Imagine you step into an elevator and someone you professionally admire is standing inside. You exchange pleasantries, and she casually asks, “So tell me about yourself.”
It’s a broad question we’ve all heard, and a great answer can create new opportunities in both your professional and personal life. But you only have 30 seconds to impress this person with your abilities. Are you able to articulate your strengths and accomplishments in that time? And can you naturally integrate an “ask” into conversation?
Talk about pressure! Perfecting a response to such a general inquiry can be quite challenging, and it requires some thoughtful preparation. Having a strong answer to this question can help in many settings—in interviews, at networking events, etc.—not just in elevators.
To help you draft and complete an exceptional elevator pitch, you’ll want to follow these three steps:
Step One: Brainstorm Your Skills
First things first. Let’s brainstorm your best qualities, skills and past performance highlights that you should mention in your elevator pitch.
Answer with what comes to mind first. This is not exclusively for professional experience—maybe you are highly organized and efficient in your personal life. Maybe you volunteer regularly in your community. List everything that you’re proud of or passionate about.
Step Two: Personalize Your Answer
A personalized elevator pitch will make you memorable and relatable. Think about how you can stand out and look special amongst a large candidate pool. What makes you special and worth investing in over another applicant? We can refer to this as your unique value proposition (UVP).
Your UVP can be a professional qualification or certification, but it can also be a personal characteristic, such as intellect. Just make sure you quantify your claim with detailed, factual information. For example, Young African Leaders Initiative suggests if your UVP is that you are highly intelligent, make sure you follow that claim with quantifiable, relevant proof.
To develop your UVP, answer the following questions:
Once you’ve done that, take your answers and compare them to see where the overlap is. These overlapping qualities will form your UVP.
Step Three: Define Your Goal or “Ask”
What is your professional goal that you are currently working towards? This is a pivotal part of your elevator pitch. If the person with whom you are speaking is a hiring manager, your boss or someone who can help you attain your professional goals, what would you like to ask them? While your goal can be hugely aspirational, your “ask” requires someone else’s assistance, so remember to keep it reasonable. Ask for an informational interview to explore potential opportunities, rather than directly asking for a job, which could be seen as requesting preferential treatment. An elevator pitch is not an opportunity to set an expectation of another person; it’s an opportunity to prove yourself!
To find your “ask,” you may want to consider the following questions:
Put it All Together
Once complete, go back through these three exercises and highlight or circle the top points you want to emphasize in your elevator pitch. Pick one top point from each step and then place each part together in a smooth and natural dialogue. Be sure to practice giving your elevator pitch in front of a mirror and with friends, family or colleagues. While having a written script is helpful for drafting what you wish to say, you won’t always have it in front of you, so try to keep things easy and conversational.
Read more articles for the Hispanic Community here.
This article was originally published on diversitycomm.net.
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