• Here is a sample from a student with no experience
  • My name is Sandra Engles and I am a freshman at the University of Illinois majoring in Apparel Merchandising and minoring in Marketing. I have always had an interest in fashion and enjoy reading fashion magazines and blogs. After completing a four-week-long school project where I created a styling tips guide, I sharpened my creativity skills while also learning how to use photoshop. I am looking for a summer internship in the fashion industry where I can help a marketing team by using my creativity and photoshop skills.

  Here is a sample from a student with experience

  • Hi, my name is Sarina Jones and I am a recent graduate from the business school at the University of Wisconsin. I double-majored in Finance and Economics. After working at JLL Real Estate, I discovered I have a passion for corporate real estate. From being a Financial Analyst, I learned how to apply my finance knowledge when analyzing potential real estate investments to determine if the investment would yield positive returns and meet budget requirements. I am hoping to find a full-time job in the real estate industry that allows me to use financial and economic skills to guide strategic decision-making.

   

I invited Craig Schmitt, a teaching assistant professor in the Recreation and Sport Management Program at the University of Arkansas to talk more about the elevator pitch. He has worked both on the university level and in the non-profit level teaching athletes, trainers, and sports professionals the art of the elevator pitch. Here is what he shared:

Elevator pitches are an introduction, a way to engage with someone with shared interests or experiences. An elevator pitch is not the conversation, but rather a tool to demonstrate relevance and spark a conversation. For job seekers, elevator pitches can also effectively be used as a response to the most common opening question in an interview, and the one question few interviewees seem to prepare for, “Tell me about yourself.”

Relevance and brevity should remain top of mind. Our lives are full of clutter that distracts an audience or listener from being present in the moment, and attention spans are only diminishing. Thus, we should strive to concisely deliver relevant content. It is helpful to approach an elevator pitch with a marketing orientation, or a recognition that it is much easier to “satisfy the consumer’s needs or wants” than it is to “sell them your product.” Thus, while the person delivering the elevator pitch inevitably will share information they believe is interesting, unless that information is relevant to the audience (or “satisfies the consumer’s needs or wants”), it is unlikely to be heard and retained.

Schmitt suggests using the following three (3) part structure for developing an elevator pitch is designed to spark a conversation.

THE HOOK – Effective presentations begin with a hook, or a way to create initial interest (and hopefully, but temporarily, removing clutter from the audience’s mind). For an elevator pitch, the hook is your passion. This should be a relatively brief, but specific statement. Focus on the impact you want to make on an industry or a group of people (not on a job title and/or organization). This impact should align with the impact your audience also strives to make. If there is an alignment, you will likely see an emotional response from the audience (a nod and a smile as they reflect on this shared passion).

THE EVIDENCE – Then, share evidence that you are pursuing that passion. This could come in the form of work experience, education, volunteer activities, or other efforts. But this should be a specific story, concisely told (the STAR method could help structure the story – Situation, Task, Action, Result).

YOUR NEXT STEP – Lastly, be sure to share your next step. In other words, what do you see as the next position or step in your career path? This helps demonstrate your understanding of your career trajectory, and your desire to continue to gain experience and learn skills (i.e., coachability) as you pursue your passion and strive to make impact.

Another type of elevator pitch is one where you pitch the company you work for.  This is often used by sales professionals as a way to get their foot in the door.

Elevator Pitch Formula

1. My name is_________ I am with ___________________ (insert name of company you work for)
2. We work with _________________ (Insert X)
3. Who __________________ (insert Y)
4. We help them ___________ (insert Z)
5. So that _____________ (insert W)

Example of the formula applied: 

1. My name is Peter Khoury, I am the founder of Magnetic Speaking – A public speaking training company in San Francisco
2. We work with corporate professionals:
3. Who want to improve their public speaking skills.
4. We help them through one-on-one coaching and group training to communicate with confidence, clarity, and charisma!
5. So that they can excel at their jobs and take their careers to the next level.