Instant Interviews_ 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life - Jeffrey G. Allen [51]
You: Sure, it’s like night and day. I learned about things like that in night school. When do I start?
Patti: You? Serious? For real?
Let me see what I can do about having the chief teller offer a req for that job. I don’t qualify for the free trip to Maui for referring you, but I’ll probably get a raise. That’s been bugging our operations officer for 83 days! Do you have a resume?
You: I do, but why don’t I just fill out an application? (Your reason is that your rest-you-may (Do 5) is for an engineering job, and it would be easier to squish your background into a form.)
Patti: You can do that online.
You: I’d be happy to. (Scout’s honor. You would—just not until you retire.) But I’ll be near the bank on my way to a business meeting. (Word: You’re meeting your kid’s guidance counselor at school, and that’s always risky business.) I’ll just stop by and get it done! I don’t like wasting time.
Patti: You sound very interesting, Ima. What’s your background?
You: (Hooboy, gotta think fast.) I’ve been working with numbers for almost eight years. (If you haven’t, don’t say it, but of course everyone eight years old or more, has.)
Patti: I’ll be in a meeting, actually with the chief teller. But my assistant
Clarabelle knows all about the problem. She’s received 83 calls about it from our OO.
You: Oh. (Good! You’re learning. Always parrot back. Do 51.)
Patti: I’ll let Clarabelle know to expect you. She’s up here on the fifth floor, not down in the HR lobby.
You: Thanks. After I hire in, we can discuss the publicity. (All right! That alone will pop interviews like popcorn.)
I couldn’t have handled it better if I did it myself.
Many lessons here. The best is that you never mentioned any salary. On the app where it says “Salary Requirements,” you write, “Open.” Otherwise the chance of your being too high or too low is approximately 100 percent (Do 89). We don’t care what the job pays. Frankly, we don’t care about the job at all.
But we always care about—say it loud—the almighty interview!
Do 33: Launching a Proactive Proposal
“Proposal writing” sounds so sophisticated! It’s not. In this Do I’ll show you how simple this instant interview device is.
Most business proposals should have a warning stamped on their plain vanilla covers. “Warning: Contents may cause drowsiness. Do not digest in a busy office. File under B for Boring.”
There are tons of books on proposal writing out there. Don’t waste your money. The one that should be written is how to accept them! But that’s not our problem. We just want an interview. A proposal is a device only, a way to get a face-to-face with the offeror.
If for some reason you are not able to connect with the offeror directly, it’s time for a proactive proposal.
Notice I didn’t say a volume of Me from A to Z. The offeror doesn’t care about you. He cares about getting some work done. You just need to convince him that you’ll do it.
The objective is not the proposal. The objective is the interview. Instantly.
With that little mantra, you already know more about proposals than the majority of jobseekers. This book is the only place you’re going to find that information. If you go on the Internet, be prepared to snooze. And lose.
Let’s review the steps to a proactive, interview-getting proposal:
First, know when you need it.
Is there a more direct path to the offeror? If so, take it. If not, consider a proposal.
The pitch letter from Do 9 and the proposal are very much alike. The pitch is written in the first-person—I, me, my, mine. The proposal is written in the third-person, Ms. Proposa, she, her, hers. You can guess which is more informal, can’t you? Informal doesn’t always cut it, though. The formal,