You’re a student, not a drone in a high-rise office building, so you may never have heard of an “elevator pitch.” I hadn’t until I read about them on the Harvard Business blog.

The personal elevator pitch is basically a 30-second commercial all about you. The hard part is that you have to write, direct, rehearse, and perform this commercial by yourself. But how great would it feel to have the perfect answer to “What are you interested in?”or “What do you do?” So great.

One of the tricky things about elevator pitches is that they are not just for whipping out in elevators at big companies. They’re great for talking with employers in any informal setting, like talking to recruiting reps at CSO’s Spring Fling or Recruiter-in-Residence hours, or to someone sitting next to you on an airplane, or to that weird neighbor you only see at holiday gatherings. You never know where potential employers might be hiding! And even if the person you’re talking to isn’t an HR rep, they might be able to give you a personal “in” with the employer of your dreams.

Daisy Wademan Downing at the Harvard Business blog wrote this article about perfecting your personal elevator pitch. It should get you started.