Nail Your Self-Intros

Author

Vincent Xu
September 22, 2024

TalentGeist Newsletter

Immediately-actionable career insights for ambitious individuals.

Read time: 7 minutes

Ever felt stuck or that ‘you’re rambling too much’ when explaining what you do or your background?

Research shows it takes just 10 seconds for others’ impression of you to solidify. Thus, it is critical you nail the self-introductions to start off on the best possible foot.

But self-introductions go beyond just ‘first 10 seconds of meeting someone’ – it ladders up to how you become an overall more concise & articulate individual, which pays dividends for the rest of your life.

  1. You’re much more likely to succeed interviews

  2. You’re much more likely to impress those you’re networking with 

  3. You’re much more likely to earn the respect of your co-workers

  4. With the above, you’ll become more confident in social settings

  5. …..and literally hundreds of other reasons to invest in this (e.g., your dates will think you’re smarter 😉)

No matter your current baseline, we’ll cover 2 simple frameworks today that’ll help you become more concise and articulate.

Framework #1: Present, past, future

➡️ Use cases: explaining your career journey (e.g., ‘tell me about yourself’, ‘walk me through your resume’)

➡️ Articulation:

  • Step 1 — Present: Who you are, what you do, and a recent achievement

  • Step 2 — Past: How you got there

  • Step 3 — Future: Share your next step goals and why you’re a good fit

➡️ Visual example: 

➡️ If you have questions on why this is often regarded as the standard (and best) framework to kick-off self introductions, simply hit ‘respond’ on this email and ask!

Framework #2: 100% formula

➡️ Use cases: explaining your day-to-day responsibilities at work (e.g., ‘tell me about your experiences at company X’, ‘what do you do as part of your role?’)

➡️ Articulation:

  • Step 1 — one-sentence overview (e.g., your title, number of years)

  • Step 2 — 100% formula to frame the day-to-day responsibilities (e.g., I spend 50% of my time on X, 30% of my time on Y, and 20% of my time on Z)

  • Step 3 — highlight key accomplishment or impact

➡️ Visual example: 

➡️ I’ve only ever heard professionals at the top of their game use the 100% formula. Adopt it for yourself! Hit that ‘reply’ and ask away if you have questions :)

Action item: now that you know the general structure of these frameworks….PRACTICE OUT LOUD! You will only internalize if you verbalize regularly, and make them a part of your repertoire.

Other reason for practicing out loud: You’ll be shocked at how many things sound good in your head, but comes out of your mouth totally rusty when you need to sound good (e.g., during interviews, or meeting that VP for a coffee chat / referral).

Subscribe 💪, or forward this to 1 friend/colleague who will totally thank you for helping them level up their game.

Until next time,

Vincent (LinkedIn)

Previous insights:

  • Contextualize everything — how to underline the true magnitude of something & make your accomplishments more impressive