Create your elevator pitch

Introducing yourself well sets the stage for a professional conversation, whether that’s at a networking event, with a colleague or at the beginning of an interview. One tool many people use to make introductions simple and effective is the elevator pitch.

1.   Use the following links to learn how to create and deliver your elevator pitch:

Tips: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/elevator-speech-examples-and-writing-tips-2061976

Tips & example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0Yz_5ZYzI

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0Thez9gvA

2.   Record and post your own elevator pitch.

3.   Watch your classmates’ speeches and make constructive comments. Have the guidelines been followed? What are the main strengths of each elevator speech? Write at least one strength and one weakness for each elevator pitch. How could they be improved? Provide feedback in relation to the following assessment criteria:

-Linguistic use: grammar/vocabulary accuracy, range and adequacy.

-Task achievement: efficient achievement of communicative purpose, content relevance and extent.

-Fluency and pronunciation: speech flow, intonation, stress and rhythm.

-Communicative resources: use of linguistic and non-linguistic resources, support materials and attitude.

Applying for a job

Read the following tips for job application.

1. Each CV should be adapted to the personality and style of the candidate, and always in line with the sector/post to which it is addressed. It is recommended that it is only one page long and that you include an introductory paragraph (see examples and templates at https://www.canva.com/es_en/). Following a chronological order isn’t a must and you can highlight the most relevant information in bold.

2. It is advisable for the CV to include a Skype user, link or icon of the professional social networks in which the candidate is. In this sense, both the content of the CV and the information included in these social networks (e.g. Linkedin, Hosco or Instagram) should be detailed, relevant and carefully elaborated.

3. The covering e-mail with which you will contact the company or accompany your CV must be accurate (see tips at https://jobs.theguardian.com/article/how-to-write-the-perfect-email-covering-letter/). It’s advisable to use a gmail address with your name and surname.

4. You must attach your CV in pdf, which you should also revise in depth, and provide clear contact details without being too personal (e.g. avoid your date of birth, address, age or marital status). In Spain it’s customary to include a picture of yourself, but not when applying abroad. You can also produce a video CV (see tips at https://www.thebalancecareers.com/tips-for-creating-a-video-resume-2064219).

5. Moreover, you can practice for job interviews by means of recorded video interviews (available at https://www.hirevue.com/, for example). You can record yourself answering to questions.

6. Bearing the interview in mind, you can also work on your elevator pitch, which allows you to introduce yourself and summarise for up to 1.5 minutes some key aspects, such as who I am? what do I look for? and why am I applying? (see tips at https://www.thebalancecareers.com/elevator-speech-examples-and-writing-tips-2061976).

7. Most formal interviews nowadays take place in a relaxed atmosphere. Some interviews include unexpected code switching into English to check oral skills. During the interview you shouldn’t be vague and rather provide specific examples. Some questions you might have to reply to are what do you expect to find here? or why should we choose you instead of another candidate? You can also ask questions.

8. You should have a register of your applications. Be coherent and apply sensibly, for the right post/company. It’s important to have searched for information about the company well in advance, and to be aware of the pros and cons.

Good luck with your job hunt!

Your research project for level 3

Read the following guidelines to find out how to carry out your research project in this level and suggest possible topics you could work on. Post your proposals and the names of your team members.

§  Introduction

In this section, let the reader know in a few sentences what your project will be addressing. State at the outset what you are interested in researching and why. Explain how the topic of your project is related to your studies, including an explanation of how the project makes use of the knowledge you gained from your Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism.

Clearly state your research problem and break it down into a series of more specific research questions, or, whenever feasible, into hypotheses. Be sure to indicate the process by which you have arrived at the predictions you make so that you can justify your hypotheses. Hypotheses, as a rule, flow from a logical process that includes consideration of what previous research has, or has not, demonstrated.

§  Literature review

Indicate which studies have already been done on the same or related topics; which questions or hypotheses have been offered; major findings; consistencies and inconsistencies among these findings. Appropriate citations would include recent peer-reviewed articles published in regionally, nationally, or internationally recognised professional journals; books; monographs; etc.

After reviewing the literature, place your own research within a context of already existing knowledge. Is your research an attempt to retest previous research findings? Investigating some aspect(s) of previous research in greater depth? Exploring areas suggested by previous findings? Studying a problem about which little or nothing is known, but which needs to be investigated for practical or theoretical reasons?

§  Methodology

Identify your research approach (quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods) and type according to its reach (exploratory, descriptive, causal/correlational or explicative), purpose (basic or applied), design (experimental or non-experimental) and/or information sources (documentary or field research).

Specify the universe and the sample -who the subjects of your research will be and how you are going to select them. Give your reasons for choosing such a sample, bearing in mind that you should find at least 50 respondents.

Identify your procedure. Indicate which data collection tools you plan to use in addition to surveys (observation, interviews, focus group, etc.), and any relevant information about your research design. Finally, discuss how you intend to process and analyse your data.

§  Results

In this section, the research outcomes should be interpreted and presented without comments, in a balanced way. Appropriate charts and graphs should be presented either in this section or in the appendices.

§  Conclusion

This section essentially returns to section one and should present how this study answers its research questions and how it fills the knowledge gap presented in section two. This section should reveal how the results of this study match or do not match other similar research. Great care should be taken to discuss why this study is important and how the results can be used. There should be a large number of citations to aspects that have been previously mentioned in other sections of the study. There should also be a reference to the limitations of the study (e.g. unexpected challenges, constraints on generalisability, applications to practice, and/or utility of findings) and what future research ought to be undertaken.