The 10 + 20 Second Pitch

I recently spoke with a student who had his 30 second pitch down to an art.  Yet when he was at a job fair and started to introduce himself, he was stopped by the recruiter who suggested he find out a bit about the company and the openings before he fully introduce himself. The student walked away with the feeling that he should have had a 10 second 'my name is', followed by a brief conversation with the recruiter and then a 20 second 'here's how I match your company and/or openings'.

Sounds like a good learning experience and sage advice to pass along. 

This may not be the approach for an networking or job interview where you are more likely to give a longer answer to the 'tell me something about yourself' request, but it sure makes sense when you are in the fast-paced environment of a job fair.