YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Giving a killer 2 min story is shockingly uncomplicated

Giving a killer 2 min story is shockingly uncomplicated — Transcript

by Matt Huang · 4,046 words · 572 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00but why should you listen to a random
0:01guy in a white T-shirt standing in front
0:02of a whiteboard hi my name is Matt I'm
0:05currently a strategy associate at Google
0:07and prior to that was a Management
0:08Consultant at BCG now today I want to
0:11talk about a common question that gets
0:14asked in not just interviews but also
0:16networking situations and that is the
0:18two-minute story or when someone asks
0:20you something like tell me about
0:22yourself or walk me through your resume
0:25now I know there's a ton of advice out
0:27there online already about how to answer
0:30kind of a question but today I want to
0:33really bring it back to First principles
0:35and even for myself it's helpful to
0:39remind myself about what actually
0:41matters when it comes to successfully
0:43interviewing because there's a lot of
0:45advice out there but often times a lot
0:47of it misses the mark and isn't actually
0:50what moves the needle and so mastering
0:52the two-minute story is helpful not just
0:54for people who are say students
0:56currently in college or university but
0:59also for people who are experienced
1:01professionals and maybe you've had
1:02multiple jobs like myself it never hurts
1:06to continually refine your ability to
1:09communicate your own experiences to
1:12other people whether it be interviewers
1:14or just people that you are networking
1:16with or meeting on a daily basis at your
1:18company and outside of the office but
1:21without further Ado let's get right into
1:22it so first let's start with asking
1:25ourselves the question why does the
1:26two-minute story matter and to refresh
1:28our memory there's broadly speaking I
1:30would say two big reasons why it matters
1:34the first is that it is your oftentimes
1:38first impression in any kind of
1:41interview and besides maybe the 5
1:43Seconds where you open the door and
1:45shook their
1:46hand or maybe you said hi to them as you
1:49entered the zoom
1:50room the two-minute story is going to be
1:52the first time that you're opening your
1:54mouth and you're talking for longer than
1:5620 seconds and you're giving them a
1:59first impression of who you are right
2:03and this is critically important I think
2:05some people underestimate how important
2:07this is you have to realize that most
2:09people make up their mind about whether
2:11or not they like you within say the
2:13first 20 to 30 seconds of the
2:16interaction and so obviously it's not
2:19the only thing that goes into whether or
2:21not you pass the interview but it's
2:22going to be a very important and
2:23critical point in the interview because
2:25people remember the beginning and the
2:29end
2:30of any conversation that they have more
2:32than what was talked or discussed about
2:34in the middle and so it's really
2:36important
2:37to nail the two-minute story because of
2:40this uh similarly it's setting the tone
2:44for the rest of the interaction that you
2:46have right so for example if you give
2:49the two-minute story and it's really
2:50awkward and it comes across kind of forc
2:53and maybe you sound a little bit robotic
2:56then that awkward energy that nervous
2:59energy is going to go over to your
3:00interviewer and they're also going to
3:01feel kind of weird and they're going to
3:02be like H I don't know man like this
3:05person seems like a pretty nice guy but
3:06like they really didn't know how to
3:08communicate their experiences in a way
3:10that makes sense and I still don't
3:11really even know like whether or not
3:13they're a good fit and so they're kind
3:14of be going to be on their back foot and
3:16you're basically just fighting an uphill
3:18battle from there because the rest of
3:20the interview you're going to have to
3:21fight tooth and nail to get back onto
3:23the good side and even then that might
3:25not be enough and so really really
3:28important here to set the tone now the
3:31second reason that I think it's so
3:34important to really know how to talk
3:36about your own experiences is this
3:39question as I mentioned shows up in 99%
3:42of interviews and in networking
3:45situations so not just when you're
3:47interviewing for a job but when you are
3:49just meeting Professionals in the same
3:51industry or maybe in a different
3:53industry you're going to get asked in
3:55some way shape or form to tell them
3:58about your experiences like who are you
4:01why are you here what do you want what
4:03are you looking to get out of this
4:04experience right and so really really
4:07important because we're going to be
4:08using this answer more times than we do
4:12any other type of interview question out
4:14there but now that we've established why
4:17it matters and I think most people
4:19understand this intuitively let's talk
4:21about how we can actually Master the
4:25two-minute story or the elevator pitch
4:27or the tell me about yourself whatever
4:28you want to call it
4:30and in my mind there are two main
4:33buckets that we need to focus on the
4:36first is the content AKA what are we
4:39actually saying what factual information
4:43are we bringing into this story this I
4:46think many people understand and then
4:47the second is the delivery which is not
4:50what we are saying but how we are saying
4:52it and this part I think is where more
4:55people tend to underestimate the
4:57importance and overestimate their own
5:00ability with this side of the equation
5:04but let's move back over to the content
5:05side first so let's start with some
5:07ground rules it's called a two-minute
5:09story for a reason which means you need
5:11to keep it concise and so maximum 2
5:15minutes ideally probably like 90 seconds
5:19now depending on what kind of person you
5:21are you might have no problem with this
5:25or you might be the kind of person that
5:27when they get nervous they ramble and
5:28they talk on and on and on and so you'll
5:31have trouble keeping it under 2 minutes
5:32and so it's critically important that
5:34when you are preparing that you keep in
5:36mind how long you actually take to
5:39deliver the entire story and if you're
5:41someone who has more experience or maybe
5:43you've done a lot of internships or you
5:45have a lot of work experience it can be
5:47tempting to talk a lot and go very in
5:52detail about each of your experiences
5:53because you're such a great candidate
5:55right like you have so much relevant
5:56experience you just want to put it all
5:58out there but the problem is is look the
6:00two-minute story and purpose of it is
6:03not to go super deep into all of your
6:04experience you have the entire interview
6:06to do that if the interviewer is so
6:08inclined but you need to just give them
6:11a sample and a taste of the surface
6:13level and then wherever they're
6:15interested they can then dig in and ask
6:17follow-up questions about so keep it
6:19under two minutes that's a hard and fast
6:21rule don't go over there's really no
6:23reason to do so now the second piece is
6:26it has to have a logical flow
6:30and it has
6:31to be a story it's called a story for a
6:35reason that means that when someone asks
6:38you can you walk me through your resume
6:40they're not actually asking you to walk
6:42them through every single line of their
6:43resume no God no nobody wants that what
6:47they are asking for is for you to select
6:50the most relevant bits and pieces from
6:53your resume and then weave them all
6:55together in a
6:57cohesive captivating story
7:00that logically makes sense and by the
7:02end of it they shouldn't be wondering
7:03wait then why the heck are you here
7:07right and so it's critically important
7:09to make sure that the experiences that
7:12you're bringing up in your story are
7:15relevant and also are tied to each other
7:17in a logical way like it can't be really
7:20sudden like oh I was doing this and then
7:22I suddenly switched over to this job no
7:24you have to explain why and it has to
7:25make
7:26sense and I'll come back to this logical
7:29flow in a second here but moving along
7:33it also has to be high level as I
7:34mentioned because again we're trying to
7:36keep it under 2 minutes but it also has
7:37to be detailed enough where it's
7:39believable and where you have enough
7:41detail to tell a good story that's
7:44actually
7:45interesting and finally last but not
7:48least it has to end with how you are
7:50excited to be there it shouldn't end
7:53with them being like wait why are you
7:57here like you talked about all these
7:59experiences but like it doesn't make
8:00sense to me while you're here and it
8:02also shouldn't end with you being kind
8:03of like and yeah so that's my story
8:06right no you need to convey a sense of
8:09excitement and by the end of the story
8:11they should also feel kind of excited
8:13and happy like there should be an
8:15optimistic energy in the air when you
8:17end your story now before we move over
8:20to the delivery section I do want to go
8:22back to this part about the logical flow
8:24of the story because I know there's
8:25going to be some people who are asking
8:26questions like okay can you give me like
8:29an example of how you would do this or a
8:33structure for how I can create my own
8:35story and make it logical and not just
8:37like a repetitive listing of all the
8:38things on my resume well lucky you I
8:42came up with this thing in the last 5
8:43minutes called the stupid simple
8:45structure and I think it'll be very
8:46helpful for people who are maybe more in
8:48the beginning stages of crafting their
8:49stories but even if you're someone who's
8:51already done lots of interviews I think
8:52you can get some value out of this so
8:54just pay attention here so the framework
8:55is basically you start with your origin
8:59or AKA you talk about where you're from
9:01where your Lo your location is maybe
9:03it's where you were born for example and
9:06then you transition to your education
9:08which is where you go to school or where
9:10you graduated now these first two should
9:13not take more than 10 seconds Max okay
9:16you also talk about what you studied and
9:18then you move into experience one now
9:21experience one if you're a student maybe
9:23it's like an oncampus internship but if
9:25you're working professional experience
9:27one is probably going to be whatever
9:29your first job out of college was and
9:31you talk about that for a little bit and
9:33then you transition to maybe another
9:36experience so I put experience to here
9:38now there's room for more experiences if
9:40you so wish to
9:41include
9:43but eventually you have to transition
9:47over to today which is how did the last
9:49experience in this case experience 2
9:51lead to where you are today which is
9:53Seeking a new role or maybe in a new
9:55industry or at least at a different
9:57company and so you have to tie each of
10:00these bullets together with what I call
10:02a pivot point and a pivot point is
10:05basically when you take a story or an
10:08experience from the current experience
10:11the current role and you talk about how
10:13that current role has led you to
10:16actually start exploring something new
10:19now how might you do that well there's a
10:21few ways that you can do it one the one
10:23that I like the most is you talk about a
10:25project or some sort of work that you
10:27did at your current role and you talk
10:29about how much you've learned from it
10:30how much you've enjoyed it and maybe
10:32there's one specific aspect about it
10:33that you enjoyed more than others and
10:35that specific aspect about it also
10:38happens to be something that in this new
10:40role you'll get a lot of exposure to or
10:43maybe this new industry if you're trying
10:45to switch Industries maybe that type of
10:48job entails a lot more of this specific
10:50kind of work right and that is why you
10:53want to transition over it's really
10:55important to be specific and to be
10:56detailed here because if you don't and
10:58you just say something vague like oh
11:01yeah and so uh I'm actually now
11:03interested in uh product management and
11:06I want to transition over to that even
11:07though right now I'm doing nothing
11:09related to that no you can't do that
11:11because that's not going to be
11:11believable right you have to show not
11:14tell and so you show by basically
11:16talking about tangible things that
11:18you've actually done at your current
11:19role or if you're a student maybe it's
11:21like something that you've been doing on
11:23campus or in class that has led you to
11:26actually be interested in this
11:27particular industry
11:29that is how you want to talk about these
11:31pivot Points and so each Pivot Point
11:33will logically explain why you want to
11:35transition over to the next experience
11:37or why you did move over to the second
11:40experience and then ultimately you need
11:41a final pivot point which leads to where
11:43you are today talking about like and so
11:46that's why for me The Logical next step
11:48is to explore positions in management
11:50consulting for example or investment
11:53banking so hopefully this is helpful for
11:55you all it's pretty easy to remember
11:56it's just Yeet and if you can just
11:59follow this simple structure and make it
12:01very logical and include the pivot
12:02Points while keeping your words very
12:04concise and under 2 minutes then you
12:06have already nailed the content piece of
12:09the two-minute story
12:11easy but now let's talk about the
12:14delivery and as I said earlier the
12:16delivery is the one area where I think a
12:19lot of people tend to underestimate its
12:22importance and overestimate their own
12:24ability to do this
12:26properly first things first remember
12:29that although you are interviewing at a
12:33company that probably you really really
12:34want a job at and maybe you really look
12:37up to these people that work there you
12:38think the work that they're doing is
12:40really really interesting is very
12:41impactful and you can really see
12:43yourself working there and also all the
12:45colleagues all the people that work at
12:46this company or in this industry they're
12:48all so smart they have really pedigreed
12:50backgrounds maybe they're really
12:51intelligent maybe you've met some of
12:52them you're really impressed by their
12:53backgrounds now that's all good but
12:55remember not to put them on a pedestal
12:58and remember that at the end of the day
13:00the person that's interviewing you on
13:01the other side of the table is still a
13:03human and they still have trouble
13:06getting up and going to work every day
13:08sometimes they also have worries and
13:10anxieties same as you they stress over
13:12stuff at work same as you and at the end
13:15of the day they're just another person
13:17and so don't treat them like they are
13:20some kind of like all powerful God or
13:22something right although they have power
13:24over whether or not you move on in the
13:25interview process you can't come across
13:26as needy and actually that's a really
13:28big turnoff in the interview process so
13:29you want to avoid that at all costs and
13:31you need to remember that just be a
13:33human Okay the easiest way to do that is
13:36remember to smile remember to laugh if
13:38something's funny like it's okay right I
13:41know you want to be really professional
13:43and show them that you're really capable
13:45person but there is a way to do that
13:47without coming across as a complete
13:49robot
13:50and it's much harder to smile I know
13:53when you're in an interview sometimes
13:54because you're really really nervous but
13:57you have to kind of force yourself to
13:58consciously remember look if you smile
14:01and you can get the other person to
14:03smile that is a huge win for you because
14:06when they smile they feel good and then
14:08they feel good about you afterwards and
14:10they're like H wow I had a really great
14:11conversation with that person I wonder
14:14why and so don't forget to be human and
14:16smile so the second thing is you have to
14:18speak like you work there now what do I
14:20mean by this well there's two things
14:23speaking like you work there means that
14:24one you speak with confidence like you
14:27deserve to be there two you speak the
14:30lingo that they speak and you understand
14:32how they talk to one another and how
14:34they communicate now if you've networked
14:36with people in this industry or at this
14:38company you will already have a better
14:40sense of how they kind of talk about
14:42different things what they like to focus
14:45on Etc what their tonality is whether
14:47they're like a very formal kind of
14:49setting or if it's more casual what the
14:51culture is like that's what I mean when
14:52I say speak like you already work there
14:54and last but not least is you need to
14:57remember to Di up the energy now this is
15:01something that I received feedback from
15:04from a close mentor of mine years ago
15:06when I was still a student recruiting
15:08for roles in Investment Banking and
15:10after multiple rounds of failed
15:12interviews I couldn't seem to get past
15:13the first round I went to this person I
15:15asked them you know I don't know what's
15:17going wrong like I have prepared hours
15:20for these Investment Banking interviews
15:22and I have practiced over and over but
15:24for some reason I can't seem to progress
15:27and this mentor of mine
15:29whom I was pretty close with we had done
15:30some mock interview sessions together he
15:33told me look I think one thing that you
15:35can do to improve is you can actually
15:36try to dial up the energy as in if
15:39there's like a dial of your energy
15:40levels and your Baseline is maybe down
15:43here because Matt you're a relatively
15:45reserved person like I'm an introvert
15:47naturally and so I actually prefer to
15:50sort of have a more calm collected
15:54energy if you dial up that energy level
15:56in the interview actually I think it
15:59won't come across as excessive like you
16:01think it will in fact I think the
16:03interviewer will actually perceive it as
16:05just the right amount of energy and so
16:08the next interview I went into I tried
16:10that and I dialed up the energy and I
16:12went in and I was like super hyped up I
16:14like you know took some time to really
16:16get excited before going into the
16:18interview room and it actually worked
16:19very well and ultimately I did get a
16:22role in Investment Banking now while
16:24that might not be the sole reason that I
16:26landed the offer I do want to point out
16:28that something that most people do not
16:29think about when it comes to
16:30interviewing I'm going to share with you
16:32some insights that I've learned over
16:35years having done lots of interviews
16:37across Investment Banking management
16:39consulting private Equity uh hedge funds
16:41and now Tech is that this concept of
16:44energy and conviction transfer is really
16:47really important when you go into an
16:50interview you're basically coming in
16:52with a ton of conviction right about you
16:54as a candidate I believe I'm the best
16:56candidate for this role I have all the
16:58experience is required and I am the most
17:01qualified I deserve to work here right
17:03that's what you're the energy that
17:04you're coming in with the other person
17:06interviewing you on the other hand you
17:08know they're talking to like 10 20
17:10people
17:11today they have a conviction level about
17:13you that is very low and so your job in
17:16the interview is actually to raise their
17:18level of conviction so that hopefully it
17:21matches yours but at the very least it
17:23ends higher than it started at the
17:25beginning of the interview and now the
17:27things that you do and whatever you say
17:29in the interview all has the effect of
17:32either raising or lowering their level
17:34of conviction in you as a candidate but
17:36practically speaking what this means for
17:38you is that in terms of how you present
17:41yourself in the interview is you should
17:42come in with a really high level of
17:44energy and conviction about yourself as
17:47a candidate because they often times
17:48will not have or share that same level
17:51of enthusiasm about you as a candidate
17:53and even if they don't show that it's
17:55okay don't let it get to you if you walk
17:57into an interview room and the other
17:58person just like seems really bored
18:00don't let it affect you know that it's
18:03not their job to be just as excited
18:06about interviewing you when you're
18:07candidate number 15 that walks through
18:09the door right so you it's your
18:11responsibility to bring that energy and
18:13to bring that conviction so if you can
18:15keep that in mind when you're delivering
18:17your story you're going to find that it
18:19comes across so much better much more
18:22optimistic and natural and definitely
18:26not like a robot because I think what
18:28makes people come across as robotic is
18:31when the words that they're saying don't
18:33match the energy level like for example
18:36maybe you're saying all these things
18:37about like oh I'm so passionate about
18:41technology and Ai and uh but then the
18:44way that you're saying is like yeah I'm
18:45so passionate about technology and AI I
18:48can't wait to work on Cutting Edge
18:49problems and and really impact the world
18:52doesn't it sound really fake well it
18:54sounds fake because my body language
18:58isn't matching the words that I'm saying
19:00now on the other hand if I talk to you
19:01and I say I'm so excited about these
19:05cuttingedge problems that we're solving
19:06here at Google we're integrating AI into
19:08all of our products and it's really
19:10exciting to see this as we push it out
19:12to our billion user products how we're
19:15just changing the lives of people all
19:16around the world doesn't that sound so
19:19much more natural and so much more
19:21believable it's because the energy level
19:24matches the words and the message that
19:27I'm delivering but take taking a step
19:29back now how do we actually improve the
19:31delivery well actionable steps for you
19:33that you can do literally today after
19:35this video is you can start recording
19:38yourself now I've said this in a lot of
19:40videos before and I'm going to say it
19:41again because I really believe that
19:44recording yourself is the number one
19:46fastest way to get feedback on your
19:48delivery there's nobody who's a harsher
19:50critic than yourself and so if you
19:53record yourself and you watch back the
19:55recording you hear how you sound you
19:58look at your body language your facial
20:00expressions you're going to cringe I can
20:01guarantee it but that's a good thing
20:04because it means that you have room to
20:05improve and it means that you're also
20:09self-aware enough to know that you need
20:11to improve your communication and your
20:13delivery and so re-watch it a couple
20:15times after you practice your story make
20:17sure that it's under two minutes watch
20:18it once and look at how your facial
20:21expressions are watch it another time
20:22and really focus on the vocal tonality
20:24and your Expressions you know watch
20:26another time and focus on like your over
20:28body language and each time focus on
20:31improving one or two aspects of your
20:34vocal tonality your body language and
20:36your facial expressions and if you do
20:38that honestly before every interview
20:39even a couple times what you're going to
20:41find is that you're going to improve so
20:43much quicker and you're going to come
20:45across just so much better in interview
20:48situations and people are just going to
20:50walk out of the interview with you
20:51thinking to themselves like wow I really
20:54want that guy on my team

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Giving a killer 2 min story is shockingly uncomplicated by Matt Huang, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,046 words across 572 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.