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Review your application materials. Review the job posting. Think about what they might want to hear about you. Ask yourself some questions. Decide on an attention grabbing way to start your introduction. Write out your introduction. See what you can simplify and/or clarify.

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Reread your cover letter and resume to remind yourself of what you have already foregrounded on paper. Highlight items that you would like to mention specifically or summarize in your introduction. Identify the most important skills that the employer is looking for and make notes of these so that you can incorporate them into your introduction. Mentioning these things will remind employers of why they selected your resume and it will help intensify their sense that you are a good fit for the job. Be honest and be yourself, but there is nothing wrong with highlighting the aspects of your professional experience that your potential employers will be most interested in. Thinking about what your potential employer will want to hear will also help you to decide what to leave out or minimize in your introduction. To develop your introduction and figure out what you should include, ask yourself some questions. Who are you? Why do you want to work for this company? What skills and professional experiences do you have that qualify you to work here? What do you hope to accomplish in your career? Write out your answers to these questions and use them to help craft your introduction. You might start with something like, "I recently graduated from ____ with a degree in ____" If you have any honors, slip those into this opening line as well. If you are a seasoned professional, you might try "I have been working as a ____ for ___ years." You could also provide a little personal information in your introduction, such as "I am an avid ____ musician and music lover." After your opening, talk about your skills. Say something like, "I excel at ____ and ____." And then, offer an example of a project you worked on that demonstrates your skills in this area. Finally, mention your career goals and offer a transition into the conversation about how you might work on those goals within the company. Say "My goal is to ____ and I am excited to discuss how your company might offer me opportunities to ____." Get creative and think of a way to start your introduction that will help your interviewers remember you. Choose something that fits who you are. For example, if you love to read you might start by saying that you identify with a famous literary character and then explain why by listing your skills. Or if you are extremely tech savvy and want to highlight that aspect of your skill set, you might begin by mentioning what comes up when you Google yourself and use then provide more details about yourself and your skill set. To make sure that you will remember all of your key points, turn your notes into a paragraph long (3-5 sentences) introduction. Write your introduction out exactly how you plan to say it. Start by providing basic details about yourself (who are you?), then move into details about your professional skills and experiences, and then finish by briefly stating your major career goals. This last part is especially important because it is your opportunity to tell your interviewer why you'd be a good fit for the job without saying it so explicitly. Revise your introduction paragraph to see what might need simplification or clarification. Your introduction should be concise, yet thorough. Remember, your potential employer is not looking for a ten minute presentation about you, just a quick overview of who you are.