Congratulations! You have been invited to a job interview. At first you will need to introduce yourself in a persuasive way in order to nail the interview and close it with a job offer. One tool to make your introduction effective and successful is the elevator pitch. What is an elevator pitch and how to write it? With this little preparation you can craft an elevator pitch, get results and your dream job.
What is an elevator pitch?
The elevator pitch – also known as an elevator speech – you need for job interviews is, in essence, the answer to the Tell me about yourself. This is a quick synopsis of specifically your skills, knowledge, and career achievements. This elevator pitch is all about you in 4-5 sentences. It is a way to share your expertise and credentials quickly and efficiently with people who don’t know you. The elevator pitch is the first presentation with the interviewer and therefore one of the most important parts of the interview, because you will set the tone and show the interviewer that it will be fun and worthy to spend the next hour with you.
What is a good elevator pitch?
A good elevator pitch screams “ I am the candidate you are looking for.” With this in mind, the elevator pitch has to be customized to the position you are applying for. Read carefully the job posting, the responsibilities and the requirements. Research the company’s website and social media, read their press releases and mission statement and then customize your elevator pitch. In your research you already defined the problem the company has. A good elevator pitch presents you as the solution to this problem.
What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? A good elevator pitch emphasizes the value that you can bring to the company. It’s the one that gets attention and makes the interviewer genuinely interested in you.
How to write an elevator pitch?
Your elevator pitch should emphasize the following elements- after you have analysed the job posting and found out what the company’s needs and challenges are. Open with a very brief introduction to your professional background. Who are you? Remember to keep it short, just one sentence. Furthermore, when you write your elevator pitch, focus on your expertise, which of course matches their challenges. Do not just tell them what you do but how well you can do it. What are the results and achievements of your actions? And last but not least: how are you going to solve the problem they have?
Now the interviewer knows your expertise, the problems you solve and how you do it and assuming it is relevant to the them, you have caught their attention and opened up the conversation – with a powerful and well written elevator pitch.
Need help with your elevator pitch?
We know exactly how to customize your elevator pitch for the position you are applying for. We gladly help you with the preparation of a short but to the point, persuasive and powerful elevator pitch and other interview questions which you can answer with confidence and right body language to get the deal. Do you know that with our Sparkle package you can benefit from: A step-by-step template to create a powerful 30-second elevator pitch?