Trade shows, conferences, networking events…these are all prime opportunities to grease the opportunity wheel. Say you’ve been eyeballing a certain hospital or company, maybe you even submitted a resume already, but you’re at an event and suddenly an executive is standing right in front of you. Here’s your chance to talk yourself up and shine, but you might only have their attention for a minute.

You certainly don’t want to blow it by stumbling over your own tongue. Make sure you have your “elevator pitch” ready. This pitch is your sixty seconds of fame where you can succinctly highlight who you are, what you do and why you’re so awesome without coming across as arrogant, conceited, pompous, or (insert your favorite adjective here).

This process takes some refining. Sixty seconds isn’t a very long period of time and if you try to cram too much in, you run the risk of sounding like an auctioneer. Key elements to include are your current or most recent title and highlight one of your career successes. Conclude your “commercial” with a relevant question which redirects the attention back to their organization and will hopefully continue the dialogue.

Here’s an example of a pitch that is short and sweet: “I’m a project manager and most recently completed a successful (and under budget) EHR implementation at XYZ Hospital. I understand you are doing an implementation of the same system?”

With a little practice, you will sound natural and not forced or recited. After you’re comfortable with one pitch, create another one or two more. This way you can diversify or interchange to keep from getting bored by repeating the same pitch.
 

E.J. Fechenda is the Audience Data Manager for MedTech Media. Since 2008 she has helped manage Healthcare Finance JobSpot and Healthcare IT JobSpot - now merged with HIMSS JobMine. She is not a Human Resources professional, nor a healthcare expert, but over the years she’s accumulated a lot of feedback and insight from both job seekers and employers alike. Each week E.J. will deliver a blog based on this information. One week will be employer focused and the next week, job seeker focused.