• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

• Slip it into an inexpensive clear plastic binder (available at any stationery store).

• Mail it by regular mail in an oversized envelope.

• Have someone else just check the proposal for accuracy. Many successful proposers just find someone articulate at the store when they’re making copies. Customers are fine, too. You say, “Excuse me. I have this proposal here. Would you take a minute for me and just tell me whether you see any typos?” Nobody says, “No.”

I remember picking up some candidate after his interview with the CEO of a major corporation. As he was saying goodbye, the CEO commented to the candidate, “People respond exactly the way you treat them.” I was very young. The CEO was very successful. I never forgot those wise words. May they guide your every move until you show up for that great interview in the sky.

That’s why nobody says, “No.” You just have to ask properly. It’s so easy when you stop being self-conscious about being human. When you stop worrying about what total strangers think, and just appreciate them for being who they are. Everyone knows this but you. It’s where that saying “You’re your own worst enemy” must come from. You’re much harder on yourself than anyone else could ever be. Does that make any sense to you at all?

Another absolutely wonderful source is any reference librarian at the end of any phone at any library anyplace. Those folks are savvy and they can spell. What they don’t know they know how to find, and will do everything but prop you up during the interview if you ask. Never a charge, unlimited assistance, access to infinite resources. Wow.

There you have it. No long hours of research. No complicated books to read. No failures.

All you need to do is offer enough information to establish interest in the face-to-face. The proposal is a warm-up to the call that gets the appointment.

That proposal must incite the offeror to meet with you.

Incite and you’re in! As in in-stant!

Do 34: Interrupting the Interview Intervention

Your confidence is at a lifetime high, you’re interviewing with interesting people, and you’re talking about job offers with your family and friends.

What an amazing transformation!

Your spouse didn’t marry an egomaniac, though. Oh, he’s been on your case about your lack of self-confidence for years. Your friends call you, and you’re too busy running around to relax a little. Your kids are acting up because you’re always talking about working here and there.

Of course, people don’t change (Do 39). You’re not changing. You’re just using what you had all the time. Reprioritizing your values now because you’ve discovered your unlimited potential.

Your friends and family know and love you. So why would they not want you to succeed? Because they’re petrified. Scared to death. They won’t tell you that you’re scaring them because they’re afraid you’ll bail if you discover your wonders. Or that they’re afraid because you won’t do what they want. Or that they’re afraid because you “don’t seem to care anymore.” They generally will not confront you with the real reason. If they did, you’d counter with denial or statements they can’t refute (like, “We gotta eat, right?”).

The reasons you’re likely to hear are that you’re obsessive, compulsive, and (less clinically) crazy.

It’s not that you can’t take criticism. Of course you can. You don’t think you’re perfect. Only there’s no such thing as constructive criticism. There’s only criticism, and it’s destructive. Constructive criticism isn’t. It’s a contradiction in terms. Designed to deride, derail, and destroy. Period.

They’ll be ready to call an intervention—a forced confrontation with a severe interviewaholic. Maybe even call up a sympathetic social worker or psychologist friend.

It’s all a natural part of your development. You can avoid all of this waste of time and negativism by understanding them as well as yourself.

I’ve studied the effect of instant interviewing on marriages (and live-in arrangements) extensively.