Use these 4 tips to help craft the perfect elevator pitch for interviews

Preparing for your first job interview can be nerve-wracking. We get it — knocking a hiring manager’s socks off isn’t easy. And if it’s the first time you’re auditioning for a job, you may also be feeling a bit uncomfortable selling yourself.

Allow us to remind you to breathe. Touting your own skills and achievements may seem like shameless self-promotion, but it’s far from it. Remember: Your mission as a job-seeker is to persuade a potential employer that you’re the best person for the position. That requires singing your own praises.

To crush your first job interview, you’ll need what’s known as an elevator pitch — a 30- to 60-second sound bite summarizing your skills, knowledge and internship experience. Think of it as an in-person resume summary statement. When well executed, an elevator pitch creates a positive, memorable impression on an interviewer.

Here are four tips for crafting the perfect sales pitch to start you on your career journey.

Related: Want the best resume? Learn to understand the resume robots.

Assess your value

An elevator pitch highlights the value that you’d bring to a company. So, take a close look at your achievements so far.

While you may not have a lot of job experience yet (or any), you probably have an internship or two under your belt where you gained professional skills. That’s no small thing, considering employers say internship experience is the most influential factor when they’re choosing between two equally qualified entry-level job candidates.

Spotlighting your academic achievements is also fair game when you’re starting out. Maybe you worked on special projects while in college, or you took unique courses that helped prepare you for the workforce. Those kinds of experiences are worth mentioning. Your GPA could also be a nice selling point to employers if it’s 3.0 or higher.

Quantify your achievements

Interviewers like metrics. We’re talking about hard numbers that illustrate your achievements in a concrete way. Being able to present measurable accomplishments also demonstrates that you’re good at tracking your work, a valuable skill for any professional.

Say you want to show that you’re detail-oriented. Instead of simply stating that, you could say to a job interviewer, “At my internship, I was put in charge of a lot of moving pieces, including overseeing 10 client accounts at one time. That was double what the other interns were managing.”

Related: Let this epic Google resume inspire your next job application

Dollars and percentages are compelling no matter what you’re talking about. Even if you want to highlight your extracurriculars, try to attach a number to it: “As the treasurer of my sorority, I managed a $10,000 budget.”

Focus on credentials that directly relate to the job

A great elevator pitch is fluid, meaning it can be adapted to any job you’re interviewing for. Therefore, look at the job description and identify areas where your experience ties in nicely. For instance, if a job posting says a specific credential is desired and you have it, make sure it’s included in your pitch.

Is this all making sense? Here’s an example of an elevator pitch that incorporates the tips we’ve provided so far:

“So, I graduated in May from _______ University with a degree in marketing and a 3.8 GPA. When I was an intern at _______, I promoted a new product line on the company’s Twitter account, which helped grow its follower base by 30%. The skills that I learned there would make me a great asset to your team.”

Related: How to ace the first month of your first job

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

Even the best-written elevator pitch can fall flat when presented poorly.

Practice your pitch until you feel comfortable delivering it. Recreating the job interview setting at home — by wearing professional attire — can help you get in the right frame of mind.

Consider having a friend or family member — or, if available, a job interview coach at your college’s alumni office — provide feedback on your performance. Do you sound natural? Are you talking too fast? How’s your body language?

It’s cliché, but it’s true: Practice makes perfect!

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