Introducing Yourself in an Interview To Go Beyond Your Job Title

10 years ago I applied for an Assistant Marketing position at a theater company where I had worked previously in a variety of others ways. I knew everyone at the company incredibly well and never expected that I'd have to sit down for a formal job interview. I walked in, assuming we’d jump right in to the nitty gritty of the job, not thinking I’d have to introduce myself as if I did not know the interviewers. The first question asked of me was: "What's your elevator pitch?"

My response: "What's an elevator pitch?"

The two people on the receiving end of my question could have said "Thank you, next" but their bulging eyes and looks of horror were enough to tell me I didn't get the job. There was nothing I could do. It was an innocent question and I had to look up the definition of an elevator pitch after the fact. I didn't have a business background. I was a full time performing artist and freelancer that spent most of my time playing improv games with children. And at that point I didn’t experience any shame in not knowing about elevator pitches because I was fully comfortable with the life I was piecing together for myself and how I communicated that with others. The idea that I'd have to pull my career path and artistic pursuits into a polished two-minute sales pitch just wasn't something I ever had to do. And in all honesty, it sounded like a pretty terrible way to express who I was as a full human. I soon learned that, unfortunately, an elevator pitch was a necessary evil.

Flash forward to running my own company and I feel like my identity and my job title are tangled up together in a messy bun. Sure, I chose the hair style, but now it's hard for me to see who I am beyond the work that I do. When I introduce myself at events and interviews I always default to talking about my job. It’s where I invest most of my time and it’s what I’m most passionate about at the present moment. The irony of it all: I help people use personal narrative for professional communication and one of the 5 Key Elements that I developed for helping people communicate in this way is a term I coined Beyond the Blazer. I teach people to share the 360 degree version of themselves. The more you can blend the personal with the professional, the more your audience will connect.

When I put my job title aside and tap back into this Key Element I see the importance of sharing who I am outside of the work that I do and the ways that I talk about myself shift. I feel more relaxed, more engaged and more connected to myself and the person listening to me.

It’s not easy to get into this mindset and can cause some uncomfortable side effects. When I’ve looked Beyond the Blazer, and used the detangling spray needed to comb through the aftermath of my messy bun, my first move is to question my identity without it. Who am I, if not my job title?

In the Harvard Business Review article What Happens When Your Career Becomes Your Whole Identity author Janna Koretz talks about the psychological effects of tethering your identity to your work.

Psychologists use the term “enmeshment” to describe a situation where the boundaries between people become blurred, and individual identities lose importance. Enmeshment prevents the development of a stable, independent sense of self. Dan — like many in high-pressure jobs — had become enmeshed not with another person, but with his career.

What’s one way to break free of career enmeshment? Changing careers or job titles. But there’s always the risk that the enmeshment will happen again at a new place or in a new position. And there’s always going to be a time and place where you’ll have to introduce yourself and describe who you are Beyond the Blazer.

If you are transitioning from one career to the other, or moving up in leadership in your current profession, chances are you will have to endure a job interview. It might be with someone who works with you internally, or you might be meeting a potential new co-worker or boss for the first time. Either way, it's important to revisit your elevator pitch and make some adjustments to support who you are beyond your current job title. This will help you go from enmeshed to unmeshed!

Here are some ways that you can break free from the false narrative of your career identity and introduce yourself to others while staying in alignment with your mission, vision, values and future goals.

Introduce yourself in an interview like it's a teaser for a bigger story.

How do you describe yourself? How much of this description is tied up in your job, title, or company? Are there any other ways you would describe yourself? How quickly do you tell people you’ve just met about your job? - Janna Koretz

These are questions brought up in Janna's HBR article and I think important to answer for yourself before you craft your introduction. Challenge yourself to craft an introduction that doesn't immediately default to your job title. You'll have an easier time owning who you are if you start with the bigger story. How did you get to where you are now? What aspects of your life outside of your career inform the work that you do and inspire you to do new and exciting things? What are your superpowers and how do you use them in everyday situations? How did you get those superpowers? Once you have the bigger Origin Story, you can extract an introduction that serves as a teaser for your interviewer to ask for more.

Go Beyond the Blazer / Beyond the Resume

Look beyond your job title. Consider reframing your relationship to your career not simply in terms of your company or title, but in terms of your skills that could be used across different contexts. - Janna Koretz

Beyond the Blazer is the third Key Element in the Tell Me A Story’s 5 Key Elements of Personal Narrative. Share the 360 degree version of yourself. The more you can blend the personal with the professional, the more your audience (and in this case your interviewer) will connect with you. Your resume will speak to your credentials and your business acumen, but there's so much more to work than the work itself. You're part of a team, a key collaborator and a leader - and so much of that stems from who you are outside of your 9-to-5 role. Assume the role of expert in every facet of your life. What are those skills / superpowers that make you you?

Share your personal mission, vision and values

Decide what’s important to you. Establish and review your principles and values. What is most important to you? Think about what you care about in life, and let those priorities guide you toward what’s next. - Janna Koretz

A good way to steer your introduction away from rattling off a list of your CV credentials is to zoom in on your personal mission, vision and values. Identify how you help people, your goals for leaving a bigger footprint on the world, and how this potential change in career or job position is in alignment with who you are outside of the office.

Embrace the twists and turns

See your winding career path as a positive and share your diverse experiences in story form. For the sake of an introduction, you don’t need to list all of the different jobs you've had and the reasons behind the shifts. You can thread your diverse experiences into your bigger story as moments along your life path. Highlight the ones that you feel most passionate about sharing. You are steering the ship and sharing your story through your leadership lens.

Piecing together an introduction for a job interview might take more work than you realize. But start with the bigger story and you will be able to distill an intro that makes you feel good, genuinely expresses who you are beyond your job title, and allows for instant connection between you and the person on the receiving end.

Extra Credit Resources

Now that you have a new perspective on introducing yourself in a job interview, here are some additional resources to help you go further in the hiring process.