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, or Walk me through your resume. Some experts advocate a 3-5 minute story, but most executive recruiters and career management professionals recommend a 60-90 second response. This is just a teaser to whet their appetites on your professional identity and history. You have the rest of the interview to get into detail. The 4-1-2-3-4 approach (4=most recent, 1=early history) takes advantage of the primacy and recency effects: People pay the most attention at the beginning and end of your story, so make sure in the beginning to make a strong statement about your professional identity and value proposition/brand. Describe your most recent role, and provide an achievement with a numeric result. Then, transition your listener to the beginning, and quickly work through your early history, mainly highlighting job Since it typically comes first, this is THE MOST progression, company names, industries, and IMPORTANT interview question. In your answer, you competencies/key words. If you have a long work absolutely create an impression, positive or negative, history (20+ years), its okay to summarize 10+ years in the mind of the interviewer, which s/he typically in one statement. You MAY have time to include an spends the rest of the interview justifying in his/her additional numeric achievement, but remember that mind. you have the rest of the interview to share your success stories. TIME YOURSELF, and make sure you dont exceed 2 minutes.

Order Prof. ID

Example Im a Career Management Consultant. I specialize in doing workshops and oneon-one coaching on topics across the career management spectrum,

Guidelines The first few words should be your professional identity, and key areas of expertise, leaned toward your career objective, and your audience.

Your Draft Im a Marketing Manager, responsible for marketing and advertising activities for Subaru across 6 Northwestern States. Primary responsibilities include product launch support, overseeing multi-channel

including Career Assessment, Resume Development, Self Marketing, On-Line Brand, Networking, and Interviewing. 4 (Most recent ) For the last 5 years, Ive been with Outplacement Management, a large career transition firm. Im really proud of the fact that Ive helped over 1000 professionals and executives make the transition to new work, and quite often work they find more rewarding, not just professionally, but personally. As far as my early history goes: Generally you should devote the most airspace to this position. Be concise, but highlight your responsibilities and 1-2 achievements. Include numbers, if possible. Use the key words relevant to your profession, where applicable.

campaigns across all three tiers and managing our vendors and agencies. Additional responsibilities include partner formation, event planning and execution (e.g. Autoshows / Trade Shows) and PR activities. In the last 18 months my focus has dramatically shifted to support an influx of new product offerings and re-evaluation of our collective digital activities. For us, that means finding a way to help our customers more fruitfully engage with the retail channel (our dealers) and shifting a very large portion of our annual advertising budget towards digital from OOH and print (primarily). As for my early history I graduated from the University of North CarolinaGreensboro with a BA in English and Minor in Art. One of my key achievements was bring the Student Newspaper to the web. This paved the way for my professional career where I worked on e-Business in its infancy working on many Version 1 sites such as vw.com and audiusa.com. After spending a portion of my

1 (Early history I earned a BBA from Rich ) Business School, and spent the first part of my career with Big IT, as a programmer and consultant.

Help the listener make a mental transition back in time. If you have a long career, combine a substantial amount of time (and several jobs) into a sentence or two.

Then I moved to Leadership

In a long career its also

1-2 Minute Commercial - Page2

Development within Big IT, where I did a variety of work, including Leadership Training, Management Coaching, and Instructional Design. In this role, I developed a career management guide, which is what sparked my interest in career consulting. From there, I rotated back to the line side of the business, where I took on formal people care responsibility, and brought in new business worth over $1M annually. Along the way I earned a masters in HR from Central Mitten University, and a Career Coaching certification from Local University.

sometimes desirable to simply provide a list of keywords that convey competencies.

time working as Project Manager launching products for Simplot, Ford, VW & Audi I transitioned to Account Management where I oversaw teams in Utah, Michigan and India.

Briefly highlight mid-career roles, skills, or achievements.

After a brief stint working for JP Morgan Chase in the Vendor Management Office I transitioned back to Automotive first as a Digital Strategist at Volkswagen. Along the way I earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. My two years at RSB has been instrumental in shaping me into the professional I am today.

Option al

And, for the past five years, Ive been with Transition Management, as I explained earlier. Im really excited about the prospect of doing career coaching for Rich Business School. Ive always had a passion for helping students with career advice, and

Include a phrase to let your listener know youre done. You have the option of adding the answer to Why this function, why our organization? as you turn it back over to the listener.
1-2 Minute Commercial - Page3

For the last eight years Ive been in Subaru. Its been a thrilling journey.

working at my alma mater would be a real thrill for me.

1-2 Minute Commercial - Page4