Crafting an effective elevator pitch can help you nail interviews and step up your networking game. An elevator pitch is a concise and persuasive sales pitch, generally lasting between 30 to 60 seconds. Remember when writing your presentation, that your audience is hiring managers (not human resources). Your elevator pitch should explain who you are, what job you want, and why you are a great candidate for the position. Your presentation needs to be delivered directly to the hiring manage. Your only goal at this point is to set up a meeting with him/her. Elevator pitches sound simple but can be quite hard to write. The tricky part is finding the right balance between detail and brevity. Here are some tips for crafting an effective job search elevator pitch.
Have a Clear Goal
Remember that your elevator pitch is You can’t write an effective elevator pitch if you don’t know what job you want to end up with. The reality is many job searchers are open to more than one type of position. You may need to write multiple job pitches instead of one. If you’re looking at three different types of jobs—even if the jobs are in the same field—you want to have three unique pitches, rather than one generic pitch. Otherwise, you risk sounding vague or indecisive.
Stay Focused
When you write an elevator pitch, you want a clear focus. The pitch needs to address who you are, what job you want, and why you are the best person for the job. You want the pitch to contain only the most relevant details that will back up your main points. This is one of the main reasons you don’t want to improvise your pitch. Most people don’t think in a straight line, so if you don’t spend time organizing your thoughts, you’ll end up with a long-winded speech full of tangents. Your pitch should be logical and easy to follow.
Practice Your Pitch
While you don’t want to over practice your interview answers because you can end up sounding robotic, you do want to practice your elevator pitch. Practice with your best friend. Practice in the mirror. Record yourself talking. You want to practice until the pitch becomes second nature to you. Really listen to your delivery. You don’t want to sound stiff. The goal should be to sound excited and passionate, but still composed. Make sure you enunciate and pace yourself. A pitch won’t be useful if the other person can’t understand what you’re saying.
When you feel like you have all the content you want, and you’re satisfied with your delivery, it is a good idea to get outside feedback. Find someone you trust to be honest with you. Your elevator pitch is the hardest thing you will have to write during your job hunt. You want all the help you can get.
How can we help you?
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