An example of a good and better personal pitch

- Developing a personal pitch can be overwhelming. Building in warmth and confidence might sound great, but you would ask me, "Where do I begin?" So to kick things off, let's see things in action. I've invited Jesse. He's an MBA student, a Masters in Business Administration, and he's hoping to switch careers. He wants to move away from being an engineer in his current job and into operations management. In this conference that we're working on, he is preparing to talk to people in the agricultural equipment business and he needs to prepare his pitch. Jesse, come on in. - Hey. - So, thank you so much for being here. So what I'd like you to do is you have the pitch that you would say based on your resume and what you know, so look in the camera and pretend that I'm the recruiter from AgroMax. So I'm going to ask you, "Tell me a little bit about you." Go ahead. - Okay. Well, I graduated from Grant State University with a degree in chemical engineering. I then spent seven years working in the medical device industry. I don't know if you're familiar with Orthofix, but by the time that I left there, I was actually the lead product designer. Currently, I'm in MBA school. I'm trying to pivot into operations, which I feel like is a better fit for me. I feel like I can really leverage my knowledge of both engineering and design, especially when it comes to big machines like the ones that you produce. Oh, I'm also Six Sigma certified, which is a very intense and interesting process that you probably already know about. What do you do? - Great. So they definitely know your education. They know your information as far as your certifications. Do you have anything more to add? How do you make this more personable? You seemed a little held back. - Okay. - So can we do a few exercises? Because I don't want you to sound like your resume. I want to come up with, they're agricultural equipment, so how can we get you to speak a little bit to that. Let's work a little bit together and then we'll do, have you do another try. - Fantastic. - Okay, sounds great. - Cool. - Jesse and I worked through the practical strategies that I'll share with you in this course. We developed a story that was relevant to this audience and it helps him open up his warmth and demonstrate his competence. He feels more confident about what he will be saying. He's going to try his pitch again and I want you to look for what has changed. Remember, he's responding to the same question: Tell me a little bit about yourself. All right, so we've got some plans, so we want to see this in action again. Look back into the camera, AgroMax, I'm the recruiter. Tell me a little bit about you. - Okay. I grew up on a farm in Iowa. From a very young age, my grandpa had me on the tractor riding on his lap. By the time that I was in high school, my dad had taught me how to drive a combine, and every summer, every July we would be out in the field harvesting the wheat together. I think those memories really led to my love of machinery and just how things work. That also led me to go into engineering school. I graduated from Grant State University. I then worked for seven years in the medical device industry, which, while I was there, I made sure to take advantage of every Six Sigma opportunity, every leadership seminar that I could. And today, I am in MBA school. I'm changing my focus into operations, which is so great because it lets me kind of feed the analytical part of my mind while also focusing on the process of building up a business. So that's a little bit about me, and tell me about you. How do you like working for AgroMax? - If I was working for AgroMax and I heard that introduction, I'd say, "You are hired." - Thank you. - Come on campus, seriously. How did this feel to do? - It felt so much better, so much more natural, and, like, the personal connection, I feel like can set me apart. - Exactly. I remember you and grandpa on the tractor. You're still talking about your accomplishments. I can look at your resume, but this is so much better, so I'm so glad we worked on this. Wonderful. - Thank you. - So this is exactly what we're talking about in this course, taking warmth and competence and strategically enhancing your personal pitch, your winning and authentic personal pitch.