I've been an executive headhunter for Fifteen years. For folks that don't know, a headhunter (exact same thing as a recruiter) goes out and finds very specific individuals to fill very specific positions at client companies. If we should pull that off, there's a nice commission in it, and if we do not, well, we starve. So, recruiters become very good at not merely finding qualified people (the easier, not easy, part) but (the most crucial part) at preparing those people to talk about the right things reacting to their phone interview questions and later face to face meetings.

I’m a huge believer in marketing a Candidate (That’s recruiter-talk for the person seeking the position) using a cohesive marketing plan. This involves three key components: The 30-second Elevator Pitch, The 180-second Tell Me a Little Bit About Yourself, and The Resume. All three are built emphasizing the most impressive, specific achievements of the job hunter.

To start out, looking back over job history, and only the work history that is applicable to the position being sought, identify the 3 highest impact specific success stories. These really need to be instances of going above and beyond that truly differentiate yourself. Also, they should include specific numbers if possible. One example is, “I was the top producing sales representative out of 500 in 2004 for producing over $50 million within my territory. That was a gain of 36% from the previous year.” Most people probably don’t have something that ideal, but get as close to that particular mark as you possibly can. It may be “I ran a $10 million dollar company with 87 employees for 7 years.” Now, list out those three items in order from greatest to least.

The Elevator Pitch is a short 20 or 30 second initial introduction that is used during a call when contacting someone new. In quick order, give your name, the number of years you've been in the profession, a 1 line version of your best accomplishment, and why you are calling. It might sound something like this, “Hello, I’m Dean Jawarski. I’ve been an executive recruiter for 15 years. During that period of time I’ve placed over 200 software engineers at X company alone. I was wondering if we could explore any positions you might have available?” If that goes well, that pitch might turn into a conversation or maybe lead to one being scheduled.

“Tell me a little bit about yourself”, will likely be the beginning question of most interviews. It’s a wide open opportunity to set the tone for what is to follow. Again, repeat the elevator pitch, but this time around go deep into all three of your major accomplishments at length. It should take 2 to 3 minutes. Then end it with a statement that those accomplishments and your work history in general are what make you a great fit.

As far as the resume, it should also be developed to highlight those three major accomplishments as well as perhaps two more. Many interviewers will use the resume as a general roadmap for your conversation going down it in order. If they do, this piece of paper will lead them right to all of the successes previously mentioned.

In the end, the net result is an exceedingly concise and well put together presentation of all your best strengths that has been stated and restated two or three times.  It's not hard to prepare for all the typical interview questions.