Megan Riksen:

Hello and welcome to the Work Like a Laker podcast. I'm Megan Riksen and today my co-host is grace Pushman. Hi grace. Hi Megan. So today we are chatting about how to introduce yourself to employers in various contexts. So we think this is a pretty important skill to have. Yes. And in fact, it only takes seven seconds to make a first impression on someone. And if it's a bad one, that could be a little disastrous not to scare you, but those first few seconds crucial. Yeah. They make a difference. So you might hear this introduction called an elevator pitch or a 30 second commercial, but you know, we're talking about that, that very first short 30 seconds or so that you have to make this impression as you introduce yourself.

Grace Pushman:

And no matter what it's called, it can play a very important role while networking. And when done well can lead to great conversations and relationships. However, it's not as easy as it sounds because you think, oh, I'm just going to go say my name right. 30 seconds. It's nothing right. Um, but let's listen to Kelly's intro. So Kelly is a student in our office who kindly did this intro for us. So let's listen to Kelly's intro when put on the spot.

Kelly Dowker:

Hi there. My name is Kelly and I go to Grand Valley. I'm hoping that you could tell me more about what you're looking for when it comes to hiring new employees.

Grace Pushman:

Well, that's not bad. It doesn't tell us much believe it or not having a strategy for how you want to introduce yourself to professionals while networking can be very effective. So let's go over five tips to make the most out of your intro. Yes, yes. Being prepared, right? This is, we sound like broken records because any career advisers, just going to be like prepare to research all of this. So our first tip is, yup. Do your research do some reconnaissance work? So if you're going to an event who's going to be there, what do you know about them? What is the purpose of the event? Is it simply for networking or is it, you know, maybe more crucial in terms of like a career fair where you're going for an internship. Is there a recommended dress code, whether that's in person or not. Right. That those things still matter.

Megan Riksen:

Um, most events that are hosted by the career center will include this information right. Within the handshake event posting. So that's always good to check out in advance and then yeah. Researching who actually is going to be there, which employers or people will be there will help you to kind of come up with maybe some conversation, starters, some topics you want to make sure you touch on maybe some questions. And we're going to go into a little greater depth than that in our other tips as yeah. And that brings us to tip two, which is also before attending. You want to think about what you want to get out of those networking situations. So you may have looked at the list of employers highlighted a few that are interesting to you. Now what's your goal. If you talk to them, are you looking for an internship?

Grace Pushman:

Are you looking for a job? Are you just exploring? Are you trying to figure out what future career you want? And you want to just ask them more informational questions? It's great to think about that beforehand, because that will shape what questions you might have prepared to ask them. It might shape some of the things you might do research wise to learn more about those companies beforehand. Um, and I think it will help you to feel more confident if you feel like you've really thought it through and know what your goal is that you're going to take out of that. All right, action. Right? Here's this purpose I have. And I'll just say there's, there's no wrong purpose to have. So, you know, I think a lot of times, our first and second year students might be a little hesitant to attend some of our networking events, like a career fair, because it seems a little intimidating to talk to people.

Megan Riksen:

You might not be actively like ready to be searching for an internship yet. Um, but if your goal is I'm going to go in, I'm going to talk to some people to make some connections and gain some information on the world of work. That's a pretty good reason to go. Yes. Very good reason. Yeah. Great. Okay. So number three is structure your introduction to include four main details. So the first would be who you are. So you're saying your name, your full name is important. Why you approached them again, that goes back to Grace's tip. Why are you there? Is it to gain information? Is it to make a connection? Is it to learn more about the organization? Any number of reasons I'm mentioning something that you have to offer. So what are you bringing to the table? Maybe it's a skill that, you know, would be really critical. Um, if you were to get an internship there, maybe it's a past experience that you had with a student organization that, you know, they're going to be impressed by. And that aligns really well with what they're looking for. And then the fourth is a call to action. So something where maybe you're asking a question at the end, something that's going to prompt a response so that you can, you know, hopefully keep having a conversation. And it doesn't just end at your little 32nd commercial. And I that's my favorite one because I think that if you're feeling nervous, but you probably will be normal. If you have that call to action at the end, you're kind of placing things in their hands a little bit. And they're very skilled at these conversations. They have them all the time.

Grace Pushman:

So if you have a question you're going to ask them, or you have some sort of, some sort of call to action, you're putting the ball in their court a little bit so that they can help you with this conversation, ease it along. And then of course you still want to participate after that. But I think that that call to action really can help remove some of the pressure off your shoulders. Yes, absolutely. So I'll just give a little example. Yes, please. So if you were attending our career and internship fair, we do those, um, once in the fall, once in the winter, and you wanted to explore the different types of skills organizations are looking for, if that was kind of your goal and purpose. Um, I might, for example, introduce myself by saying, hi, my name is Megan Riksen and I'm a sophomore English major here at Grand Valley. I love the work that your organization does around sustainability practices. And that aligns really well with my leadership role, with the GVSU green team here on campus, I would be interested in learning more about what sort of skills and experiences that you're going to be looking for in potential interns.

Grace Pushman:

That's great. And like we were talking about earlier, it puts it onto the employer, so they have a chance to chat. And honestly, if you can leave a conversation where you've given the other person ample opportunity to talk, they're going to have a better impression of you because people like to talk. And so if you ask them great questions that are, that are thoughtful and they have a chance to be an equal participant in the conversation, that's going to, I think leave a really great impression. So that was a perfect example. Megan, thank you for sharing.

Megan Riksen:

Right. And you'll see it, it was pretty slight how I put in the, the GVSU green team. Oh yeah. Pretty impactful to say, I have a leadership role on this green team. It relates to your, you know, commitment to sustainability at your company. Like a lot is happening in a single sentence there. So I, yeah, I think you can be really smart in how you kind of craft what exactly. And that's almost what we would refer to as a teaser statement and in a way where you're saying something that you're not giving a ton of detail, but it's, it's going to peak my interest and I might answer your question and then I might throw in at you and say, can you tell me more about this green team? That sounds really exciting. Yeah. And so then you've again, just open it up for a better conversation.

Grace Pushman:

And um, yeah, so I love that example and let's move on to tip number four, which is to practice. And this is one that I think might seem awkward to do, but it really helps. So when we say practice, you know, when you introduce yourself in these types of settings, it is going to feel different. And it's not the same as when you're just at a family event, chatting with your aunt. Like you're going to be introduced. You meet a new person on campus, friend of a friend, Hey, this is my friend so-and-so hi. You're not going to launch into a no, that would be even a date. Like it's not the same. So it's definitely a different situation. It's a little more, um, I don't want to say it's a little bit more formal, so it's structured from all gonna feel different. And so one way that I would recommend practicing, I always like to have students write down what they want to say on a post-it note. And the reason for that is because it's small. So, you know, you're not going to add too much. So write down maybe some bullets, what you want to say. You don't want to have it scripted exactly. Because then when you say it, it might sound awkward. So maybe just have some bullets of the things you want to mention and then kind of improv it a little bit, as you say it and practice in front of yourself. Maybe record yourself, time yourself. If it's going to minutes, that's way too long. If it's five seconds, that's probably too short. So, um, and then maybe if you're feeling comfortable, do it in front of someone else, you can do it in front of, you know, your roommate, a family member, a friend, or you can do it in front of someone at the career center. We have career lab, which you can read thing to do.

Grace Pushman:

Yeah. You could just drop in any day during career lab and just chat with one of our advisors or one of our student workers and say, can I tell you my elevator pitch? And it would take two minutes out of your day and you would have some great feedback. So definitely practice. Great. So our last tip is to follow up. So this isn't really a part of the actual introduction, right? But during, you know, you've kind of done your 32nd commercial, hopefully had a pretty productive conversation with that person. You want to be sure to ask for a business card or a way to stay connected at the end of that conversation. Um, so you really want to think of that introduction as just the beginning of hopefully this relationship that you're building, because that's, that's the purpose of going to these events. It's networking, it's relationship building.

Megan Riksen:

It's not just let's have this transaction between you and I where I hopefully gain some information. Um, but leave it at that. Nope. We want to try to continue that as much as possible. Um, and following up is, is really the vehicle for doing that. And I think that's something I often hear from students is like, yeah, I won and it was great, but now I don't know what to do. And it can feel like it, not that it was a waste of time, but I think for those students, sometimes it feels a little like that. And we do, I will plug, we do have a great episode on following up of from our podcast last season.

Grace Pushman:

So I don't remember the exact number either, but if you go back to our last season, there is one about following up. So check that out if you're interested to hear more for sure. Great. All right. So now we can listen to Kelly's intro after practicing thinking about it being intentional. So let's go ahead and play that and hear how it sounds.

Kelly Dowker:

Hi, my name is Kelly Docker and I studied social work at grand valley. I really admire the work that your organization does in the community. And as an incoming senior, I'm interested in hearing more about the qualities that you were looking for in potential candidates.

Grace Pushman:

All right. So you can see it's still short. It's still to the point, but it's much better. It's much more descriptive. It's going to leave some room for conversation. Whereas the first one didn't really do that. Okay. So we're going to talk about just a few more things we want to mention about networking, because I think we'd be remiss not to say that these in-person introductions may, might be delivered, might not always be delivered that way. Right? You might be being introduced to someone over email. You might meet someone, um, virtually in some other way over zoom, you know, now, so it's hard to say, so keep that in mind when structuring what you want to say and how you want to say it, because it might change varying on the location and the circumstance, regardless of whether you're delivering it in person or virtually though, you'll want to smile and make eye contact with the person you're speaking with and acknowledge their name and return.

Grace Pushman:

So that's actually one great way to even to remember someone's name is when they say their name, say it back to them. Oh, hi, Megan, it's great to meet you. And not only is it going to help you remember their name, but it also just makes them feel good. Personalizes it automatically. Yeah. People like to hear their name. It makes it feel like you're engaged in that conversation with them. Um, and then the last thing we wanted to talk about here is handshakes because before it was very straight forward, like yeah, you're going to a career fair. Yeah. You are going to need your hand out. Yeah. And I will say handshakes are very important. Like people will form a, an impression on you just on your handshake and whether or not that's fair. It's the truth. So if you do, if you are in a situation where people are giving handshakes, we say web to web, which is where you put your, like the, the part of your hand that like the thumb and the pointer finger.

Grace Pushman:

Could I, I guess that part of it's hard to describe just audio. We usually demonstrate it, but you basically, I think one of the common mistakes is people grabbing onto a hand too soon and just like grabbing onto someone's knuckles or fingertips. And it just feels really weird. So just try to go in like very straight and web to web, if that makes any sense.

Megan Riksen:

Don't crush me. Oh yeah. Oh, don't crush and don't, but don't be too light. This is one of those things you might get practice with someone.

Grace Pushman:

You know, my sister, just the other day we were on vacation and randomly, she was like, Hey grace, tell me if my handshake is too far, we shook hands. And it wasn't. So just do one of those. But that being said, we know that right now with, with how the world is, you might not be shaking hands.

Grace Pushman:

Right. Um, it's going to look maybe a little bit different if you go to an in-person career fair. And so I think for me, Megan, I don't know if you have any other suggestions, but I would say first and foremost, do what you're comfortable with. So like, if you don't want to shake someone's hand, you could walk up maybe with your hands behind your back or holding something so that it's clear, you're not ready to shake their hand. Um, if you're feeling okay, either way than how I would play it is walk up to the table or the person or whatever, and just go off their lead. So if they look like they're considering putting out their hand, then you can match them, but try to follow their lead in that case. Um, but again, if you don't feel comfortable, then you know, you might just have something in your hands or put your hands or something, a little wave, you know, like a non-awkward little wave, just like a, Hey, you know, kind of putting your hand out.

Megan Riksen:

Hi, I'm Megan. It's nice to meet you. And then if they kind of go in for it and you're cool with it, do it, but you might not need to, they might just way back, right? Yeah. It's okay to laugh about it.

Grace Pushman:

And it's okay if it's awkward, because we're all in this situation together, we're all know what's going on. I've already had, I don't know about you, Megan, but I've already had quite a few awkward, do I handshake? Do I have like, what are we doing? Yes. And so it's just going to happen to all of us.

Megan Riksen:

Exactly. I saw this infographic or was showing like all these alternatives to handshakes and one of them was the footshake. Oh, no hope that doesn't catch on because no. That seems like a balancing act that little hard off. No, yes. I, especially if you're wearing heels, like, I don't know, like, it seems tricky and we're in a dress.

Grace Pushman:

I don't know, but I have seen quite a few elbow bumps, but then we're kind of getting in the handshake realm anyways. Yeah. I think we're all going to just have to play it by ear and see what happens. So I guess just take all that with a grain of salt, but I will say, I do think again, if we go back to physical handshakes, you do want to practice that.

Megan Riksen:

Yes, for sure. Great. So those are our tips for today. Hopefully they've given you a few ideas for ways to improve your introduction. As we mentioned, we would love to practice with you in CareerLab. We're open every day during the week. And we also have lots of great resources on our website, especially in our interviewing and networking section. Um, we've, as grace mentioned, we've done other podcasts that would be helpful in this way, too. We have an All About Interviewing episode, which you can use a lot of the same strategies with interviewing as you, you just kind of are shortening it to make it short and sweet instead of a full interview. Um, so hopefully you can find some additional resources and, and just get out there and start practicing.

Grace Pushman:

Yeah. Good luck. Great. Got it.

Megan Riksen:

So thank you so much to everyone for listening, and we hope you tune into a future episode soon.