- Read junk mail.
Question: Where can you get the services of a multimillion-dollar
ad agency for free? Answer: Read your junk mail. Become a junk
mail junkie. Read advertising. Soak it up. Listen to the radio
and watch television. See what others are doing. Copy down "power
words and power phrases." Headlines. Arguments. Copy down
commercials you see that "appeal" to you - they will
"appeal" to someone else too.
Example: A magazine sent me a piece of junk mail. The envelope
said (in huge letters) "Job Offer: If you haven't had a
good one lately, here's help." I could barely wait to tear
the envelope open. I saved it. And six or eight months later,
that brochure inspired my ad copy.
Job-hunters seem to spend a lot of time "covering up,"
making themselves alike, trying to blend in so they don't stand
out. They take a help-wanted ad they don't qualify forand don't
really wantand try to hammer themselves into a shape that fits.
- Be different.
Don't copy. Try to stand out. Don't blend in and get lost.
Do what Emerson suggests: "Accept your genius and say what you think."
Be you. The strongest, best, most exciting, different, unique "you" you
can be! Let them want "you," because that is truly something they can never
get anywhere else. If you can write a resume or sales letter than is totally
you, you won't have any competition. You'll be alone, and visible.
- Use the word "you."
Advertising isn't about "me," it's about you: You will
gain. You will benefit. You will smell better. You will lose
40 pounds in 14 seconds. You will be a millionaire in six weeks.
To translate this into the job-market, put the word "you"
into your letters and interviews: You will have a cleaner office.
You will be more organized. You will have more free time. You
will have a burden lifted off your shoulders.
YouYouYou. In advertising, and in job hunting, one can never
say that word enough!
Letters that say, "I did this and I did that" lack this
crucial emphasis.
- Keep it simple.
In Tested Advertising Methods, John Caples noted that most
adults have the brains of a 13-year-old child with a sixth-grade
education. So get rid of the long words and sentences. Don't
say, "heteronomous student body," when you can say,
"all kinds of students." Don't say, "I do communication
interfacing," when you can say, "I make phone books."
Simplify. Edit. Cut back. Know what you want. Get crystal
clarity about what you have to offer, and say it directly in very few words.
Sample letter to an employer: "You will gain (1) relief from pressure and
deadlines, and (2) more time to manage. I'm persistent. I pursue my goals until
I succeed..."
Clarity. Simplicity. It works every time.
- Go where others don't.
The late Akio Morita, former chairman of Sony, managed a $4.2 billion per year
empire. His secret of success: " We go where others don't. We never follow."
There's a myth that it's difficult for single men to meet single
women, and vice versa. It isn't difficult. you simply "go
where others don't." Example: Last month I attended a meeting
of the Executive and Professional Women's Council. There were
100 women there - and I was the only man. I met women. Lots
of them. Get my drift? When you "position" yourself
properly, there is no competition. None.
The same holds true in the job market. There is a myth that it's
hard to find jobs. It isn't, if you "go where others don't."
Think of an idea that is off-the-wall. So much fun you'd love
to do it, you can't sleep at night thinking of it. It's more
fun than hearing Wayne Newton or going on a fishing trip. You
can't get it out of your mind. You love to tell everybody - its
exciting. You can't stop talking about it. You bubble over with it.
Write it down in every detaileverything. Then add more details.
Get a good clear picture. Write, write, write. It'll probably
work. You're so excited and enthusiastic it couldn't possibly fail.
That's the idea to go for: not some lukewarm, half-baked, worn-out,
dreary, tired, boring, acceptable idea that everybody else is
using and thinks is OK. Not the usual. Not the expected. Not
the routine, but the Unusual. Then, when you try this idea, you
won't have competition, because it's so differentit's yours
and yours alone.
So while thousands are going to the want ads and the personnel
departments and being told, "There are no jobs," you
"go where others don't." And you will have a job.
- Be emotional, not logical.
So many resumes and cover letters seem "laid back,"
distant, like the writers really don't care one way or the other
whether or not they get hired (I know by talking to them that
they do care, sometimes desperately.) Why don't they communicate
their enthusiasm?
Put some zip into your letters and resumes; let them sing. Use
hot writing: power words and power phrases. Words with impact,
not "logic." Logic doesn't sell; emotion sells.
Let the employer know how important the job is to you. Tell them!
Don't hide it. Say, "I really want this. It's very important
to me. I'm very excited about the opportunity."
Sign your letters, "Enthusiastically." I'm not saying,
"Hammer people with rah-rah talk." I am saying, "Don't
be so conservative and laid back that employers think you don't
care."
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