Emotional Qualifications

Let's assume that your physical properties are A-Okay. Do you have the ambition, that inner drive that can carry you forward? Ask yourself: "Do I really like to work? Do I even want to work?" And we are talking about work, not just a 9 to 5 run-of-the mill job. We are talking about work that can mean long hours, trying working conditions, demanding employers, sometimes inconsiderate fellow workers, rushed schedules, including occasional screaming and temper tantrums from people who pay your fees. Do you have the energy and stamina to survive all this?

Do you travel well? Do you work well with people, including strangers? Before someone books you for a shoot in the Bahamas, many will have asked those questions.

Finally, ask yourself "Can I stand rejection?"

This last question is most important. If you can't, just stop here and go back to square one. Do not pass "Go" and do NOT collect $200. Find some other profession. Because for most aspirants, modeling is nothing but constant rejection, perhaps 5 to 10 times a day, everyday. This is most important to remember, particularly for a male.

If Friday afternoon comes along and there are no bookings for the following week, the working model cannot afford to go into a depressive decline. He or she must be confident, secure with the knowledge that a very large percentage of modeling jobs come in overnight. This is the nature of the business. Of course the "stars" are booked weeks and sometimes months in advance. Magazines like VOGUE and BAZAAR put "holds" on the leading models so they can have first refusal on these models' services months away. But we are talking about the workaday model, and the workaday situation. Friday comes along and you have no bookings for the next week. Will you panic?

Some people are happier in a nine-to-fiver, earning a steady income, than facing the uncertainty of future as-yet-unbooked bookings. These types become paranoid, start hating the bookers whom they feel are keeping jobs from them -- and are even giving all the jobs that do come in to their pets and favorites. I've seen it happen. If this is a picture of you -- then modeling is definitely not your game.

Another caveat: Can you stand the possible quick success? We've all seen a model arrive in town, be accepted by a top agency, enjoy some quick success, and then get so carried away by all the night-life glamour that he or she forgets why one came here in the first place.

This "popular" model starts missing appointments, hasn't got time to make rounds and fails to go to those boring go-sees. A young model can't get away with this for long -- there is just too much competition from models who tend to business. For not only do the late nights make sleeping-in more attractive than making rounds or attending go-sees -- they show up in the face and the eyes and the complexion, not to mention the general demeanor. And if pep pills and drugs are used to counter the effect of boozey late nights, then a real road to destruction has been embarked upon and it won't be long before the honeymoon is really over and your agency will say "ta-ta" -- and this time for good!

It takes more than looks to survive in this business.

So, you want to be a model?

Re-printed with permission from: Models Mart, New York, NY