Elevator Pitch

I’ve heard it from a few different professors and others professionals, that for networking and other purposes we should have an elevator pitch ready to go. Basically, no matter what profession we’re in this is something we should think about and have it ready. Do I have one? Nope.

However, when talking with my classmates a couple of weeks ago it was brought up that if librarians had better elevator speeches then maybe we would have a better image and people would realize that we’re not outdated and not useful anymore because of the Internet. (This came from a couple of us that work in libraries that we had trouble telling people what we do for a living. I have also noticed that even some librarians I know have trouble telling people. I’ve also seen that people tend to call anybody who works in a library a librarian, so that might be its own issue.) The biggest thing I get when telling people that I’m in library school is, “Isn’t that a dying profession”. I think in this case an elevator pitch would be perfect. 

For those who don’t know an elevator pitch is simply, what you do and why it’s important in 30 seconds or less. It’s mainly selling yourself in the time it takes an elevator to go from one floor to the next because you never know who or when you’ll run into potential employers. I have meet people on the airplane or waiting for the train or airplane. To make it in any career field we need to constantly be on our toes and at the ready because interviews could happen anywhere.

So, do you have an elevator pitch? What do you think is important to put in one?