What Color Is Your Parachute? (16 page)

Incidentally, there is one handicap that people rarely talk about, and yet it affects, if not job-performance, then the job-hunt itself. And that is,
Shyness.
So, let’s close this chapter by taking a look at that handicap, and discussing how to deal with it.

The late John Crystal often had to counsel the shy. They were often
frightened
at the whole idea of going to talk to people for information, never mind for hiring. So John developed a system to help the shy. He suggested that before you even begin doing any Informational Interviewing, you first go out and talk to people about
anything
just to get good at
talking to people.
Thousands of job-hunters and career-changers have followed his advice, over the past thirty years, and found it really helps. Indeed, people who have followed John’s advice in this regard have had a success rate of 86 percent in finding a job—and not just any job, but
the
job or new career that they were looking for.

Daniel Porot, Europe’s premiere job-hunting expert, has taken John’s system, and brought some organization to it. He observed that John was really recommending three types of interviews: this interview we are talking about, just for practice. Then Informational Interviewing. And finally, of course, the hiring-interview. Daniel decided to call these three the
“The PIE Method,”
which has now helped thousands of job-hunters and career-changers in both the U.S. and Europe.
²

Why is it called
“PIE”?

P
is for the
warm-up
phase. John Crystal named this warm-up “The Practice Field Survey.”
³
Daniel Porot calls it
P
for
pleasure.

I
is for “Informational Interviewing.”

E
is for the employment interview with the-person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you.

How do you use this
P
for
practice
to get comfortable about going out and talking to people
one-on-one?

Click
here
to view a PDF version of P.I.E.

Copyright © 1986 by D. Porot. Used by special permission. Not to be reproduced without permission in writing from D. Porot.

This is achieved by choosing a topic—
any
topic, however silly or trivial—that is a pleasure for you to talk about with your friends, or family. To avoid anxiety, it should not be connected to any present or future careers that you are considering. Rather, the kinds of topics that work best, for this exercise, are:

• a hobby
  you
  love,
  such as skiing, bridge playing, exercise, computers, etc.
  

• any leisure-time enthusiasm
  of yours, such as a movie you just saw, that you liked a lot
  

• a long-time curiosity
  , such as how do they predict the weather, or what policemen do
  

• an aspect of the town or city you live in
  , such as a new shopping mall that just opened
  

• an issue
  you feel strongly about, such as the homeless, AIDS sufferers, ecology, peace, health, etc.
  

There is only one condition about choosing a topic: it should be something you
love
to talk about with other people; a subject you know nothing about, but you feel a great deal of enthusiasm for, is far preferable to something you know an awful lot about, but it puts you to sleep.

Having identified your enthusiasm, you then need to go talk to someone who is as enthusiastic about this thing, as you are.
For best results with your later job-hunt, this should be someone you don’t already know.
Use the Yellow Pages, ask around among your friends and family,
who do you know that
loves
to talk about this?
It’s relatively easy to find the kind of person you’re looking for.

You love to talk about skiing?
Try a ski-clothes store, or a skiing instructor.
You love to talk about writing?
Try a professor on a nearby college campus, who teaches English.
You love to talk about physical exercise?
Try a trainer, or someone who teaches physical therapy.

Once you’ve identified someone you think shares your enthusiasm, you then go talk with them. When you are face-to-face with your
fellow enthusiast
, the first thing you must do is relieve their understandable anxiety.
Everyone
has had someone visit them who has stayed too long, who has worn out their welcome. If your
fellow enthusiast
is worried about you staying too long, they’ll be so preoccupied with this that they won’t hear a word you are saying.

So, when you first meet them, ask for
ten minutes of their time, only.
Period. Stop. Exclamation point. And watch your wrist-watch
like a hawk,
to be sure you stay no longer.
Never
stay longer, unless they
beg
you to. And I mean,
beg, beg, beg.
⁴

Once they’ve agreed to give you ten minutes, you tell them why you’re there—that you’re trying to get comfortable about talking with people, for information—and you understand that you two share a mutual interest, which is…

Then what? Well, a topic may have its own unique set of questions. For example, I love movies, so if I met someone who shared this interest, my first question would be, “What movies have you seen lately?” And so on. If it’s a topic you love, and often talk about, you’ll
know
what kinds of questions you begin with. But, if no such questions come to mind, no matter how hard you try, the following ones have proved to be good conversation starters for thousands of job-hunters and career-changers before you, no matter what their topic or interest.

So, look these over, memorize them
(or copy them on a little card that fits in the palm of your hand),
and give them a try:

Addressed to the person you’re doing the Practice Interviewing with:

• How did you get involved with/become interested in this? (“
  This
  ” is the hobby, curiosity, aspect, issue, or enthusiasm, that you are so interested in.)
  

• What do you like the most about it?
  

• What do you like the least about it?
  

• Who else would you suggest I go talk to who shares this interest?
  

• Can I use your name?
  

• May I tell them it was you who recommended that I talk with them?
  

• Then, choosing one person from the list of several names they may have given you, you say,
  “Well, I think I will begin by going to talk to this person. Would you be willing to call ahead for me, so they will know who I am, when I go over there?”