Sofia Bergstrom

Sofia Bergstrom
Editorial Columnist

I have had many “firsts” during my stay here in this country: my first Thanksgiving, my first Super Bowl and my first deep-fried Oreo cookie (yum!). Most recently I had my first pitch for radio at the firm I am currently interning at.

A few weeks back, one of my responsibilities was to call radio stations in rural and suburban areas of the southern states and ask if they wanted to interview one of our clients. Before doing my first pitch, I looked around the room while my eyes desperately sought the nearest emergency exit sign. In the midst of my quest for an escape route I realized that there was no way out: I had to perform my task. It was time to start pitching.

Most of my calls often ended up with me leaving a message on voicemail.

When I actually had to talk to a person and thus engage in a reciprocal two-way communication, I realized that it was not as bad as I had first thought. As a matter of fact, as I progressively became better at pitching I actually started to enjoy it, especially when I got to talk to some really nice southerners with very distinctive and humorous accents.

Speaking of phone conversations, just the other day I overheard the woman in our human resources department having a phone interview with a prospective summer intern. Since I remembered how nervous I was before, during and after my phone interview, I felt really sorry for the poor thing.

Trying to pitch yourself in order to get the job or internship of your dreams is not an easy assignment. However, there are some things to keep in consideration in order to improve your chances of sweeping the interviewer off his or her feet.

The first ingredient in the recipe of success when it comes to selling yourself or a product is preparation, as cliché as that might sound. Unfortunately, I had to learn that the hard way during my first phone interview: right when I thought that I actually was not going to make a fool out of myself, the conversation reached a sudden halt when I was asked to describe myself with five adjectives. I might not be a native English speaker, but I do have more than five adjectives in my vocabulary. The thing is that I only had prepared three adjectives to describe my awesomeness, so when I was caught with my pants down, or lack of access to my English vocabulary in this case, my brain froze.

I still get icy shivers when I think back of the awkward silence that was dominating the telephone line during those few seconds, which to me felt like a lifetime, while I was trying to come up with two words to describe myself. And not any two words, but words that was going to promote myself in the right light while at the same time increase my chances of getting the internship.

What I am trying to say here, and which you probably already have understood, is to be fully prepared for how you are going to make your case, without making it sound too rehearsed of course.

I completely understand why many students dread the process of pitching themselves when applying for an internship. Unfortunately, the fear can stop some people from even starting to pursue their dreams in the first place since they are being entirely put off by the challenge. But I’ve got to tell you, that is the worst thing you can do to yourself. A phone interview is not your execution, it is rather your shot at both becoming a better sales person — something which can be useful in many real life situations — and in creating a future. And unless your entire speech consists of stuttering and a mix of long pauses and those fabulous “ums” that we all love to hear, you will do fine.

Keep in mind that the possible positive outcome of a phone interview, being offered an internship that is, outweighs all the heavy load, anxiety and loss of nails (after obsessive nervous biting).

Pitching oneself is truly an art form, which few people can master with perfection. Even though one might never become the Jedi of pitching, the key to solving this puzzle is, as I have mentioned, preparation. With that in mind, may the force be with you in any of your future pitching endeavors, whether it is on the phone or in real life.

By: Contributing Author

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