This and That
Magazine Feature by Paul Eiseman
This article appears in a variety of forms in many periodicals and websites.
For example: Send Your Laid-Off To An Acting Coach?
Auditioning For Your Next Big Role
ACTING COACH TO THE STARS REVEALS HOW ALL JOB SEEKERS CAN BENEFIT FROM SECRETS OF PROFESSIONAL ACTORS
Times are tough. Millions of jobs have been lost in the past few years. Millions of people are searching for new jobs. Job competition is fierce. New techniques and strategies are needed to sell oneself in the workplace.
Paul Eiseman, prominent acting coach for over twenty years to film, television and theater celebrities, believes that many of the techniques he has shared with his clients that have helped them land major roles can also be used to help all job seekers land the jobs of their dreams.
Every day, thousands of actors audition for a small number of parts in plays, movies and TV. The techniques Mr. Eiseman has taught his clients make them noticed by casting directors by emphasizing their unique and valuable qualities and selling them as special assets to the movie or theatrical project. This advice can benefit applicants for any job in any career.
Some cases in point:
TECHNIQUE # 1: ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH
Actors: The ultimate aim to getting a role is to prove how perfectly you, yourself, would be for the part, how well you, yourself, would illuminate the character’s lines with the realities of your own personal experiences and life history. You are therefore selling yourself, the real honest you as the most perfect candidate for the role. Your honesty in selling yourself would be invalidated by false airs or expressions of insincere feelings. Your goal is to present yourself, your accomplishments, your take on life and the role, the experience of the audition itself as truthfully as you can. If you lie in any of these areas, your image as a truthful, authentic actor and individual would be gravely jeopardized. A casting director would much prefer an actor to respond to his question “How are you feeling today?” honestly, such as, “To tell you the truth, I’m feeling a bit nervous. This role is very important to me, and I’ve got a few butterflies in my stomach right now” rather than to initiate the false smile and assumed air of blasé self-confidence often affected by nervous actors.
Job Applicants: Sell yourself, your honest, true self. If you believe you would be an asset to the company, show who you are truthfully to the human resources professional. Share your honest feelings, reasons for wanting the job, reasons you know you would excel in the job, and start expressing those honest emotions from the time you enter the office for your interview. The company will be hiring you, the real you. Show them who that person is and why you, yourself, would be an asset to the company. Therefore, inflating your resumé, or dressing or appearing other than you yourself actually would in a business setting is self-defeating. Show them who you really are and why the authentic you would be the perfect fit for the position. You’ll stand apart from the crowd. You’ll be noticed and liked.
TECHNIQUE #2: ANALYZE THE PROBLEM AT HAND
Actors: When you are given the scene for which you will be auditioning, you should carefully analyze it in terms of the problem at hand, which in dramatic terms means identifying the conflict. What is your character fighting for? How does your character feel about the conflict and how does he or she decide to overcome it? The best choice is to make the conflict of vital concern to the character, something that must be overcome, emotionally a life or death situation. Then, remember a time in your past when you faced something of equal emotional importance to this conflict. How did you feel about it? What tactics did you choose to succeed? How did you feel when you finally overcame the problem? Use these memories from your own life to invest the character’s plight with true feelings and solutions of your own. Informing a character with your own unique, personal feelings and choices brings life to the printed words you’re reading and makes you stand out from most of the other auditioners who will deliver the standard reading and standard simulated emotions.
Job Applicants: Do some analyzing of your own. Study the goals of the company as a whole, the department for which you hope to work, the position you’d like to win. What is the problem at hand? What conflict needs to be overcome? What past experiences have you actually had that would illustrate tactics you would take to further the company’s goals? How important is it to you to succeed? Evoke to the HR person how you feel about problem solving and how you feel when you succeed. The company is looking for personnel who will be assets. Show them truthfully through past experiences why you would further their aims, and why that would be meaningful to you as a person. You’ll stand apart from the crowd. You’ll be noticed and liked.
TECHNIQUE #3: SHOW WHY YOU’RE SPECIAL
Actors: Mr. Rogers was right. We are all special in our own unique ways. However, determining what makes you special as an individual and as an actor takes a lot of work and self-analysis. But that work will pay off. Determine your five, ten, fifteen best traits and abilities. Pick those that make people like you, respect you, admire you. Ask your friends, relatives, associates for their list of what’s special about you. When you compile this list (the best of the best of your skills, your personality, your unique qualities) then be sure to invest the character for which you’re auditioning with as many of these qualities as possible. Even the gloomiest of characters may have some sort of sense of humor. If that’s one of your strong points, bring that to the character. Even if the script doesn’t seem to suggest that the character has this trait. Also, it is important to show off these great qualities of yours to the casting director, the receptionist in the outer office, the producer, the director, everyone who might have a say in selecting the successful applicant. If you show who you really are, and what your best qualities are in your interpersonal small talk at the audition and especially in your reading for the role, the casting director will take note and remember you.
Job Applicants: Like the actor, draw up a list of your best skills and qualities, that make others like you and want to work with you or for you. Then make a conscious effort to demonstrate these qualities in your job interviews. That is not to say that you should manufacture them, simulate the qualities for which you think the company will be looking, but rather show them what makes you special, why they would like to work with you. You have qualities that companies want; don’t hide them under a bushel. You’ll stand apart from the crowd. You’ll be noticed and liked.
TECHNIQUE #4: WORK ON YOUR SELF-ESTEEM
Actors: We have talked about how you will present your authentic self, your true feelings and thoughts to the casting director at your audition. It takes a lot of courage to do this. All our lives many of us have been told by parents, by teachers, by peers not to blow one’s own horn, don’t stand out too much, be modest, be humble, don’t brag. The Broadway musical “A Chorus Line” is tragically about this. Members of a chorus must not be individuals, must not stand out, must not upstage the star. I’m not telling you to be a megalomaniacal egoist, showing off and playing the diva at an audition. That person would quickly turn everyone off. Who wants to have a braggadocio as a member of a team putting on a play or shooting a film? What I am saying is that you are a special person, with special qualities and special, unique takes on life and the world. It is to your advantage to share those special qualities with strangers- first the casting director and later the audience when you get the role. There’s something special, unique about stars. That’s why they became stars. There’s something special about you too. But in order to have the courage to want to share your true feelings and thoughts with strangers, you must first be confident that they are worth sharing. If you hate yourself or feel insecure about some things about yourself, why would you want to expose them to the world? Actors must constantly work on their self-esteem. There are numerous exercises to help you feel good about yourself, to help you work on your feelings of self-worth. A healthy ego is essential to feeling confident enough to share the real you with others. And bringing that real you to an audition will do wonders in landing you the part.
Job Applicants: Like the actor, work on your self-esteem. Every day. Ideally, it should be taught to every school child. It is as essential to your future as a successful human being as, say, trigonometry is. Perhaps more so. And the better you feel about yourself, the better you’ll do at an interview. The company wants to hire people who know they have lots of good points but don’t need to brag unduly about them. Shy, mousey little types do not show leadership potential or inspire confidence that they will be cooperative, innovative members of a team. Only by working on your self-esteem will you be willing and eager to show who you really are at the interview. And then you’ll stand apart from the crowd. You’ll be noticed and liked. And you’ll get the job.
Paul Eiseman is an acting coach, director, playwright and novelist living in Manhattan. His new mystery novel FIVE DAYS IN MAY: THE BROOKFIELD MURDERS features a theater director who employs many of these techniques in solving a perplexing mystery.
