As in the referral method, use an approach by either letter (stipulating that you will call for an appointment) or directly by phone.
If you are approaching top management people, a typical approach by phone might be: "I have called you because of your many years of experience in the brokerage business. That business attracts me, and I would like to talk to you about the opportunities in it, and how well my qualifications would fit. I realize that you probably don't have a job available, and I really am not looking for one at this time, as I am making a survey of possibilities in this industry as compared to a couple of other types of jobs." When you have decided on your career objective, go back to each of your contacts in that field and state that you would like their help in locating a job.
The broadcast letter
The broadcast letter is an alternative to the telephone-interview approach. This method was perfected by Carl Boll and is detailed in his book Executive Jobs Unlimited (New York: Macmillan, 1979). It consists of a mass mailing of a specialized hard sell letter to the president of a great many companies (50 to 100 a week). The one-page letter stresses only your specific accomplishments, which are outlined using numbers of dollars saved, sales increased, numbers of employees supervised, and so on. You do not specify where this experience was gained, since if your experience was in electronics, a chemical company might discount much of it. If you have reasonable experience and spell it out effectively, you arouse interest in employers to consider you, often to fill a need unrecognized at the time.
Although this technique was very effective in the job-hunter's market when it was written in 1965, because of the employer's job market since that time and the fact that this technique has been overused, it has become less so. It shouldn't be overlooked, however, and should be used after two or three months in your campaign if other means are not producing good results.
Now, a positive response probably occurs in perhaps only 1 percent or 2 percent of a mailing, but occasionally it will run as high as 5 percent. There are two variations on the technique which increase the rate of favorable response considerably. First, as in other contacts, mail your letter to the executive two levels (or even one level) above the kind of job you have been looking for. Second, stipulate that you will phone for an appointment. You should make a mailing every week to perhaps 100 or more companies. Experience shows that a mailing to the same list two months later may produce about the same result, because there is a constant turnover in management's personnel needs. There is no point at all in making such a mailing unless the letter is extremely good.
Note that the letter does not include a resume.
Including a resume greatly reduces the percentage of response because it spells out too many details that may raise questions in the mind of an employer. In fact, do not take your resume to any interview you get using this method. Instead, after an interview make up a tailor-made resume which you can include with your thank-you letter.
Sophisticated employers (i.e., the larger companies) and employment professionals are usually very critical of broadcast letters. The best markets for them are small- and medium-sized companies, service organizations, and nonprofit organizations.
A mailing to friends
One of the keys to a successful campaign is using your time and efforts wisely, so setting priorities is important. You will undoubtedly have a few friends and contacts who are in influential positions, and who you might try to interview early in your campaign. Other friends, although undoubtedly a lot of them are interested in helping you, are not in such influential positions. The majority of them will be willing to see you and to refer you to people like themselves. But by seeing many of them at the beginning, you can find yourself on a merry-go-round of interviews with little chance of success. A mass mailing to these less-influential contacts asking for their help and for specific ideas is probably the most efficient way to contact them. Out of a large group there may be a few that will come up with specific ideas that could be of great help. Stating in the letter that you will probably want to see them when your campaign gets going allows you to respond to any ideas that sound promising and leaves the door open for you to set up personal interviews later. Include a resume with the letter; most of them know that you were sales manager of Gardner Electronics, for example, but they probably don't know anything about your specific responsibilities and your record there. An example of such a letter is shown on the next page.
Where practical, use a modification of the letter to request an interview or to arrange for a phone call.
