How to sell yourself and make a good impression?
- When approaching people with the intention to network, have a short “elevator pitch” ready. What is that? Elevator pitch is a short description of your idea for a company, product, or thesis project (when in academia) or your skillset that you can offer. It is good to have brief information ready in advance and explain to people in an understandable way what you are actually doing. This way you can get information about respective areas of interests and skills and be able to start the collaboration or inform each other about job opportunities or conferences in the industry.
- Don’t forget to have business cards ready, so you can swap contacts easily.
- Another useful tip is to have several topics ready for discussion. The conversation can include the topics such as the current event you are both at or work. But don’t be afraid to include also more personal topics like hobbies, which can help you to find a common ground with people. In case you are going on a private meeting with some particular person or you are attending an event where you would like to introduce yourself to somebody particular, the great start is already at home! Read up about the person, their current or past projects, and their field of professional interest. This will help you not only come up with the conversation topics more easily but would also make a good impression.
- Forming a connection and having a knowledge of the people’s area of work could result in word-of-mouth marketing when you can be recommended for a job or find a potential client due to the recommendation of somebody in your network.
