By Michelle Loria Alvarado
Staff Writer
Every spring, marketing majors compete in an annual elevator pitch competition hosted on Trevecca’s campus. This year, it was opened up to communication and business majors, allowing more students to participate.
The competition took place on Feb. 25 at Zelma Wagner Hall. The decision to allow more students to sign up led to another phase of the competition to be added.
“This is the first year we did a pre-competition. That’s only to choose the best Trevecca students,” said Phillips.
Since there is a limited number of participants per university, there was a need for a pre-competition, in which Trevecca students were called individually at a specific time. From there, judges decided on which students continued on to the actual competition.
Because Lipscomb University and Austin Peay were not able to participate, there were more available spaces for Trevecca students to fill.
Thirteen Trevecca students, five Belmont University students, and one MTSU student participated, making a total of 19 participants in the competition.
At this event, students were not only able to practice interview skills and receive feedback from employers, but they also obtained a chance to network with them.
“The competition allows students to practice their skills and to network. We have some judges from the Nashville area, big-time judges in their business field, so it’d be a good time for our students to connect with them and get jobs or internships opportunities,” said Phillips.
This is an experience that gives students a chance to excel in the interviewing process and have a more realistic view of it.
“We always have this kind of structure of how to do things, but in the real world, it’s completely different. So [the competition] it’s a good way of getting out there, identifying your strengths and weaknesses, how you can change things, or what you should say or what not [during an interview],” said Claudia Nunez, a junior double majoring in business management and marketing.
Additionally, students find ways to prepare themselves to succeed not only in the competition but also in actual job interviews.
“Last year, I took a class called business communications, and the assigned book for the class was How to Win Friends and Influence People, which teaches how to deal with people and was a great resource. So, I read this book again and watched some YouTube videos of Elevator Pitch,” said Nunez.
This year’s winner was Joseph Howard, an MTSU student. He got a $500 cash prize, a trophy, and the Trevecca graduate school gave him a 15% discount to do his MBA at Trevecca. Nunez got second place, and Grace Santos, a senior majoring in marketing, got third place in the competition.
Although Trevecca did not win this year, students are satisfied with the experience and the lessons it brought.
“I learned to be a bit bolder and more confident. We received a lot of feedback from the judges, which was good for constructing ourselves as we look for jobs. I got good feedback on how I can better put myself out there when I get interviewed,” said Santos.
Phillips decided to open the Elevator Pitch competition to all majors and make it available for anyone on campus who wants to participate since interview skills are needed in any major.
“I’m going to open it to the whole university next year and hopefully, we’ll make it bigger. We will still have a pre-competition only to choose the top 10 and who will go to the main competition, but the opportunity is now open to every student on campus,” said Phillips.
