It’s Called ‘Elevator Pitch’ for a Reason

Probably the most awkward things for Veterans to talk about is Ourselves. We’ve been raised and told all our professional adult lives it‘s Mission First, Team before Self. Never I achieved this or accomplished that. Always ‘We’ before ‘Me.’ And now that we are preparing ourselves for our ‘Next Act’ or ‘Second Half,’ we’re expected to shine, take up the spotlight, bring attention to ourselves. What’s that all about?

In the real corporate world, we are not hiring your team, squad, platoon, section, department, etc. We are looking to hire the one most qualified candidate for the one single role. If that is you, you need to show that you are the most qualified of the bunch of applicants. And it usually starts with a quick introduction. “Tell me about yourself” in about 30 seconds or less. 30 seconds is about the time it takes for an elevator ride from the ground floor to the C-suite. Next, the Cambridge Dictionary defines “pitch” as a noun (persuade)…a speech or act that attempts to persuade someone to buy or do something

Hence the name, ‘Elevator Pitch.’

The story goes that you enter a corporate elevator and in walks (enter your idol CEO here). She or he says, “Good (enter time of day here).” You return the greeting. They respond, “So what brings you here?” Cue ‘Elevator Pitch.’ Your stage is set. The spotlight is upon you. And go!

By the time you share that you accounted for $10.3M in equipment over all seven continents while commanding 6,000 troops at the same time as taking night classes to earn your JD (law degree) and just when you’re about to reveal ‘what brought you there,’ you hear a ding. Doors open, she/he says, “Well, it was nice meeting you. Enjoy your time at (insert CEO’s company here).” Exit CEO.

You just blew it! You had the CEO’s attention and you missed your mark. But it is not your fault. It’s not. It’s all the bogus advice that transition centers (military and civilian), career coaches (military retirees and civilians), and transitioned veteran buddies, successful or otherwise tell you on how to craft your ‘Elevator Pitch.’ Guess what? Most of them are not in HR. God Bless Them but They Know Not What They Do. They do not do the following for a living: they do not reject or approve live resumes; they do not hear first-hand interview feedback, negative or positive; they do not have any influence in hiring decisions; they certainly play no part in determining and negotiating salaries. But they are all you’ve got. So again, it’s not your fault.

If you’ve been following our blog the past few months, we are a team of determined veterans, allies and family members who have worked in corporate HR and specialize in preparing veterans and military spouses to transition to corporate America. And we won’t shy away from telling you like it is. Our team was recently invited to a national veteran organization’s workshop for transitioning military and family members across the US. As part of the training experience, participants (transitioning military and family members) were required to give their ‘Elevator Pitch’ while the professional critiqued them.

After a few rounds of candid, constructive critiques one of our team was stopped by a host and said, “You know, this is the first time for most of them (so you should take it easy and be nicer).” The ‘take it easy and be nicer’ is what we heard. And this soon to be fellow veterans is why most of you are not prepared when you exit the military. Too many non-HR ‘professionals’ sparing your feelings so they can get positive feedback and evaluations to show their supervisors. But they are not preparing you at all. So you leave the workshop thinking, “Yup, nailed it! (Fortune 500 company) said I did great!”

We swear, most of the pitches were not remotely relevant, were all over the place, showed no direction or objective and simply just too long. Remember the very last scene in the old Willy Wonka movie (not the creepy 2000’s one) where the elevator blasted through the roof. Well, the amount of time that most of the participants took to give their spiel would have not only blasted through the ceiling but entered the stratosphere. Our eyes glazed over for some not because the time it took but the irrelevant bragging but no goal or objective stated. The implication was for the receiver or audience to be able to decipher all the accomplishments, accolades, education, credentials, yada, yada and determine what the purpose of their pitch was.

Remember, a “pitch” is designed to persuade…a speech or act that attempts to persuade someone to buy or do something

Our advice to you is similar to what we advise when drafting your resume. It’s all about relevancy. It should be tailored to the job description, targeted to the hiring manager with the specific purpose to get a specific role in a specific career field (in a specific geographic area). The same goes with creating your Elevator Pitch. It too needs to be tailored, targeted with an end goal (purpose) in mind.

The Enablers out there will say, “Well xUSAmp, what if they don’t know what they want to be when they grow up?” Our advice to the so-called career transition professionals is, “Then why don’t you go above and beyond and help them figure it out before it’s too late?” There are a number of assessments, surveys, tools and resources available and usually FREE to help the average candidate figure it out.

Putting the cart before the horse is the EASY Button. Our non-HR peers in this field mean well. Their hearts are in the right places. And we mean it when we say God Bless them because without them, where else would veterans get this support? But they have to address the issues. Instead of just checking the box then repeating when the next cohort starts.

A lot of what they advise focused on what veterans did while they served. Their experiences, their training, their education and even their awards and accolades (in our opinion, 99% irrelevant or unappreciated usually both). So their advice to veterans is to take whatever you did in the military and slap it on a piece of paper in reverse chronological order and just add the job title of what you’re gunning for. Corporate will figure it out. No we won’t. As mentioned previously Corporate Recruiters and Hiring Managers are NOT Job Finders. We don’t exist to find jobs for candidates. Our job is to hire the best qualified candidate for the specific position. And if we can’t connect the dots from your resume, we’ll simply pass and move on to the next applicant, military or otherwise.

By actually reading a job description and we recommend that you read a number of descriptions of the same or similar job titles, at the same levels, in the same industries and in the same geographic locations, you will actually learn a few things:

·       You’ll see the similarities in qualifications, experience and education requirements

·       You’ll pick up on industry terminology and “key buzzwords” that you can list on your resume

·       By incorporating the above, you will stand out as an industry insider, an actual (insert job title here) professional and not a newbie attempting a career change

·       And if you are a newbie attempting a career change, now you know what you need to do to close that gap

The same can be said for the Elevator Pitch. If one’s pitch is all over the place, only focused on what you did in the military with no applicable hint as to what your potential contributions are AND is longer than the average elevator ride from the ground floor to the C-suite, you’ve lost us. And unlike the Enabler, they will never tell you that you’ve just been passed over without you knowing or the reasons why. An effective Elevator Pitch need not include clichés, superfluous wording, extraneous statistics, unrelated job experience and irrelevant degrees. So don’t just read but study job descriptions, quite a few of them. Compare and contrast and start presenting yourself as an industry insider who is already in the know of the profession. Finally practice, practice, practice. Like battle drills, once you get the muscle memory down, you’ll also be able to pivot on the fly and tailor it to the person, audience or situation. The last thing you need to have fail is not being polished when you eventually meet up with the CEO.

And make sure it’s only as long as an elevator ride to the C-suite.

For those of you who have fine-tuned your own Elevator Pitch, with a recommended script or formula, please share with us.

Welcome to this blog. In this series, we will reminisce about that we did not think we would ever miss before we got out; hopefully with a good dose of healthy humor. With tips, tricks and secrets to reintegrating back to the civilian workforce and with the proper mindset. And we welcome positive feedback from those of us who have already made the transition to the real world. xUSAmp is a group of determined veterans, allies and family members who have worked in corporate HR and specialize in preparing veterans and military spouses to transition to corporate America.