Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 86. Magnetizing Muckety-mucks

Want to nose-to-nose with an industry mogul? Become a reporter on assignment! It's a sure way to get instants.

Roundup articles are surveys of business muckety-mucks about some subject that interests a trade magazine. They're a perfect opener to a standard I.I. (Do 1).

You google a subject, followed by magazines. That displays the mags that concentrate on that area.

Then you call (better than e-mail and far better than fax or regular mail) the publisher. Ask for the editor-in-chief. Tell her, "I'm writing a 'roundup article' on trends in the automotive additive industry. When would Racing Maniac be interested in running it?" The chief—directly, or indirectly through an editor—will say, "Sure! When do you plan to submit it?"

You now have an assignment. That allows you to honestly make up some questions like, "What do you think will be the next breakthrough in goosegrease gas goo?"

Then you call some huge company offeror (they call him their CEO) and ask away. It's occasionally hard to understand him because he foams at the mouth at the offer of free publicity.

This will require you to interview (read: interview with) him in person. Say you'd like to pick up a portrait of him to include in the article. (That will make it necessary to wipe off the foam oozing out of your phone.)

Expect an instant interview.

Bring that recorder you're using for your phone exercises (Do 25). It will save you a lot of time and you won't have to be taking notes. That means ...