“Here’s Johnny!” Ed McMahon made millions saying that.
Before Jay Leno and David Letterman started doing late night TV there was the great Johnny Carson. Ed McMahon was his assistant.
Ed McMahon spent decades introducing, listening to Johnny Carson, and laughing at his jokes. His job was to make Carson look good. He made Carson look smart, witty, and fun. That was also Ed McMahon’s job before and after the show. He made sure a lot of things were taken care of so Carson could focus on more important things like being smart, witty and fun. Ed never forgot his role. Carson made Ed a multi-millionaire for playing that role.
Whether you are applying for the job of boss or grunt, you need to remember that someone wants you to be their Ed McMahon. They want you to make them look good. They want you to handle a lot of pressing diversions so they can focus on more important matters. You may be called CEO, VP, Manager, Team Leader, or Secretary. All those jobs are there so you can make someone else look good. The CEO is supposed to make the investors look brilliant. The secretary is supposed to make her boss look organized and smart.
Can you show how you were an Ed McMahon in your last two jobs? How did you make your last boss look brilliant?
Can you show how you will make your new boss look good and take over a bunch of problems he doesn’t want to deal with?
If you can prove how helpful you are in your interview, you will be a lot closer to being hired than if you merely show you can do everything in the job description.
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Coming up
The most powerful questions
The Arizona sapphire and your interview
Beating the tests