Why You Need an Elevator Pitch & How to Create One

Elevator pitches communicate a short and compelling description of an idea, product, or company. In about 30 seconds, the goal is to explain an idea and leave the audience eager to learn more. 

This same tool can also be leveraged by candidates to land a new role. Candidates should always be prepared to give a succinct and thought provoking explanation of who they are, their professional achievements and their current goal.

Why are they important?

Creating a solid elevator pitch will help you answer some of the most common interview questions like ‘Tell me a bit about yourself?’ or ‘Why are you the right candidate for this position?’ 

According to Workopolis data, 52% of interviewers make up their mind about a candidate within 5-15 minutes of the interview beginning. A somewhat startling 30% decide within the first five minutes. 

Start by identifying your goal. 

In this case, your goal is pretty simple. Your goal is to land a specific job at a certain company. 

Create your professional persona

You may be able to use the same professional persona for multiple job opportunities, or you may need to tweak it based on the job, the company and the duties of the position while still being true to who you are. 

If you are applying to a procurement position in a company that is undergoing a digital transformation, your professional persona might be something like: I am an adaptable procurement professional, with an appetite for innovation, who believes in using technology to drive change. 

Determine what you want to highlight right away
During the interview process, there will be time to get into the nitty-gritty of the work that you have done and the impact that it has had. When it comes to creating an effective elevator pitch, pick one thing that you do really well, and lead with that. It can be hard to avoid mentioning more, but you can only fit so much into your pitch.

Your career highlight statement might be something like: I have an extensive history of leading teams through organizational change. Just last year, I led a team of 15 individuals as we moved our RFP process over from one technology vendor to another. We saved the company $25,000 a year and saved 35,000 hours of employee time through automation.

Tip: If you are not sure which career accomplishment to highlight, look at some of the challenges the company is facing and see if you have met that challenge in your past experience. This will be sure to pique the interest of the interviewer.

Identify their challenges

Lastly, identify a challenge you know the company is facing and offer how you would be able to help solve it.

If the company is having trouble getting buy-in from stakeholders during a digital transformation project, you might say: I believe my experience aligning our internal teams during our RFP refresh would lend well to helping everyone get on the same page during your digital transformation.   

Your pitch should be a quick, concise, and attention-grabbing explanation of why you are the right person for a certain position. It should show your personality and showcase some of your top achievements. Elevator pitches can help candidates differentiate themselves in a market where many other candidates are competing for the same position.