterviewing.

campaigns across all three tiersand managing our vendors andagencies. Additionalresponsibilities include partner

formation, event planning andexecution (e.g. Autoshows / TradeShows) and PR activities.

4(Mostrecent

)

For the last 5 years, Ivebeen with OutplacementManagement, a large careertransition firm. Im reallyproud of the fact that Ivehelped over 1000

professionals and executivesmake the transition to newwork, and quite often workthey find more rewarding,not just professionally, butpersonally.

Generally you should devotethe most airspace to this

position. Be concise, buthighlight your responsibilitiesand 1-2 achievements.Include numbers, if possible.

Use the key words relevant toyour profession, whereapplicable.

In the last 18 months my focushas dramatically shifted tosupport an influx of new productofferings and re-evaluation of ourcollective digital activities. For us,that means finding a way to helpour customers more fruitfully

engage with the retail channel(our dealers) and shifting a verylarge portion of our annualadvertising budget towards digitalfrom OOH and print (primarily).

1(Earlyhistory

)

As far as my early historygoes:

I earned a BBA from Rich

Business School, and spentthe first part of my careerwith Big IT, as a programmerand consultant.

Help the listener make amental transition back in time.If you have a long career,combine a substantial amount

of time (and several jobs) intoa sentence or two.

As for my early historyI graduated from the University ofNorth CarolinaGreensboro witha BA in English and Minor in Art.

One of my key achievements wasbring the Student Newspaper tothe web. This paved the way formy professional career where Iworked on e-Business in itsinfancy working on manyVersion 1 sites such as vw.comand audiusa.com.

Then I moved to Leadership In a long career its also After spending a portion of my

1-2 Minute Commercial - Page2


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2 Development within Big IT,where I did a variety of work,including Leadership

Training, Management

Coaching, and InstructionalDesign. In this role, Ideveloped a careermanagement guide, which iswhat sparked my interest incareer consulting.

sometimes desirable to simplyprovide a list of keywords thatconvey competencies.

time working as Project Managerlaunching products for Simplot,Ford, VW & Audi I transitioned to

Account Management where I

oversaw teams in Utah, Michiganand India.

3From there, I rotated back tothe line side of the business,where I took on formalpeople care responsibility,

and brought in new businessworth over $1M annually.

Along the way I earned amasters in HR from CentralMitten University, and aCareer Coaching certificationfrom Local University.

Briefly highlight mid-careerroles, skills, or achievements.

After a brief stint working for JPMorgan Chase in the VendorManagement Office I transitionedback to Automotive first as a

Digital Strategist at Volkswagen.

Along the way I earned an MBAfrom the University of Michigan,Ross School of Business. My two

years at RSB has beeninstrumental in shaping me intothe professional I am today.

4

And, for the past five years,

Ive been with TransitionManagement, as I explainedearlier.

Include a phrase to let your

listener know youre done.

For the last eight years Ive been

in Subaru. Its been a thrillingjourney.

Optional

Im really excited about theprospect of doing careercoaching for Rich BusinessSchool. Ive always had apassion for helping studentswith career advice, and

You have the option of addingthe answer to Why thisfunction, why ourorganization? as you turn itback over to the listener.



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working at my alma materwould be a real thrill for me.


1-2 minute commercial & instructions

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