I agree with Nick’s comment that most things people suggest don’t work. I’ve also discovered that the best thing to do with something that might work is to TRY it and see if it does.

Both stories ARE most certainly true, although I used some poetic license with the dialog.

And these are people who CAN and DO land jobs. Sally landed her next job at a brokerage firm that paid for her to go to college.

The second story is about me and I have not been involuntarily unemployed since high school (1969) except for two weeks around the time of the second story. I have landed nearly every job I’ve ever gone after. One exception… While a graduate student I saw the perfect job at an airline — free travel. After the hiring manager turned me down, I put him on my mailing list for all my articles, education and research work. Six months later he called me up to offer me a job if I’d just get him off “that damn mailing list.” That one took longer.

Brooke

Well, those were amazing stories!

They were encouraging. They made me feel hopeful. They also made me wonder if I would be capable of so much enterprise myself.

To be honest, I think I would have given up much sooner than Sally or Bob.

So how do we get to that point—how do we have as much gumption as Sally, as much willingness and ingenuity as Bob?

Another question: What if everyone were like Sally and Bob! What would the workplace be like then? (Not that I think this’ll happen….)

Thanks for the link, Nick.

Thanks for sharing your stories, Brooke. The pics are great too! The one of your son Davis really cracked me up.

Working Girl, I loved your question about what the workplace would be like if everyone were like Sally and Bob.

Well, people would be stepping all over each other to get work done. The place might need a lion tamer, but once the all the lions were jumping in the same direction, I have to think it would be quite a productive environment because people would be thinking about their jobs, doing their jobs, and looking for ways to make themselves even more effective in those jobs. And moving up.

It seems to me that Sally and Bob’s biggest attribute isn’t so much their gumption as it is their ability to listen, which is something most of us don’t do very well. They listened hard, heard what the other person needed, and showed that they had the ability to do that very job.

As I read Nick’s work, I’m always struck with the central message, which is “show them you can do the job,” and that’s what Sally and Bob did. But before they opened their mouths, they opened their ears. That’s a good lesson for us all.

A clarification:

Bob (the interviewer) was the hiring manager in the second story. I was the interviewee (the guy who landed the job).

To be honest, my sense of Bob (not his real name) was that he was a bit pessimistic about the prospects of getting anything done.

My thanks to both Nick & Brooke. The stories exemplified the principles Nick talks about on this site, and covered in his book. I just needed it encapsulated in a way that helps me understand what Nick has said, and deals with issues I fear facing in a more direct and simple way.

Thanks to both of you.