Constructing and refining an elevator pitch are about as much fun as writing a resume, but the risk of not having and delivering one can keep your career on ice. I work with Purdue students via mock interviews and one thing there are always “supposed to” convey to me is their elevator pitch. I have always found it challenging to create and manage my own elevator pitch, so I began to ponder how I could help young professionals create and manage an elevator pitch. , I stopped asking the students to give me an elevator pitch and asked them one question that helped me work with them to develop the core of an elevator pitch (professional value proposition) in 3 minutes. The question I ask each student is as follows: When I call your references relative to a job opportunity what three things will they all say about you? It normally takes about 3 minutes for me to get the 3 main components of their personal value proposition out of them, and then two minutes to work with them to word smith their thoughts into a quality 30 second elevator pitch. I also advise them that their resumes should convey the three main components of their professional value proposition, that their value proposition is dynamic and should changes over time, and that they need to make sure that these are the attributes are conveyed throughout a job interview and in their follow-up correspondence relative to each job interview. The following are 5 steps anyone can use to create a quality elevator pitch (professional value proposition): 1. Ask yourself, if my references relative to a job opportunity were called, what three things would each of my references say about me? 2. Word smith these attributes and/or have a valued colleague help you. 3. Communicate with your top 3 job references. Ask them if they were called about you relative to the next job on your career path (you describe it to them) what three things would they all say about you? 4. Reconcile their responses with your version of you professional value proposition (elevator pitch). 5. Send the revised version of your professional value proposition (elevator pitch) to your top references, and then tweak it to create your final version. Here are the three pillars of my current professional value proposition: 1. I have an unique and unparalleled professional background: I have worked in academia, I have worked at a publicly traded corporation, I have worked as a senior leader at a leading professional association, I have worked at a start-up, and I have founded three companies. 2. No one knows the Office of the CFO like Ernie: I worked as the Director of Treasury Services and as a Director of the Corporate Treasurers Council for the AFP, I helped build the largest online community of senior level financial professional from the ground up at Proformative, I currently serve as an Executive Director for the CFO Alliance, and I have developed, moderated and moderated hundreds of webinars and dozens of seminars developed to improve the performance of corporate financial professionals in addition to overacting with thousands of them in speaking at conferences over the past 10 years. 3. I have a passion to learn, educate, innovate and collaborate: You can sense my energy and passion as soon as you meet me. I am a recognized thought leader in many areas including treasury, working capital management, expense management, professional relationship management, acquisition integration, online marketing and educational program development and delivery. I have risen from entry level to senior management positions in multiple disciplines. I will share my innovative piece for when I meet you in person!
