What to Include 📁

✅ Introduce yourself: As a high school student, you can highlight your future major—wink, wink, accounting—and your career aspirations. Think: ability to make a social impact, support entrepreneurs and small businesses, or influence key business decisions. College student? It’s the same thing, but you might add where you’re going to college—this can be a conversation starter!

✅ Connect career aspirations with experiences: Mention key skills and experiences that you’ve gained through coursework, job shadowing programs or extracurricular activities that support your previously mentioned career aspirations. Think: what in your background demonstrates your intentional steps toward an accounting career and what skills are you learning? If you want to use accounting to make an impact, have you already volunteered with financial literacy organizations and helped with budgeting templates?

✅ Wrap it up: Share how your previous experiences and career passions make this opportunity the perfect fit. Think: how will you add value?

See below for an example template on what this might look like:

Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a [High School Name] senior interested in pursuing an accounting career. To develop my leadership and financial skills, I currently serve as [High School Treasurer/Club Position] and recently [took an Intro to Accounting class/attended an accounting pre-college program]. I’m passionate about making a meaningful impact in my community and aspire to use my degree to [work with small businesses, support nonprofits, drive financial literacy, etc.]. This opportunity will allow me to [gain hands-on experience, expand my skill set, build connections in the industry, etc.]. I’m excited to learn more!

Key Reminders ⏰

💡 Keep it simple: If the listener has challenges following your pitch, they won’t digest the information. Think: what do you want them to remember about you?

💡 Keep it short: This is usually the first question asked during an interview, so don’t feel like you have to fit in your entire life story (and actually, interviewers will prefer you don’t). Pretend you’re on a clock and you really only have one minute! Be concise and purposeful with your words. What makes you unique? Think: you may not be the only one with a specific skill or experience, but no one has your unique combination.

Using an Elevator Pitch in a Non-Interview ♻️

💬 The great thing about an elevator pitch is that it's multipurpose; you can use it for a job interview or to network with accounting professionals at a conference like NABA or ALPFA. That being said, you do want to tailor it to each opportunity, the person you’re talking to, and the setting. If you come across an accounting professional who you want to link up with for an informational interview, elevator pitches can still come in handy!

💬 This time, as you wrap up your pitch, end with a simple request that will be hard for them to say no to. Think: Can I connect with you on LinkedIn to follow more of the work you/your company is doing? Are you open to me following up in two weeks to share more on my passion for [insert company industry]?