Crafting a Professional Introduction, a.k.a. “The Elevator Pitch”
Why do I need to prepare an introduction?
The Humanities Career Exploration Fair will give you a chance to meet local employers and learn more about how the skills you’re developing in your coursework are of value in the work world. Taking time to map out your introduction in advance means that you can make sure you’re hitting the highlights of your skills and experience, as well as asking strategic questions to help you prepare for future job and internship applications.
Additionally, as you start to look at jobs and make professional contacts, make sure that you’re thinking about what you can do for an employer. This can be a mindset shift—when you were looking at colleges and attending recruiting events, colleges were telling you what they could do for you, but now that you’re looking for jobs and internships, you need to focus on how you can benefit an employer or organization.
The information on this page is also available in the printable Word document below.
How do I prepare?
Who are you?
- Tell the person you’re meeting your name, your year in school, and your major. If there’s something unique about your course of study that might spark a conversation, feel free to share it! Are you double majoring in English and accounting? A history major with a minor in horticulture? Make sure to mention it!
What experiences or interests do you have that are relevant to this employer or organization?
- Even though the Humanities Career Exploration Fair isn’t a typical career fair in that many of the employers won’t be hiring in the moment, it’s still important to think about what experiences or interests you have that are relevant to employers. This might include:
- Coursework or projects that relate in some way to an organization’s work
- Volunteer experience
- Part-time jobs
- Past internships
What do you want to learn, or what follow-up do you hope to have with the employer?
- Try to have a plan in mind for advancing the conversation or encouraging follow-up conversations. The best rule of thumb for any question you’reasking is that you should show genuine interest in the employer and their work.
- This means that you should try to ask questions that are specific to that employer—don’t ask general questions like, “What opportunities do you have for someone like me?” or “Tell me about your organization.”
- For the Humanities Career Fair in particular, here are some things you might think about:
- Ask the employer about the specific skills they look for when they hire, and especially how humanities competencies fit into that. You might ask, “What are the most important skills you look for when hiring?” or “How can applicants best highlight skills like communication or critical thinking on an application?”
- Ask what experiences employers recommend students pursue before graduating. You might ask something like, “What extracurricular activities do you like to see on resumes?” or “In addition to internships, what activities do you recommend students pursue to prepare them for jobs in your field?”
- If you’re especially interested in a certain area of the organization (their mission, a certain project they work on, etc.), ask a specific question to help you learn more.
Whenever you’re building your professional community, you should always research the employer(s) ahead of time. Some ways you can do this include:
- Reading company websites
- Checking out company’s social media
- Looking at LinkedIn
- Searching for recent news articles about the company
Some especially helpful information to look for might be:
- The company’s overall mission and values
- The staff—what kinds of roles does this company hire for?
- Particular points of pride for the organization