Employees pitching for a new job with a new organisation

This pitch hinges on who you are pitching to as you could be talking with a recruiter, a peer, a decision maker or an influencer. You will need to adapt this pitch accordingly.

The main aim is to get across your key message which should contain 3 key words / terms which are aligned to the opportunity you are seeking. Added to this will be your personality and your perceived ‘fit’ in the organisation.

The reason why I focus on 3 key words or terms is because most people will only retain a few words and when looking to place you in an organisation will tend to use only 3 words or terms.

Recruiters tend to think in boxes (no matter how much you might hate this) so your key words must fit their boxes.

A peer is normally fairly knowledgeable about their line of work so by using their language you are playing into their sphere of influence. Many companies chose to offer incentives for recommending someone rather than working with an agent (this saves recruitment fees) so if this person is able to quickly recall your key message it will help them to put you forward.

An influencer is someone who can offer an opinion about you so giving them keywords which they can work with will be hugely helpful. Make sure you align your key words to the relevant organisation / industry / sector.

• Say your first name only. Giving too much information at this stage means people will forget the more important stuff. People tend to forget names but remember skills, attitude and experience.

For example:

• Hello, my name is Heather

• When people are looking to hire someone they are normally looking for someone with a particular expertise / specialism or with experienced in a certain field so you need to get this across clearly and succinctly.
• For some of you this language will be uncomfortable so remember you are not boasting you are stating facts.

For example:

• I am a xxx expert and specialise in working for clients in the abc industry.

• Your objective is to connect your expertise to their situation.
• Recruiters work in boxes and may struggle to see how your skills could be transferred so you have to present them with solutions to the boxes they have to fill.
• Your peers understand their world and any immediately associated roles so you need to give them recognisable words so they can immediately see you in specific jobs. They will also look for people who ‘fit’.
• Influencers are those who probably have the most flexible mind set but they will also see your perceived ‘fit’ into their culture / industry as a key asset when recommending you to others.

For example:

• The on-going breakthroughs in technology have brought about some serious challenges for this industry which I find fascinating. I am keen to move into an xyz role in the near future.

Name a project you are working on or have worked on which is related to your organisation / industry / sector and could be really interesting to the listener.

For example:

• I am currently part of a team who are implementing a xxx change for ABC. I have found that my xyz skills are invaluable when working with so many different offices around the world.

Nearly there! Once you have completed this last question and ticked the reCAPTCHA box below you will be able to submit, preview and make amendments to your pitch.

The aim here is to stay in touch with this person.

Here are some examples:

• I appreciate that you want to meet other people, so would you mind if:
  • We could link up and stay connected?
  • Grab a coffee over the next 3-4 weeks?
  • Have a skype call over the coming months
• I’ll send you some information about the xyz I mentioned.