Career toolkit: Prep your elevator pitch in a flash

Hi and welcome to Career Advising and Professional Development’s career toolkit series. I’ll be sharing tips and resources on how you can create or improve your 30- to 60-second elevator pitch introduction, which you can use in career fairs, professional meetings, networking events, and interviews. This session includes content and an activity to help you create your pitch. After watching this video, you’ll feel more confident about making a lasting impression with professional connections.

Outside of the career toolkit series, CAPD career services staff are all able to support you with a variety of career-related questions. You can schedule an appointment on Handshake with a CAPD staff member to review your resume and cover letter, whether that’s for academia or industry. You can talk about how to navigate career decisions like your choice of major and going to grad school.

You can seek advice on the internship and job search and prepare for interviewing and networking conversations. You can also talk about how to understand job offers and negotiations. You can explore our website, which is capd.mit.edu for career resources.

To schedule an appointment, click on Career Center in Handshake. There you will see a button for appointments and can schedule a new appointment. You will select the type of appointment you need and can see available time spots. Appointments vary in length but most are between 30 minutes to an hour to accommodate your schedule. And appointments are also offered year round. If you have an urgent need or do not find a time that works for your schedule, email capd@mit.edu to find possible options.

Moving into the elevator pitch content, we are going to first review what an elevator pitch is. This is your professional introduction, so one that you can use with employers or any other professional connections that you network with. And this introduction will highlight your background, your experiences, accomplishments, and your interest. You can use an elevator pitch at career fairs and you can also use your pitch in interviews, at networking events, and in professional writing, like in emails, cover letters, and on LinkedIn.

When creating your pitch, there are a few factors to keep in mind, and there’s some key information to include. First, you want to think about your goals for the pitch. While your introduction will be similar in many situations, it should be tailored to your audience. This means that you will have a slightly different pitch for each person you speak with. Therefore, you want to consider, what is most important for you to convey to the person you are talking to in that specific situation? What impression do you want to leave them with?

After considering the goals of your pitch, you’ll narrow down the information to include details, such as what you do. So this can be what you’re studying, researching, or relevant activities and student groups you’re involved in. Your past experiences, and this will be something relevant to the listener. So in some situations, this will include your research. In other situations, this might include your personal projects or your volunteer opportunities. And finally, you’ll include your strengths and skills, especially ones that would be interesting to the listener.

To wrap up your introduction, you’ll want to ask a question to engage the listener and start a conversation. The best questions allow you to learn new information about the person, their company, or the industry.

Let’s take a look at a couple of elevator pitch examples. Our first example is from an undergrad. And for the beginning, it says, “Hi. My name is Zoey Ali and I am a junior studying material science and engineering with a minor in computer science.”

To bring in their past experiences, they say, “Last summer, I interned at 3M working on a project with a team assessing the heat resistance of a new plastics product.” And to bring in their skills and strengths, this student said, “I was able to use my skills in software engineering to analyze past product failures and predict upcoming product failures. While I am knowledgeable in statistical applications, I also have a strong background and interest in metals, energy, and manufacturing. It’s definitely been reassuring to see Boeing’s commitment to those areas in the last few years.”

And to wrap up their pitch, they engage the listener by asking, “What are the most collaborative projects that interns typically work on at Boeing?”

Now let’s look at a grad student example, which reads, “I’m a molecular biologist with specialization in microbiology and biochemistry. I have worked in several labs where my team and I examined how DNA damaging agents alter the mitochondrial metabolism and DNA of cells. I am passionate about learning new scientific skills and I’m an enthusiastic team player. I have experience in managing multiple projects simultaneously and believe I’m an effective communicator that can explain complex biological concepts to audiences with varied expertise. I’m excited to learn more about the research your team is doing. Could you tell me more about your current project?”

Coming up with your pitch takes time. And I’m sure these students went through several iterations before creating these end products. Creating your pitch is an ongoing process. And it will change as you get new experiences and talk to different audiences.

This brings us to our next topic, which is how to feel confident when creating and sharing your introduction. There are three steps that I’d like to recommend which are to prepare, practice, and anticipate stress and manage anxiety.

For the first step, prepare, we’ve already talked about what to include in your pitch and how it should be tailored to your audience. First, if possible, do your research ahead of time to learn more about what skills or experiences are most relevant to the person or people you’ll be speaking with. For example, if you’ll be attending a conference around a certain topic, such as a sustainability conference, you’ll include details about your past experiences in sustainability research, internships, student groups, projects, or volunteer opportunities in your pitch.

Second, when you can, write out scripts and questions ahead of time so that you don’t have to think about them in the moment when you might be feeling a little nervous. And third, prepare your mind and body. Make sure you get enough rest and eat healthy, filling meals, and hydrate.

Once your pitch is prepared, it’s important to practice. You can practice on your own, for example, while looking in a mirror or by recording yourself. You can also practice with a friend or with a CAPD career advisor. Whether practicing on your own or with someone, pay attention to filler words and nervous movements, such as playing with your hands or fidgeting. And try to minimize those things as much as possible as they can distract the listener from your pitch.

Finally, try to anticipate stressors and manage anxiety before and during the interaction. Think about some stress management techniques that have worked for you in the past or that you’d like to try. Some techniques can include breathing exercises like breathing in for four seconds and out for four seconds to calm your heart rate and nervous system. Another strategy is to listen to your favorite song right before the interaction to help you calm down or feel energized. You can use visualization to envision the interaction going well. And you can try using a power stance, for example, having straight posture or maybe having a hand on your hip to help you feel confident. And finally, you can keep the interactions brief, so 5 or 10 minutes. And start with a low-stake individual, such as people know or people similar to you, to get practice as you’re starting out.

Let’s go over some tips for professional interactions that can also help you feel prepared and manage stress or anxiety in these situations. You can use these tips with any type of professional contact, including recruiters and people working within a company.

First, it’s OK to have the notes and questions you prepared in advance in front of you. And it’s OK to let the person you’re speaking with know that you took some notes ahead of time that you want to reference. You can take notes during your conversation or wait until immediately after to jot down some notes so that you can remember what you talked about and any action items you want to do next.

During the conversation, try to ask questions and show interest and curiosity about the person, company, or industry.

Be mindful of the volume you’re speaking in and body language. You’ll have to speak louder in certain situations, such as at career fair, where there might be lots of people talking all at once in a big room, whereas you might speak in a lower tone if you’re at a formal dinner. In terms of body language, try to have straight posture. And try not to fidget with your hands, hair, clothing, or shuffle back and forth too much.

It can also be helpful to have a way to end the conversation so that you can comfortably exit when you’re ready without having to think of something to say in the moment. Consider preparing a few wrap-up phrases like, “well, I don’t want to hold you up too long from the rest of the event. Thank you for speaking with me. And I hope you enjoy the rest of the event.” Another example is, “I’ve enjoyed this conversation. And it would be great to keep in touch. Could I add you on LinkedIn before we wrap up?”

Notice that I ended that second example by asking to add the person on LinkedIn. As you end the conversation, ask for their email or to add them on LinkedIn if you’d like to stay in touch with them. If you do want to stay in touch, send them a thank you email or LinkedIn request within 24 hours and include specific details from your conversation or about where you met so that they and you can remember how you met and what you discussed.

So far, we’ve gone over what an elevator pitch is, what content to include in it, how to prepare for professional interactions, and tips for engaging with people in those situations. You’re now ready to prepare or work on your own pitch.

Use the outline on the slide to create or update your pitch, which will include your greeting, what you currently do, your past experiences, and your accomplishments, strengths, and skills. Include a description of what you are seeking and end with a question to engage the listener.

In addition to using the outline on the previous slide, you can also use these resources available through CAPD, which include a resource on developing your elevator pitch, developing your elevator pitch with examples for grad students and postdocs, and a 60-second Mad Lib introduction worksheet.

Thank you for watching, and I hope you feel prepared to create or update your pitch. Set up an appointment with a CAPD career advisor if you’d like feedback or the chance to practice your pitch. You can also check out the rest of our career toolkit videos to learn more about resumes, cover letters, networking, the job search, and interviewing.