HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE INTERVIEW

Yes, the interview can be intimidating, but it needs your permission first. And you don’t have to succumb to presence of fear any more than you have to submit to the tyranny of reason (and yes, the two are related). 

After all, it is reason that teaches us to fear. Absurdity, to dare. When you stop thinking about the interview as a trial and start thinking about it as a press conference, a whole new world opens up to you. Suddenly you aren’t a fraud, you’re a celebrity. Suddenly, you aren’t dodging questions, you’re signing autographs. All it takes is a shift in your perspective. Consider the following: 

YOU HAVE A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE.

A truly captive audience is a rare and wonderful thing. We live in a media-saturated culture that forces us to compete with every channel that’s on within it. So if you want to get a message across to someone, ANYONE, you have to compete with everything in his or her immediate, digital, and psychic periphery (i.e. marquees, @mentions, inner monologues and the like). The only exception is the interview. It is one of the last remaining scenarios where you don’t have to vie for someone’s attention. It’s already undivided. You have the floor. Ears are at your mercy. This is your chance to walk on the moon. To unleash radical, new ideas. To provoke, incite, and ensnare.

YOU HAVE CARTE-BLANCHE TO TALK ABOUT HOW AWESOME YOU ARE.

The only thing rarer than a captive audience, is opportunity to go on and on about yourself without being perceived as a total jackass. The interview is the only public forum where it is appropriate brag. You needn’t make any concessions either — a wink and a smile will suffice. This is your moment. Seize it and own it.

YOU GET TO BE FLATTERED BY PEOPLE WHO’VE JUST MET YOU.

Rest assured, if they’ve seen your work and still want to have you come into the office, you can expect a fair amount of praise when you walk through the door. And compliments from strangers always mean more. That’s because they aren’t obliged to care. They don’t have a vested interest in your success, so when they sing your praises, it means something. When a CM goes, THIS IS SMART, it validates every creative choice you made up until that point in seconds. And let me tell you, it is electrifying. ELECTRIFYING.

THROW AWAY YOUR BUSINESS CARD.

There is nothing more disposable than a business card. 

It doesn’t matter how much time you put into designing it, or how exquisite the paper is that it is printed on, I already want to throw it away. Because if i don’t, I have to find room for it in my pocket. If I don’t, I have to make room for it in my already-crowded life. And if all it does is house information that I can just as easily BUMP you for, why create the refuse? Expelling paper doesn’t make you more memorable. It only makes you more wasteful. So, how do you mass produce something of lasting value? 

YOU STOP MASS PRODUCING.

Mass-production is a value-inhibitor. All it does is, is trivialize the exchange taking place. Think about it. When was the last time you bought something from the Gap and thought, “This feels special?” Or better yet, when was the last time you got a mass party invite and thought “So-and-so must really treasure my company?” Wamp. Wamp. It just doesn’t happen. 

The more select your audience is, the more your message means. And your “message” doesn’t have to be printed. It can be worn. It can be performed. It can be used. When you think about your personal branding as a CALLING CARD instead of a BUSINESS CARD, you open yourself up to a myriad of possibilities. Do not limit yourself to 2 x 3 inch pieces of paper. Resist the urge to be confined to a ratio, or even a medium. It is so reductive, and, without a doubt, beneath you.

The Business Card asks: What type-personality should I communicate?

The Calling Card asks: What is the most daring exit I can make? What can I do that is TRULY cinematic?

Channeling the fiction of a heroic figure will help facilitate your brainstorming. I grew up on old Bond flicks, so I always choose Agent 007. James Bond is pure magic — there is simply no end to his charisma or effrontery. Every vehicle he leaves is blown to smithereens (be it car, boat, or vixen). Think about your calling card as something only a literary/comic book hero could get away with. Then embody that super power. Only when you open yourself to the absurd, can you devise a network solution that is truly memorable. 

Sure, people might not be able tote your messaging around in their pocket — but they are guaranteed to always have you in their hearts.