If you think that takes nerve, try this on. A few years back, I got a call from a would-be copywriter who was looking for a job. We set up a time and he came to see me. When I opened his portfolio, there, right before my eyes, were my ads. He didn't even have the common sense to check out whose work he was stealing! Anyway, I read the ads and told him that I liked them very much. That, in fact, I thought they had improved with age, because I liked them then even better than I did when I wrote them.
He didn't even offer me an argument.
He just turned split-pea green, folded his (my) portfolio, stood up, and walked out. I never heard from or of him again.
Every once in a while, though, I hear about someone else just like him. I'll be having lunch with friends in the business and someone will say, "Hey, if any of you guys gets a call from an (art director, writer, or whatever) by the name of so-and-so, don't bother to see him. He's walking around with someone else's book."
Which makes a very good point about walking around with someone else's book. As far as blowing interviews goes, it has a couple of advantages over most other mistakes. It lets you blow an interview you never even had. It also gives you a reputation that's almost impossible to live down.
All of the chances for screwing up interviews aren't reserved for the people with portfolios. Anyone can do quite a job of it without getting help from anywhere.
For example, if your interviewer says he doesn't have a job opening when you begin your interview, you could get up and walk out before the two of you ever even have a chance to talk to each other. How is that blowing an interview? After all, there wasn't a job there to begin with, was there?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Sometimes an interviewer will say he doesn't have a job when you first walk in, even if he does, because if he doesn't like what you have to show him, it's a lot easier to say "I'll call you if something opens up" than it is to say "I'm sorry, but you're not good enough for this job."
If he does like what you have to offer, he'll simply tell you about a job that just opened up, at which point you won't care that he didn't tell you at first. You'll just be grateful he told you at all. By walking out of an interview before you've gotten the whole story you might be losing a job you didn't even know existed.
This is not to say that an interviewer is being coy every time he says he doesn't have a" job. Interviewers are usually very candid. Even if it turns out that he really doesn't have a job opening now, that doesn't mean he won't have any in the future. The quickest way to give up the chance for a job later is to walk out on an interview now. You'll give your interviewer the opinion that you don't know the first thing about getting a job in advertising.
You could give your interviewer that same opinion if you don't ask to come back to see him again. Because, by not asking to come back for another interview, you're not trying to begin a relationship with someone who could eventually give you a job. You're not taking advantage of a chance to get to know someone in the advertising business, someone who could take you under his wing and teach you about the business, even though he might not have a job for you the first time you see him.
All you're taking advantage of is another opportunity to blow another chance for a job. But the saddest part about the whole thing is if that it's so much easier to succeed in an interview than it is to fail. I've mentioned every possible way I know of to blow an interview, short of calling your interviewer's wife a hooker, and, if you think about it, each and every one of them requires one pot-load of work to pull off. Yet people persist in putting all that effort into flubbing their chances for getting a job, instead of learning about the business and improving their chances for getting one.
It's extremely hard on both your nerves and your interviewer's if you ignore a request to call and confirm an appointment and run the risk of showing up at what could be a bad time. It's much easier to show some respect for your interviewer's time by simply picking up the phone to see if your meeting is still on as scheduled, or if it would be more convenient to reschedule it for another time.
If your interviewer can't see you one time, he'll see you another. He's not trying to ditch you. If he were, he would simply tell you he didn't want to see you. Period.
When you do get to see him, don't get yourself all dressed up in a costume. It won't do anything but prevent your interviewer from focusing all his attention on what you have to offer. Just wear something neat and fashionable. It doesn't have to be formal, just tidy. That way your interviewer will have nothing to take his mind off what's really important, namely, how much you could contribute to his organization if he hired you.
It's very difficult to psyche yourself up into marching through someone's office like a fool proclaiming, "This is the way ads should really be done." You'll feel much better if you quietly compose yourself and politely ask your interviewer if he would look at your portfolio or resume.
Beyond that, it takes more energy to try to take charge of a situation you really know nothing about than it does to follow your interviewer's lead. So don't try to convince your interviewer you're experienced at interviewing if you're not. Just admit that you haven't been on many interviews and that you're trying to get as much experience as you can.
