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Thread: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

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    HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    I have applied for a legal job.

    What I do not understand is that they have asked me to give a 5 minute presentation or something that I feel passionate about.

    I think that I shall speak about Ceroc.

    What I can't understand is the relevance to my job. It will be infront of 4 people! I was asked if I wanted any technical equipment there and that really scared me. What are they expecting ...a full blown powerpoint presentation or what? I have a hand me down lap top (Life book circa 2000) but it is broken!

    I am thinking of just fdoing a short handout and talking round some bullet points and showing some photos. Not very imaginative but I don't know power point and without a lap top, it would be incredibly hard to suss it out in a short period of time!

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    Registered User Tartaniad's Avatar
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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    ste..the reason you have been asked to do this is to find out how you present yourself in front of people be it a small amount or a large amount of people.

    Choose something that you like as five minutes is longer than you thin.

    Choose ceroc and describe the moves or as I have done in the past choose a holiday destination and try to sell it..why its good etc or choose something that you think you can talk about for five minutes without becoming hesitant or agitated.

    they are looking for confidence.

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    Registered User spindr's Avatar
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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by Tartaniad View Post
    they are looking for confidence.
    Or the ability to make a reasonable argument and draw some conclusions?

    How about "Reasons that I should get this job?" -- should be easy to write the final conclusion slide

    You could even "borrow" some of their website content to show you've researched the place a bit.

    SpinDr

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Ok - strong advice: do not use laptop. Do not give handouts. This is about your communication capabilities.

    EXAMPLE:

    Max 1 prop. For example - you could take along a pair of dancing shoes. Have them in a bag and pop them out right at the beginning and say in a commanding voice (after a dramatic pause):

    "This is my passion. <Pause - solid eye contact and pause again>

    I dance 3 nights a week - and wear these shoes every time. <Pause> I've danced Scotland, England and Wales with thousands of people in the last few years. Every dance is different and gives me a unique experience. What I like about it most is how the music and the the dance with my partner can come together to generate feelings of happiness and harmony. The first time I went dancing, I was incredibly nervous, but I was determined to overcome it, so I forced myself to get involved and just do it - and pretty soon I realised how much I really enjoyed it - particularly the challenge of learning new and difficult moves. One of the best things is the social aspect. I meet so many different people from all walks of life - it really is a cross section of society: one minute you might be dancing with a bank manager, next a lawyer, then a road sweeper - and they're all great dancers..........................

    (I could go on............)

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    In addition to all the helpful advice already given, have very clear objectives of what you want them to know about your subject and make all your points relevant to that.
    In other words you have to communicate your ideas precisely and not wander about too much. Although they want you to talk about any subject, how you put a clear message across and the manner that you express yourself are what they are trying to achieve.

    You mention that it is for a legal position. These guys could probably put up a case why Saddan Hussein is innocent and why he should be given compensation for being chased around. Decide what you want to say and work on that. Hope it helps.

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    Senior Member rubyred's Avatar
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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by JiveLad View Post
    Ok - strong advice: do not use laptop. Do not give handouts. This is about your communication capabilities.
    Steve I agree with Jive lad they are looking for your abilities to put information across in a consice and acurate way. So any topic is appropriate, if you talk about your dancing you will be approaching a subject that you have knowledge and passion and will be well informed about your subject content. Its about being yourself and honest. Good luck mate let me know how you get on.

    [I don't know what legal job it is but the majority of my work is in the courts. pm me if you think I can help ]
    Last edited by ducasi; 17th-August-2007 at 07:41 AM. Reason: quote fixing
    if you love the life you live then you'll get a lot more done

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    Registered User happygoldfish's Avatar
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    Thumbs up 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by Ste View Post
    I have applied for a legal job.

    What I do not understand is that they have asked me to give a 5 minute presentation or something that I feel passionate about.

    I think that I shall speak about Ceroc.

    What I can't understand is the relevance to my job. It will be in front of 4 people!…
    I disagree with all the advice so far.

    Do NOT talk abut Ceroc.

    This isn't an exercise designed to test your composition skills … like "what I did on my holiday".

    It's designed to test your presentation skills.

    I agree that's ambigugous, and it could include "what I did on my holiday".

    But it's for a legal job, so my guess is that they want you to present a case.

    In other words: something with the word "should" in it.

    "Ceroc is great" isn't a case. "Everyone should do Ceroc" is a case, of course … but you've got 4 people thinking "No, I shouldn't!", and you'll have to spend too much time (a) eliminating the other dances and (b) explaining what Ceroc is anyway.

    If you must present about dance (and I agree you'll probably communicate your enthusiasm well if you do), go for something more general like "Everyone should dance, because it's good for their health" (but with a snappier title!).

    But presenting about Ceroc, or dance, seems to me to be over-concentrating on showing how passionate you can be … they're not ultimately interested in your passionate-ness, only in your presentation skills.

    I would go for something less personal … for example, that there should be a pedestrian crossing at a particular junction, or that there should be better information on the London Undergound, or that courts should sit in the evenings.

    I am thinking of just fdoing a short handout and talking round some bullet points …
    NO … that's a recipe for waffle!

    Bullet-points will make your presentation disjointed.

    Keep the thing flowing, don't deliberately stall for time by handing things out (though one bundle of photos at the beginning is fine!), and keep any bullet-points in your head!

    Your case should be a case … it should have just one bullet-point!

    And you want them looking at you, not your handout.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tartanlad View Post
    … five minutes is longer than you think …
    Yes!! Better to overrun slightly (I'm sure they won't "gong" you ) than to be two minutes too short!

    (btw, will you have to field interruptions? It makes a big difference if you do have to. If so, work out some obvious answers. Try not to get side-tracked into answering with a later part of your presentation, and then not knowing where to carry on!)

    Good luck!

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    What sort of legal job?

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    I disagree with HGF... if that's what they've asked you:

    Quote Originally Posted by Ste View Post
    give a 5 minute presentation or something that I feel passionate about.
    then you should definately do something that fits this and not try and present something legal related.
    In addition to wanting to see how confident you are and how you present yourself, they want to see that you can get passionate about something. Don;t try and fake this saying 'there should so be a pedestrian crossing in this place'

    They'll want to see if you can articulate a point clearly, and communicate adequately to the audience you're facing (i.e. not too technical if they're not technical folks etc).

    I also think that they're looking for a bit of 'out of the box' thinking. They must have heard hundreds of holidays or kids stories...

    I do assess candidates at interviews from time to time and that's what I would look for if I were to ask somebody to do this.

    Also make sure you do take 5 minutes, no more, no less.

    I agree with Jivelad that removing shoes from a bag and putting them on the table in front of them in a slightly dramatic manner is a very good start. You will get them interested straight away (they'll think 'oh my god what is she going to do with this').

    I don't know what kind of company it is, but some time ago it was very common to try and destabilise the candidate - they may still do that in legal to see how you cope. They may try and say this is rubbish at the end (or even in the middle). Or ask you to demonstrate. Or ask you how this is related to some very weird subject. Be prepared for this.

    Good luck and let us know how it went.

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by Ste View Post
    I have applied for a legal job.

    What I do not understand is that they have asked me to give a 5 minute presentation or something that I feel passionate about.

    I think that I shall speak about Ceroc.

    What I can't understand is the relevance to my job. It will be infront of 4 people! I was asked if I wanted any technical equipment there and that really scared me. What are they expecting ...a full blown powerpoint presentation or what? I have a hand me down lap top (Life book circa 2000) but it is broken!

    I am thinking of just doing a short handout and talking round some bullet points and showing some photos. Not very imaginative but I don't know power point and without a lap top, it would be incredibly hard to suss it out in a short period of time!
    i had a quick look at the threads you have started.
    I get the impression that you could talk about things that you are passionate about, without any props, until exhaustion (yours, not the listeners) set in. This is meant to widen your thinking, not as solid advice.

    I can only tell you in the audience what I would want to see, and how I would set out a presentation on MJ to achieve that.

    If I would say why I love MJ, and really sell it, I would expect my audience to see the passion, and whatever sales and presentation ability I had, but be thinking "Very good, but *** has this to do with legal work? What is this guy thinking about talking about this?". Setting a doubt, and surprising people with an unexpected answer is a good presentation technique. Tension - release.

    If it were me I would deliver this one minute "commercial" from one side of the presentation area. I would then move theatrically across to the other side of the presentaion area, not being afraid being slow, or of silence, and start exactly the same commercial again, perhaps in a slightly different accent. "I was bored, unfit, and did not have enough of a social life ...", but then I would go on to give different reasons why I loved MJ. Being me this would involve picking up the ladies and whirling them around and dips and drops. This would be a shorter commercial.

    I would them move to the middle of the area, and in a third personna tell the people, smugly, why I was in the businees of running MJ nights, and of the good MJ does for people.

    Then I would hear an imaginary voice from one side complaining that MJ is a social night and that aerials and drops should not be allowed on the dancefloor.

    And the imaginary voice from the other side saying that people loved watching that stuff, and, if it is done safely there shoud be no problem.

    Then the suggestion from one side that if there was an accident the organiser wuld be liable, and such moves should be banned.

    Then the counter-argument from the other side that if the organiser imposed such a ban but his employees failed to enforce it or his systems were inadequate to ensure banned people were refused entry, then the organiser might be even more liable to be successfully sued.

    In my organiser personna I would open my hands to the audince and say "I need advice".

    At this point, as me, I would say that the law pervades all forms of human activity, and that I wanted to do my small bit towards seeing that the law gets it right.
    Last edited by bigdjiver; 17th-August-2007 at 10:03 AM.

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Certainly don't give handouts out. They are too distracting.

    If you do do slides keep them very simple with just a few words or one pic on each and make sure that the font size is large enough to be read. (Your audiance may be a long way from the screen)

    A few weeks ago our managers at work decided it would be good to have everyone give a 5 min presentation about their work (or some aspect of it). We were given just 5 slides and we had to hand them over the day before.
    There were ~ 30 of us involved. How it worked was that as soon as you saw your name on the screen (and then your slides) you started talking. After exactly 5 mins the next person's name and slides started to play and you had to shut up! It was abit nerve racking to start with but once it started it was fun and we all enjoyed it.

    The best presentations were by those who kept their slides mega simple (with large fonts) and didn't try and go into too much detail (and bore everyone )

    Good luck!

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    You guys are a well of creative talent.

    I forgot to say that when I rang up for some clarification, the HR lady said it was to be a talk on an achievement. The letter to me did not state that, and at the paper test (I had to do a legal test which thankfully I must have passed) she did not mention anything about achievements.

    I mean I could have talked about my passion for Chinese food but I can't cook it (very well). I.e. no achievement. So the directives have been very vague.

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    Re: 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by happygoldfish View Post
    I disagree with all the advice so far.

    Do NOT talk abut Ceroc.

    This isn't an exercise designed to test your composition skills … like "what I did on my holiday".

    It's designed to test your presentation skills.

    I agree that's ambigugous, and it could include "what I did on my holiday".

    But it's for a legal job, so my guess is that they want you to present a case.

    In other words: something with the word "should" in it.

    "Ceroc is great" isn't a case. "Everyone should do Ceroc" is a case, of course … but you've got 4 people thinking "No, I shouldn't!", and you'll have to spend too much time (a) eliminating the other dances and (b) explaining what Ceroc is anyway.

    If you must present about dance (and I agree you'll probably communicate your enthusiasm well if you do), go for something more general like "Everyone should dance, because it's good for their health" (but with a snappier title!).

    But presenting about Ceroc, or dance, seems to me to be over-concentrating on showing how passionate you can be … they're not ultimately interested in your passionate-ness, only in your presentation skills.

    I would go for something less personal … for example, that there should be a pedestrian crossing at a particular junction, or that there should be better information on the London Undergound, or that courts should sit in the evenings.



    NO … that's a recipe for waffle!

    Bullet-points will make your presentation disjointed.

    Keep the thing flowing, don't deliberately stall for time by handing things out (though one bundle of photos at the beginning is fine!), and keep any bullet-points in your head!

    Your case should be a case … it should have just one bullet-point!

    And you want them looking at you, not your handout.



    Yes!! Better to overrun slightly (I'm sure they won't "gong" you ) than to be two minutes too short!

    (btw, will you have to field interruptions? It makes a big difference if you do have to. If so, work out some obvious answers. Try not to get side-tracked into answering with a later part of your presentation, and then not knowing where to carry on!)

    Good luck!

    What a load of Rubbish !!

    ok first thing dont 'guess' what its meant to be on ask them ie use a phone

    second talk about something you like ie ceroc its fine and 5 mins is a long time. dont talk about something you dont know about

    3rd do give hand outs if it helps

    Ive done and seen hundreds of presentations

    giving things out ie stalling can help with the nerves

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Hiya Steve,


    Good Luck with the Job Interview!


    I think the 1st things you have got to do are:

    1) Define what skills the vacancy needs - this is primarily what the interviewers are looking for you show.
    eg.
    a. Are you going to have to pull in business?? >> Show entreprenial skiils/ interpersonal skiils

    b. Are you going to be negotiating a lot? >> show examples of haggling skills.

    c. Is the job all about the Legal details? >> demonstrate your attention to details.


    2) What is the Culture of the Place - show you can fit in!
    3) don't be boring and easily forgettable!



    Don't lose the forest for the Trees buddy. Forget thinking too much about the peripherals and concentrate on content -wrt to the job skills needed


    best wishes
    Martin

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    Re: 5 minute presentation

    The only trouble with asking about something like this on a forum is that you’re going to get conflicting answers! I had to do something similar years ago for an arts admin job – though I can’t remember for the life of me what I presented on However, from this experience, presenting a paper at a conference, and courses I’ve done, I can suggest the following:

    Since they haven’t specified what they want you to talk about, I’d agree with the point made that they are looking for your presentation skills. Therefore the subject isn’t really that relevant, and you will come over better if you talk about something you are passionate about. So go for the dancing, or some aspect of it. Assume that they know nothing about it.

    Stick to the 5 minutes. As Caro says, no more and preferably no less. Under no circumstances overrun – they are going to be looking for this and will mark you down if you do. If you think you are going to overrun, cut some of your points and start heading towards your conclusion. It is better to be 30 seconds too short than 30 seconds too long.

    Have a beginning, a middle and an end! Sum up at the end.

    Whatever you decide to do – practise! You will not be using your normal speaking voice, as that will be too fast. When you start, take a deep breath, start to talk and then slow yourself down. When I did my conference paper I nearly squeaked at the audience when I opened my mouth (I absolutely loathe any form of public speaking – there were about 200 people in the auditorium).

    Time yourself. Practise in front of someone else if possible and get feedback. Do it in front of a mirror if necessary, tape yourself and listen to the tape.

    Vary the tone of your voice. Listening to a monotone is very boring.

    Make eye contact with the interviewers. Smile at them. Imagine that they are friendly and want you to succeed. If you don’t look at them, it will send the wrong message. If you appear to be at ease and confident (even if you’re not), they will believe that you are.

    Don’t be afraid to be humorous, but avoid cracking outright jokes or laughing too much.

    All the above is general presentation giving advice. There may be specifics which Barry could advise you on from the legal side.

    Crikey – I didn’t know that I knew that much about presentation skills!

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by Ste View Post
    ...I forgot to say that when I rang up for some clarification, the HR lady said it was to be a talk on an achievement. The letter to me did not state that, and at the paper test (I had to do a legal test which thankfully I must have passed) she did not mention anything about achievements...
    rep for the phone call.

    With the knowledge of the wide range of things that you have started threads on, I am wondering what exactly the job entails, and why you want it. For most of the low level administrative type jobs I would expect them to be looking for a much narrower and focussed individual. For higher level jobs, or jobs involving relating to a wide range of people I would be looking for a much wider personality, as your forum personna comes across to me.

    I think they want to see you being yourself, so that they can judge whether you are going to fit the position. They will know the sort of person that will fit. I would advise to be yourself, not to act your way into a job that will not suit you.

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Handouts should be given at the end of the presentation, if at all. Giving them at start of during can lead to distracted interviewers reading your handout and not concentrating on you. if I have a job interview requiring a presentation I alwas do a summary handout.

    The powerpoint/slides issue is trickier. I once applied for a job, didn't use powerpoint deliberately to prove I didn't need it as a crutch (so many presenters use it uneccesarily) but it was for an IT job so I got marked down for my failure to use it! Will the job involve presenting to people? If so, think about how you would do that task and what tools you would use.

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    What sort of legal job?

    The answer may affect what sort of presentation you should give.

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    What sort of legal job?
    and

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    What sort of legal job?

    The answer may affect what sort of presentation you should give.
    Barry your not after the job are you ?

    Any legal job will involve a lot of hot hair, talk about air conditioning ?

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    Re: HR advice needed. What is a 5 minute presentation

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    Barry you're not after the job are you ?
    Depends. Does it pay more than mine?

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