Elevator Pitch
Elevator Pitch– What is it? A thirty second speech to interest an employer and an important part of the job search arsenal that everyone should have.
How does one prepare an elevator pitch and make it effective?
Start talking about your career by focusing on some aspect of your job that you are passionate about and successful at. Below is a quick generic example
My passion in life is ______. I love everything about it. It combines the interesting stuff like________with the difficult stuff like _____________ (add any technology that makes it possible). I’ve been doing this for over ____and I find that I’m learning something new about ________ and becoming more successful every day. Working as a ( team member / team leader or on my own) to accomplish ____________ is tremendously rewarding and fulfilling, and I love doing it.
Want a more systematic approach?
Answer the following questions:
- Why do you like your work?
- Why have you been doing this for ___years?
- What is it that you find interesting about it?
- Why do you want to stay in this field?
- What do you like about this industry?
- When you get up in the morning, what types of challenges at work make you excited to get to work as soon as possible?
- When are you having the most fun?
Write the answers into your elevator pitch. Speak them into a recorder like you were talking to one of your friends. Practice until you can smoothly deliver the lines. When it sounds like a backyard conversation with a friend, you are ready to test it with the smartest friend you have to get some feedback. Refine it based on the feedback, practice until you can deliver the the lines without pause and so it still sounds like a informal conversation. Now you are ready for a job fair or to impress a hiring manager enough to interview you for an opening. Go get the job!