Do You Have an Elevator Pitch for Your Resume

Do You Have an Elevator Pitch for Your Resume Make sure your elevator pitch is always ready to go. You never know when youll need to spout your elevator pitch. Opportunity never comes calling at the right time. You need to have an elevator pitch for your resume, and you need to be ready to tell someone what you do in an instant. What Is an Elevator Pitch? Your executive bio, executive resume biography or your elevator pitch is a brief 30-second bit about what you do, how you do it and who you are. Youre telling any potential employer or contact why youre the perfect candidate. An elevator pitch concisely explains why youre the man or woman for the job. The Hard Part Talking about our individual abilities and accomplishments for 30-seconds shouldnt be too tough. Still, most people find condensing years of experience and hard work into 30-seconds of chatter difficult. Youve done so much, but you have so little time to articulate it. If youre back on the job market, youll want to create the perfect elevator pitch immediately. You never know when a great contact or opportunity will come up so you must be prepared. With this in mind, heres how to develop a perfected pitch: Decide What You Want Before you write out any pitch, you must focus on what your desires are. Clarify what you want in a job. Choose what kind of employment youre interested in. Each industry and profession will require a different type of elevator speech. Write It Down Once youve clarified what youre looking for â€" you can begin to write down your pitch. Grab a piece of paper and start scribbling. Begin by jotting down bullet point ideas about what youve accomplished, your abilities, personality and more. Once you have a long list, you can start going through it, crossing off items of lesser importance. Once you have narrowed it down to the most important bullet points, you can begin to craft these tidbits of information into a concise, 30-second speech. Cover the Bases Next, youll want to read over your first draft and see if youve covered the bases. You must answer the fundamental questions someone looking to hire you is considering: What do you do? Who are you? What do you desire? If you believe your elevator pitch has covered these basic questions, move on to the next tip. Tailor Your Words   Once your first draft is complete and the basics are covered, youll want to continue combing and improving. Start by tailoring your words to relate to the individual(s) youre going to speak to. Add in benefit-focused wording to ensure your audience understands how you can help them. Use the Mirror Grab your piece of paper and head to the closest mirror, preferably with a little privacy. Stare yourself in the eyes and start giving your pitch. Let confidence flow through your veins and honestly believe what youre saying. Monitor what areas of your quick speech sound great and which ones need tweaking. Tweak It to Perfection Not everything sounds as good on paper as it does when spoken. Most individuals find they need to reword and tweak things after hearing it out loud. Its important to keep sentence short, speak in clear vocabulary free of industry jargon and keep things conversational. Once youve tweaked your speech to perfection, youll want to continue practicing. Polish your words until you can spring into action and lay down your verbal biography in front of anyone at any time. Practice always makes perfect. Understand Your Audience Lastly, you shouldnt be afraid to create a couple of variations. Most people would slightly change their speech  when speaking with an old colleague  than in front of an interviewer. The more you practice the pitch, the more comfortable youll feel when a slight tweak or change is needed. Its Not Easy, But You Can Do It Anything relating to your executive bio is not going to be easy. Youre going to have to work to create the perfect resume and elevator pitch. If youre struggling to do so, professional help may be needed.