How To Make Perfect Self-Presentation When Applying For Job In Norway

by Dejan Mladenovic | Last Updated: April 30, 2021

Self-presentation is a self-marketing tool and uses to present you, your personality and motivation, how you can contribute with your working experience and educational background, and why you should be considered as the right candidate for the job.

Writing a good Self-Presentation while applying for a job in Norway is very important to draw the attention of your potential employer. However, you need to remember that presenting and delivery of your Self-presentation is even more important.

What Should Be Included In Self-Presentation When Applying For A Job In Norway

Self-presentation should include the following sections or parts.

Self-Presentation Sections

1.  Introduction – (Who am I)
2.  Motivation – (What do I want and Why)
3.  Contribution – (What can I do)
4.  Summary – (Why choose me)

1. Introduction

In the introduction section, you will present your personal data and mention your values related to the position you are applying for. Personal data should include:

• Name
• Age
• Placement (Where we live)
• Marital Status
• Children.

An introduction is very short and it should be two to three sentences long to answer the question. Who am I?

2. Motivation

When you want to talk about motivation you are basically answering the question of what do you want and why.

We have already written a dedicated post about Job-related motivation factors so please read Map Your Job Context Motivation.

In that article, there are many suggested questions and tips that will guide you to find your own motivation factors either when you are applying for a particular position or you are targeting a specific company that you want to work for.

3. Contribution

In the contribution section, you will present your professional experience and how you have used it in different situations to solve some challenges. When you want to present a contribution the best approach is to have examples that will show to a future employer how beneficial you can be if hired for the position.

The contribution section should give an answer to the question. What can I do?

Make sure you read our article Know Your Contributions To The Company where we have explained the STAR presentation method. The STAR technique will help you present your contribution examples in an easy and understandable way to your potential employer.

However, when you want to present your strengths the better presentation method is Value Based Communication which we have described in the article Learn Value Based Communication. Your strengths should match the personal characteristics of the right candidate for the position as it is written in Job Vacancy.

4.  Summary

The summary section gives an answer to the question. Why choose me?

In this section, you want to portray yourself as the right candidate for the position. You should show your confidence that you can do this job, and be the person with the right personality for the position.

If you have done Job Vacancy Analysis and Competencies Cornerstones Mapping, in addition to the job vacancy contact person phone call then for sure you have gathered enough information to know what the right candidate needs to possess.

Now it is time to use that gathered data and match it with your professional experience, education, and personality as we have explained in both the Job Vacancy Analysis and the Competencies Cornerstone Mapping articles.

Self-Presentation Training

When you are preparing your presentation for delivery most like is that most of your time is spent on what you will say (95%) rather than how you will say it (5%).  So if you want to turn the game in your favor you will focus on presentation skills since you have a template on how to write your self-presentation so no need to worry about that anymore.

Do not forget what is happening with the message you are delivering to someone as you can see on the illustration below.

What Do You Want To Practice With Self-Presentation

As we have already mentioned you want to master what you want to say but in addition, you want to focus on how you want to say or present yourself. So here are the things that you want to focus on and practice:

• Practice
  • Body Language,
  • Smile and Eye Contact,
  • Your Voice. Both speed and volume,
  • Your Speech Pauses,
• Do not forget to
  • breathe,
  • dehydrate before start the presentation.

How To Practice Self-Presentation

You will start your Self-Presentation practice and slowly progress the practice until you master all the aspects of it.  Follow these stages while practicing Self-Presentation:

• Stage 1 – Read and memorize your Self-Presentation until becomes your second nature and effortless.
• Stage 2 – Practice in front of the mirror and include a smile, eye contact, and body language practice.
• Stage 3 – Practice in front of a family member on someone you know. Ask for feedback.
• Stage 4 – Record yourself and be objective while reviewing your presentation video.

Just remember that in stage 3 your family members or friends can be subjective and do not give you 100% honest or objective review so that is the reason to record your presentation yourself and be an objective reviewer since this is so important for you and mostly you.

Nowadays mobile phone technology provides easy recording capabilities so this would be a very easy task even for non-technical persons.

When To Use Self-Presentation

You want to use Self-Presentation in the Job Interview when the Candidate Presentation stage comes as we have described in the article Prepare To Ace Job Interview In Norway.

Parts of the Self-Presentation can be used when introducing yourself in the meetings, events, etc.

SELF-PRESENTATION EXAMPLE

Replace all italic words with your own and adjust the presentation to your needs.

Jeg er Navn, XY år gammel, bor på område i Oslo og jeg er gift og har et barn som er XY år gammel. Jeg kom til Norge for 5 års siden.

Min motivasjon på stilling er min interese i nøkkelordene og mulighet å forbedre min erfaring på de.

Min utdanning er yrke og jeg har mange års erfaring innen ulike stillinger som stillinger med oppgavene med hoved fokus på nøkkelord.

Jeg har jobbet i XY år hos bedrift som stilling og der fikk jeg god erfaring med nøkkelord systemet med fokus oppgavene.

Hos bedrift jobbet jeg som stilling i XY år og hadde ansvar oppgavene hos kunder. Det var også mye kundekontakt og jeg sittet fast hos kunde 90% av min arbeidstid.

Som person er jeg: strukturert, analytisk, målrettet og ansvarsfull og det betyr at jeg håndterer sakene mine på en god måte og at jeg dele, prioritere og jobber systematisk med oppgavene mine og finner løsninger når det oppstår utfordringer. Dette gir effektiv bruk av arbeidstiden, god kvalitet og letter hverdag.

Self-Presentation vs Elevator Pitch

Self-presentation and Elevator Pitch are very similar. Personally, when I think about Elevator Pitch I think about a self-marketing tool for quick self-presentation. That means when you have a shorter time to sell your message such as a phone conversation.

However, self-presentation can be longer and usually I think of it while presenting myself in a Job Interview when I can and have time to go into more detail.

Useful Vocabulary

Here are some useful words in Norwegian used in this text.

Next Step

If you are struggling with the presentation we recommend you to read our tips and tricks on how to improve them in the article How To Improve Presentation Skills For Norwegian Job Market.

Good Luck with your Job Search!

Find Job In Norway By Following These Easy 19 Steps

Don’t forget that this article is part of a text serious about finding a job in Norway. Depending on the phase you are in at the moment maybe you can find some articles useful for yourself. So please check them out.

Below you can see the infographic with an overview of all the texts in the series. If you click on the link above you will be sent to the page where all these steps are listed.

Author: Dejan Mladenovic

I moved my family of 3 to Norway in 2008 and created this website so that I can share what I’ve learned with anyone that’s thinking of moving or traveling to Norway. It’s such an awesome place, and I want you to get the most out of it!