Can I Have a Minute of Your Time?

It is a common saying for people to ask for a “minute of your time” and we know it means they want to speak to you, but not for a literal minute. What if you only had a literal minute, and were asked to talk about yourself, could you do a good job in summing up your experiences and skills in such a concise amount of time? What kind of points would you focus on to highlight in that time? Could you do an adequate job and instill a desire in the other person to potentially want to hire you? Now, rarely will you be asked to do so much in so little time, but it is a good idea to practice and be able to hit all of the highlights in a cohesive way in such a time crunch situation.

When you enter into an interview, you will almost always be asked some form of “tell me about yourself” type question. You should be prepared for this, and avoid rambling or running down too many rabbit trails in the discussion. Take a look at how concise you have laid out your resume information, and jot down some of the main elements from it that highlight those skills directly relating to the opening you are interviewing for. Do not simply rattle off your resume, since they have that in front of them; but grab the main highlights of your skills, and fill in some other details on how they relate to the position.

Your resume will most likely contain a bit more information on your past experiences than are going to be actually directly related to the job you go to interview for. Know what skills the position is requiring, and focus on those points; and from there, build a one-minute-YOU. Keep it concise, professional, and focused on the goal – selling you as the optimal candidate for that current open position.

Aside from just the skills portion of this condensed you, feel free to also include some brief remarks about why you are where you are career wise, and maybe some of your reasons for seeking this new position. In general, seek to be able to give a compelling yet concise commercial about you.

The purpose of this type of exercise is to be able to be ready and able to answer, without rambling or going off topic in the conversation. If you know ahead of time the content of what you want to say, you will be able to present yourself more professionally and stay focused on the topic.

Jot this information down and practice, practice, practice, until it becomes almost second nature for you. A good interview presentation may be the little factor that separates you from the other qualified candidates.