Instant Interviews_ 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life - Jeffrey G. Allen [11]
That’s expected because we set it up that way. It gives us the opportunity to give our usual reply: “I wasn’t looking for just any job. I want to be a part of an organization that will reward me commensurately with my results.”
Are you getting rhythm yet? Want, part, reward for results, and a multisyllabic commensurately to boot! Here’s someone who:
• Knows what he wants.
• Understands he’s only a part of a bigger thing, not someone who’s likely to go around turning the desks upside down.
• Wants to get paid for results, not effort. (Where has he been all of my life?) And . . .
• Uses big words like commensurately. (You might even hear some offeror say, “Oh, you read Instant Interviews, too? You’re hired!”)
The natural Pavlovian response is to say, “Well, we have no openings right now. What kind of work do you do?” What this really means is: “I need to have a reason to pay you. How can you help me?”
Here’s the time for us to pause, take a deep breath, and discuss the myth of experience. With the exception of a job being a tangible thing (as discussed in the introduction), experience is the second most jumbled-jungle word in the forest.
You might ask, “How can you get experience if you don’t have experience?” What a wrongheaded question! Yet society has programmed us to ask it almost before we learn to spell j-o-b. In fact, it’s not even a question at all. It’s an excuse.
You have exactly the same amount of experience as anyone else your age! It’s the generic life experience that makes you shake your head at the younger generation (no matter how old you are). You did goofy things when you were their age, right? What happened? You developed common sense, a work ethic, values. You learned to handle yourself, discipline yourself, think for yourself.
Let’s use me as an example. (I’d use you, but you’re the genie in this relationship. That’s my wish and I’m stickin’ to it.) I’ve written more books on interviewing than anyone in the history of publishing. In fact, my editor once threatened to report me to the Library of Congress! I’ve also probably read every book on interviewing ever written and heard every expert on the subject. I even enrolled in Bible study class one time because the ad said they’d be discussing the Book of Job.
But this isn’t about my experience or yours, is it? Here’s how I can explain it best: One time I was on a book tour doing an all-night radio talk show somewhere west of New York City. It was my last appearance of a v-e-r-r-r-y long day, and I was late to board a plane for the next city’s wakeup show. Someone called in and asked, “What do the J.D. and C.P.C. stand for after your name?” (They stand for Juris Doctor and Certified Placement Counselor.) As I was taking off my headset, this just popped out: “The J.D. stands for Just Do it! and the C.P.C. stands for Courage, Persistence, and Confidence!”
I’d be surprised if I use more than an hour or so of everything I learned in law school in my specialized law practice. Ask any brain surgeon or nuclear physicist, and they’ll tell you that it’s all about knowing what to do, not learning about what it is.
Studying, passing the exams, getting the degrees, qualifying for the license, going for the certifications—they’re all just speed bumps, road-blocks, and detours on the road to success. It’s all an obstacle course that anyone can master if they concentrate enough and have the opportunity. Ultimately, those obstacles are just a way of keeping the supply of highly paid pros down, the demand up, and impressing the buyers. These folks can be excellent at what they do. But the experience they use isn’t from hurdling the obstacles. It’s from living. And you’re experienced at that!
So much for the experience excuse—too much, in fact. Much too much time is wasted on excusing rather than enthusing.
So the only question now is, “How can you state experience