How to write an elevator pitch
You’re familiar with the term elevator pitch. Maybe you’ve heard it in your classes. You never understood it’s importance, but you know…
You’re familiar with the term elevator pitch. Maybe you’ve heard it in your classes. You never understood it’s importance, but you know it’s good to have one.
Every time you try to write your elevator pitch, you become overwhelmed. You don’t know what to include. You’re nervous you’ll leave something out. You don’t want to say something that will make you sound dumb.
Like you, I struggled with my elevator pitch. It was my junior year of college. I had just begun my internship search. There were several upcoming information sessions. I had two career fairs coming up. I was going to be meeting a lot of employers in the coming weeks. I needed a quick way to sell myself. So, I sat down and wrote my elevator pitch.
My elevator pitch was extremely effective. It helped me gain confidence in myself. I felt like I could talk to anyone.
Do you know when you walk up to an employer and you have NO IDEA what to say? If you hammer out a good elevator pitch, you’ll never have to feel that awkwardness again. Just dive right into your pitch.
What’s an elevator pitch?
An elevator pitch is a brief description about yourself. It should be concise enough to deliver in an elevator ride and enticing enough to impress whoever is in the elevator with you. Your elevator pitch is very important because it is how you sell yourself.
What should I include in my elevator pitch?
You need to answer three questions with your elevator pitch.
Who are you? The first step is to introduce yourself. What’s your name? What year are you? What school do you go to? What are you majoring in?
What do you do? After you introduce yourself, explain what you’re currently doing or what you have done in the past. What projects are you working on? Where did you intern last summer? What clubs are you involved in? What classes are you taking? Keep it brief.
What do you want to do? Once you explain what you have done, tell them what you want to do. Where do you want to work? What position do you want to have? What types of projects do you want to work on?
Examples
Here’s my pitch from junior year. I broke it down based on the questions above.
Who are you? Hi, my name is Austin Schlessinger and I am a junior at Rutgers Business School majoring in BAIT (Business Analytics and Information Technology) and Finance.
What do you do? This summer, I interned at ABM Industries as a member of their Transformation Management Group. ABM is a Fortune 500 company with 140,000 employees and 6 billion in annual revenues. My role at ABM was to work on projects initiated by BCG consultants. Based on my work last summer, I was recognized as one of the top 100 interns in the United States and I was referred by ABM’s CFO-Anthony Scaglione.
What do you want to do? I am seeking a consulting internship for Summer 2019.
Here’s my elevator pitch from my senior year.
Who are you? Hi, my name is Austin Schlessinger and I am a senior at Rutgers Business School majoring in BAIT (Business Analytics and Information Technology).
What do you do? This summer, I interned at KPMG in their risk consulting practice in New York City. At KPMG, I planned and executed client engagements focusing on Oracle GRC, Oracle security, and audits of Oracle environments.
What do you want to do? I am seeking a full-time job in the consulting industry.
Click here for more sample elevator pitches and elevator pitch dos/don’ts.
Conclusion
With a solid elevator pitch, you’ll gain confidence in who you are. You’ll be able to initiate a conversation with anyone. Most importantly, you will be able to communicate yourself briefly