And unlike every other method, direct mail can be almost limitlessly increased in power, when you're eager to change jobs. It can also be targeted toward exactly what you want, in terms of industry, size of company, location, or any other set of criteria.
Moreover, a direct mail campaign can be modified to perform its unique functions secretly. Believe it or not, you can use this powerful medium without letting your current employer discover you're "looking."
This chapter will tell you everything you need to know to make sophisticated use of direct mail: how many letters to send, who to send them to, what to say in your covering note...and how to keep your current employer from finding out, if you want to look for a better job without risking the one you have.
The Accident of Timing!
Timing is the problem.
Don't you wish we could crack open every job that might advance your career...and do so at precisely the time you're considering a move? We'd schedule all the retirements, firings, and additions-to-staff just when they'd create ideal options for you. Then, with just a few calls to your personal contacts, a few networking visits, and a handful of letters, you'd be exploring plenty of exciting opportunities.
Regrettably, Murphy's Law of Career Opportunity works the opposite way. Virtually all the jobs you'd be most interested in will be filled at the moment you decide to make a change.
Face it. No matter how appropriate you are for a particular company, how much you'd like to work for them, and whom you're able to talk to inside that company...when they don't need you, they won't hire you. Appropriateness and desire don't count, if timing is off.
In the rare instance when the right need does exist, a compelling resume and covering letter sent to just the right person at just the right time will usually get you considered.
Unfortunately, in the current tough job market the persuasiveness of your mailing must be far higher than ever before. Now many mailings come in for almost every job that opens up (not true in better times). Today a mediocre career presented in a mediocre resume-and-letter ...indeed, even a superb one in a mediocre resume-and-letter...won't even get you a nibble! Don't waste time and money on direct mail when it's hopeless (beginning on page 259 we'll discuss when that is).
But for now let's assume your career and writing skills are strong enough for direct mail. Even so, timing is critical. What you send must arrive at exactly the right time. For three or four months your inquiry may be considered current. After that, you'll be presumed to have found your job, if you're really good. Otherwise, you'll be presumed not to be as good as you seemed. And if you've relocated, but are still willing to "talk," you'll seem unstable, unethical, or both.
Harsh and unfair presumptions! But they're almost universal. Might as well face them...and work around them.
The beauty of direct mail is that, depending on how hard you're willing to work, you can infinitely increase the number of contacts you make until you reach enough employers to be virtually certain that at least a few will actually need someone like you at the time you write in.
Everyone's odds are different, of course. Some folks at some times shouldn't even play. But typical odds these days are about 4 to 1 in favor of an aggressive direct mail campaign generating a few attractive job leads for the very able person who makes an unstinting effort.
On the other hand, the odds are at least 199 to 1 against the possibility that any one letter will arrive at the moment someone like the sender is actually needed. And the way the laws of probability work, you can't be sure that by sending only 200 letters you'll actually hit one recipient who has a need. To have a statistical shot at hitting on 1 out of 200 letters, you must send at least 1,000 letters. In the normal job-hunting climate of a few years ago, that number should have yielded 5 or 6 interested replies...an average of about 1 for each 200 letters sent out. Today, with more companies "lean-and-mean" than expanding, you may need several times as many letters to hit even fewer companies with the right opening.
When I lay out these numbers, most people say:
"But, John, can't I get by with less than 1,000 letters?"
And my answer is always the same:
"Absolutely! You only need five letters. But which five?"
You could be very lucky and have your first four or five letters bring encouragement. On the other hand, the last five might be the ones that pay off. And if you get less than five interested responses, you might get the two or three that lead to offers...or you might get the two or three where you interview but don't receive an offer.
Success is likely...if you enter the realm of statistics. But if you insist on merely gambling, then just send one letter. Or five, or 600, or 900.
Only at (or much better above) 1,000 do you begin to play the odds. Don't complain if you get disappointing results from fewer letters. You haven't bypassed mere chance and grabbed statistical probability.
And of course the odds I'm quoting assume you're seeking a position for which you'll seem obviously relevant. If you're attempting a drastic switch of career fields, or if you're trying to overcome an apparent deficiency in your background or a glaring failure in your track record, you should probably double or triple the threshold number of 1,000 letters, in order to be realistic about the response you're likely to get.
The reason you do so well after having done so poorly is that, although only a very few employers need what you're offering at the time you write, those few who respond will be the ones who do have a need. The only reason they reply is that they feel they may want to hire you.
And if you've done a good job on your mailing, the openings you'll be called about will be ones you prefer and are qualified for. And, of course, those are precisely the jobs you're likely to interview successfully for and wind up getting.
Also, since you're taking the initiative, rather than waiting for a recruiter to contact you, there's a good chance that your mailing may arrive before the employer hires a recruiter. If so, you won't face the usual stiff competition from five or six additional recruiter-supplied candidates. Not only do you find out about the job; you're early enough to have a better-than-usual shot at getting it.
Typical "positives":
"I'm going to Europe for two weeks. Call me after the 15th so we can arrange to get together."
OR
"I'm turning your material over to Jane Cole, President of our Keystone Division. You should be hearing from her within the next couple weeks. If not, give me a call."
Typical "negative":
"You sound absolutely wonderful! We'll remember you forever, and call you just as soon as anything arises here that might be of interest to you."
Unless there's an appropriate opening within about three months after your mailing is received, you won't hear anything further. You'll be sandbagged by the twin presumptions that (1) if you're very good you'll have been hired by then and (2) if you're not hired by then, you probably weren't very good. Moreover, there'll be little reason to dig deeper than 12 to 14 weeks into the files, because similarly attractive and more recent mailings will have arrived since yours came in.
Perhaps only a dozen companies in your industry...or less...pop to mind as obvious places to pursue your upwardly-mobile career. If so...and if you're in no hurry...then maybe you should map out a program of "targeted networking" to reach the CEO or another officer you should be in touch with in those companies.
When you're not committed to a near-term move, about the only use you'll make of direct mail is to send your "sales representative" resume to the leading retainer recruiting firms, so that they'll know about you and perhaps call when they undertake projects in your field. A list of firms is included as Appendix II of this book.
But when you're eager to move, it's time to launch your "spy satellite," and you've got to send out at least 1,000 letters to lift it into orbit.
Then the procedure...although arduous...is simple.
Make friends with the reference librarian at your nearest large public, university, or corporate library and ask to see all the directories listing companies you might want to work for. Appendix III of this book will familiarize you with the available references beforehand and will alert you to pertinent books your library may not have. Narrow your choice to the two or three volumes that interest you most, and settle down with the one you consider first-priority.
Every book, or its sub-sections, will be organized alphabetically. Pore over the pages one-by-one. Glance at each entry from "A" to "Z," noting size of company, location, product line, number of employees, etc., and decide whether or not it's one you might enjoy and make a rewarding contribution to. If so, copy the information you need, and move on through that book...and others...until you've got upwards of 1,000 companies to write to.
You'll use some of the same books we saw earlier as aids in "targeted networking." For general information, look at Standard & Poor's Register from McGraw-Hill; Million Dollar Directory from Dun &Bradstreet; and Directory of Corporate Affiliations and Standard Directory of Advertisers from National Register Publishing. Also check the industry-specific references listed in Appendix III. And contact the trade association of your industry, which probably publishes a directory.
If you can afford it...and in view of the time you'll save, you probably can afford it...consider buying the one or two books that interest you most. Appendix III lists the price of the book, plus the publisher's address and phone number, so you can telephone to have your own copy delivered by Federal Express or United Parcel. Billing on your credit card, most publishers can have their book on your desk within 24 hours. Then you can thumb through it at home, scribble on it, or otherwise abuse it in any way that speeds your work. However, you really should visit the library before you purchase, since some of these books cost upwards of $300 and $400, and the highest-priced ones all cover pretty similar information.
Most people begin their mailing list with companies in their current industry. You undoubtedly know the top ten or twenty in your field. But you may be surprised to discover 100 or 200 smaller firms...many of which might get a real boost from the right person added to their management team. And these smaller companies, although probably offering less prestige and perhaps a lower salary, may also offer advantages, such as less bureaucratic red tape, and even a significant equity stake...things you can't possibly get from the giants.
Also bear in mind that you'll undoubtedly want to send several letters to each of the largest corporations. Those near the top of Fortune's 1,000 list have many subsidiaries that are larger than entire corporations lower on the list. And each has its own CEO, chief financial officer, head of manufacturing, head of R&D, head of marketing and sales, etc. Look up the parent in National Register's Directory of Corporate Affiliations, and you'll probably wind up sending letters to five or ten separate operating units in each of Fortune's top 100 corporations.
And don't, by any means, feel that you must arrive at your minimum of 1,000 letters by staying within your current field. If you're a financial or an MIS manager, your skills can be used in almost any industry. Might as well write to every one of the Fortune 1,000 and most of their subsidiaries. As head of manufacturing you're more specialized, but the processes you know are used for many other products than the ones you're making right now. If you're in marketing and sales, look for industries selling to the same customers, or through the same channels of distribution. Whatever your job, you have relevance to many industries including those from which your current company buys its components, raw materials, and supplies...and to which it sells its goods and services.
Don't worry, you'll soon have your list of 1,000 companies...and, if you're really aggressive, 2,000 or more.
And while you're at it, you may as well send letters to the entire carefully selected list of prominent retainer recruiters in Appendix II. They do about two-thirds of this country's retainer recruiting. If you're in an all-out job campaign, you may even want to mail to additional retainer firms (see Appendix III for directories). Ignoring even the most obscure retainer firm risks ignoring an opening which, because of that firm's retainer, no other firm will be attempting to fill.
Remember, as you look through the directories, that one of the main advantages of direct mail is that it can be targeted.
If, for example, you want to move to a different location...for later retirement in a warmer climate, or for putting your children through college, or for aiding your aging parents...you can make geography a key criterion (and there may be a state or a "metro" directory to help). If you want to move from a technologically obsolescent industry into one that you feel will be on the leading edge of technical and market growth for the next decade, you can look up the companies in your favorite fields and mail only to them.
If you're sick of dealing with products you find boring and of little real value to society, you can write only to companies which provide products or services you find interesting and intrinsically beneficial. And if it's big-company bureaucracy and politics you'd like to leave behind, you can mail only to companies with no more than 500 employees...or 100, for that matter, because directories list companies that small and smaller.
You get the idea. The beauty of direct mail is that the choice of each corporate mailbox is entirely up to you. The industries, companies, and locations that recruiters present to you will be chosen at random, except for a strong bias toward offering you more of exactly what you have right now. On the other hand, the companies...and non-profit organizations...you decide to mail to will be the ones you really want to explore.
It's true that selecting a mailing list of more than 1,000 potential employers is a time-consuming project. So you may be tempted to delegate it to someone else...a secretary, a professional researcher, or an outplacement firm which, to save itself effort, may try to discourage you from conducting an extensive tailored-for-you direct mail campaign. Resist the temptation!
There's no substitute for your own decision-making. Only you can decide how you feel about various companies: products that interest you vs. ones that don't; large vs. small company; high vs. low prestige; preferred vs. unattractive location; entrepreneurial and fast-growing vs. stable and well-established organization; regional vs. national or global operation; risk-taking vs. conservative environment; etc.
Would you be willing to work for a casket company if it were in your preferred location...or if you could be its president? Would you work for a struggling company in real danger of going under if you could have the number-one or number-two spot? Would you leave your industry in order to stay in your present location? Which seemingly unlikely companies might actually appeal to you? No one else can answer these questions. This research...tedious though it may seem... must be done by you.
Moreover, the process of considering and deciding these potential trade-offs is a valid, creative exercise which will help you come to grips with your own talents, desires, and goals. No two people going through the same directory, even if they have the same background, will come up with the same list. Each person makes his or her own subjective judgments...and gains new self-knowledge.
One thing I can assure you. I have never seen a dynamic, creative executive set out to develop a mailing list of 1,000...or even 2,000 or 3,000...companies and fail to do so. And never has such a person failed to comment enthusiastically afterward about what a valuable self-assessment process compiling his or her list turned out to be.
At the same time you're scanning directories and deciding what companies you'll write to, you must also decide what position on their organization chart is your ideal point of contact. When you're writing about a top-level executive position, you certainly can't send out letters addressed "Dear Sir/Madam" or "To Whom It May Concern."
Who should you write to?
One thing's for sure: never settle for simply sending your letter to the head of personnel. Although every chief executive should take full advantage of the very great help his or her chief of human resources can provide, regrettably few do.
If you're expecting to be president and chief operating officer of an entire company, of course you'll direct your letter to the chairman/CEO; or if it's a subsidiary of a conglomerate, you'll address the conglomerate's group officer responsible for that subsidiary or, better yet, the chief operating officer of the overall conglomerate.
My general suggestion is to address your letter two levels above the job you want...to the person who supervises the boss of the job you're aiming at. Since titles can be misleading and lines of responsibility aren't always clear, it's much better to aim too high than too low.
There are several advantages of aiming high:
First, the person just one level above your target job...your potential boss...may be in trouble. If so, he's certainly not going to invite you in and show you around...only to become his future competition. If you'd written to his boss or his boss's boss, you might even have been considered for his job, a level higher than you'd have guessed.
Moreover, your letter gains "clout" by being passed downward. If your potential boss merely gets your letter in the mail, she can dispose of it casually. If it comes from a superior, she's far more likely to follow up.
And the higher the person who receives your letter, the more likely he or she is to know of potentially appropriate positions in additional business units, subsidiaries and affiliates.
Indeed, your letter may even spur a CEO or division-leader into taking action to replace a shaky manager...and you may be a candidate to fill the opening. Or the senior executive may want to talk to you because he or she knows that a whole department will be restaffed as soon as the head of it (as yet unaware) is let go.
Therefore, write to a real, living person...addressed by name and title... who has the function you think appropriate to control the boss of the job you've got your eye on.
The main reason a directory is marked "1994" is to get everyone to buy it, even though they already have one with "1993" on it.
Publishers do make an effort to update, by sending out questionnaires and computer-accessing published announcements. But an incomplete effort at best. Worse yet, the revision process ends when the book goes to the printer several months prior to the date on the cover. And chances are, you won't use the book until several months after it's published. Meanwhile, corporations are continually reorganizing, and the average senior executive remains in any position only about three years (a few more if CEO). So, you can see why more than a third of all directory information is inaccurate.
Sending your mailing to the wrong person in the organization...or to someone no longer there...won't achieve your purpose. Therefore, someone should check by phone to see that each person a directory has indicated for your mailing actually has the title, function, and name-spelling listed. Unless you phone to confirm, about 350 of your 1,000 directory-generated mailings will be wrongly addressed and probably worthless. In effect, you'll only be sending 650...not enough to escape chance and launch into statistical orbit.
Enlist any competent help you can get...secretary, temp, college student, spouse, mother, teenage daughter or son. Whoever calls should ask for the person's secretary-bypassing the operator/receptionist...and follow approximately this script:
Fifteen years ago, you could have written to the Chief Executive of a "Fortune 500" company, and a secretary might have brought in your letter and resume along with the rest of the opened mail. And that might have happened even if your letterhead, letter, resume, and envelope were all obviously mass-produced...automatically run off using identical equipment, type face and pale-ivory paper.
But today that same CEO routinely receives dozens of such letters per week. Indeed some high-profile CEOs get that many per day. Not surprising, when you realize that these people are programmed into the word-processing equipment of scores of outplacement firms "counseling" thousands of executives. Here's what the secretary to one of those CEOs told me:
"We get a big pile of outplacement letters every day. Usually they're the assembly-line kind, where everything matches. But sometimes they're disguised as personal letters with no resume enclosed. Those are easy to spot too, because a real personal letter doesn't begin 'Dear Mr.,' and the applicant wouldn't dare write 'Dear Harry.'
"So on every employment letter, my assistant who opens the mail runs off a form response and sends the letter down to Personnel for filing. Mr. can't spend his time reading that stuff or he'd never get any work done. However, sometimes, if an extremely impressive letter and resume come along, and I know he might be looking for that kind of person, I put it into a folder he does glance at. 'Cream-of-the-crop,' we call it."
You see the problem.
Automatic mailings by the outplacement firms have virtually destroyed the receptivity of all their standard targets...the CEOs of America's leading companies. We'll design a letter for you that will stand out from the crowd. Even so, it may not escape the standardized handling of such letters in the offices that get bushels of them.
The only solution is to write at least 1,000 of your letters to senior executives who are not likely to be on the outplacement "hit lists." Send to Presidents of the appropriate subsidiaries of the largest companies. Send to heads of functional departments. Send to the CEOs of companies that, although interesting to you, are not at the top of everyone else's list. And in "Fortune 500" companies, be especially careful to restrict yourself to the person only two or three levels above the job you want...probably not the CEO.
Don't feel you must ignore the most obvious targets. Do let your out-placement firm send your mailing to them...or send to them on your own. But supplement any mailing to these high-profile executives with at least 1,000 letters to others who aren't being deluged. That way you won't be counting on a normal reaction to your mailing among people whose circumstances are no longer normal.
To get any attention at all for your resume, your covering letter absolutely must convey two essential messages regarding you as a human being, and you as the potential solution to an immediate business problem:
- This is a fine person, obviously desirable as an employee.
- He or she might be for me, possibly the executive I need right now.
Right away and above all, your covering note must...at a glance...label you as a first-class individual, regardless of background.
You must instantly be perceived as an intelligent, well-educated, socially poised, tasteful person...dynamic not passive, self-confident and cordial but not obnoxiously pushy, oriented toward delivering what others are interested in, an effective communicator, basically competent and commonsensical, and maybe even interesting!
Now I'm not saying that you, I, or anyone else can instantly prove for sure that we have all those fine characteristics in 300 words or less. But we'd better not give off even the slightest subliminal hint that we don't have them. Your reader won't even consider the contribution you could make to the organization, if you don't seem like the right sort of person to bring into it.
There's a double standard. Employers will tolerate employees with less than ideal human characteristics if they're outstanding performers on the job. But they won't go out of their way to bring in anyone who doesn't "feel" right to begin with. And face it...perusing your resume is going out of the way. The easiest reaction is just to throw it in the wastebasket. Your covering note must not give off any negative "vibes." And in that regard I submit the following:
You've already avoided the biggest pitfall in this direction by phoning ahead to make sure you've got your reader's name-spelling, function, and title right. Your letter has come to the right person, and has approached him or her with impeccable courtesy.
Avoid looking tasteless and cheap.
Recent college graduates can get by with plain typing paper for their covering letter. You can't. Good quality stationery with your name, home address, and phone number, steel-engraved at the top, is ideal. Monarch size (71/4" x lO"2") looks especially nice clipped to a standard-size (81/2" x 11") resume, and if you boil your message down to attention-grabbing brevity, it'll fit on a Monarch page. Paper should be crisp, with rag/cotton fiber, in classic white or a very pale tint of grey or ivory. Ink should be black (or possibly grey, navy, or deep maroon).
Get both Monarch and standard-size stationery...mostly Monarch, because you'll use it for the "cover letter" that accompanies your resume (also for "thank you's," etc.). Envelopes, on the other hand, should be mostly #10 (business-size), because they will hold your resume, in addition to your Monarch letter. Put your return address on the envelope-flap, rather than the front (on both sizes), because that looks more like truly "personal" stationery. And before you buy, check the Yellow Pages for "Engravers"...not "Stationery, Retail." Buy proper quantities for a direct mail campaign, and you'll get the same low prices accountants, lawyers, and businesses enjoy.
Unfortunately about eight weeks' lead time is required for true steel engraving. If you're rushed, or short on cash, substitute ordinary printing. Or use plain but rich paper and a laser printer, applying a letterhead in contrasting type as you print your letters. Keep the design understated...three or four lines, each no more than 2"4 inches long... with your phone number smaller but legible on the bottom line.
Unless your covering letter describes unusual circumstances that make it appropriate, never use your current employer's stationery.
Don't appear pretentious.
Veer toward modesty and matter-of-factness in name, address...and stationery. Imagine a letterhead from "Cottsworth O.M. Kensington-Smithers IV," saying he lives at "Nine Chimneys," followed by street number, etc. What fun it would be to throw his resume into the waste basket! Moreover, since you're sending a business letter, avoid all gimmicks on the stationery...family crest, house-picture, yachting flags, crossed polo mallets, colored or shaggy borders, etc.
Today so many fired executives are being processed by outplacement firms, that every retainer recruiter and almost every senior executive knows the #1 tell-tale sign: perfectly matching paper and electronic typesetting used for stationery, covering-letter, resume, and envelope.
Following the theory that "colored papers stand out on an executive's desk," most of these firms eschew classic white and turn instead to a distinctive shade I call "Outplacement Ivory." And of course everything matches, because it's all produced at the same time on the same paper by the same equipment.
"What's wrong," someone might say, "if my mailing openly proclaims that the people who let me go nonetheless cared enough to buy me out-placement services?
Only this, in my opinion: Your reader will be more interested in what you have to say if he or she feels it's been written and sent solely by you, rather than by someone else who's been paid to get you out of one office and into another. There's absolutely nothing wrong with accepting outplacement help. But you'll seem much more confident and creative...far less hapless and passive...if you appear to be preparing and sending your own correspondence.
Therefore, make sure your covering note and resume don't match. A Monarch-size note is especially helpful. The smaller paper forces impressive brevity; reveals at a glance that your resume doesn't match; is consistent with genuine personal stationery (never 81/2" x 11"); and is inconsistent with outplacement cover letters, (always 81/2" x 11"). Your note can be run on a quality word-processor or a laser-printer, and the original of your resume can be done the same way (typesetting is not necessary). Use classic white paper for your resume, and a different texture or shade of white, or else pale ivory or grey, for your cover letter.
To succeed, your covering letter must be pleasantly businesslike in tone, and conjure up the image of a competent, self-confident executive who's letting a colleague know that he or she is available to help, if there's a need. Somehow, a letter from such a person is never a jarring intrusion, whereas a letter from the typical "job applicant" always is.
The difference is dramatic. So few people are able to write a really good covering letter that, when one arrives, it stands out like a beacon. Its author is immediately given "plus points" for outstanding executive communication skills, and the resume is almost always scanned, in the hope that it offers something the recipient...corporate officer or recruiter...can take advantage of.
Fortunately, creating such an impressive covering letter isn't difficult, if you incorporate the four central attributes that outstanding ones have and poor ones don't. Be sure your covering letter:
- is not too long. Brevity is essential! Get right to the point, and leave out all the useless and obnoxious things that "job applicants" put in their letters.
- has a central theme. Your message must be arrestingly clear...not diffuse and blurred.
- offers benefit to the reader, rather than merely harping on what vow want.
- deals with compensation.
This letter is from Sam Sage, whose resume we've already reviewed. Sam's an exceptionally competent executive. And from the minute we first glance at his covering letter, we begin to see how very special he is. No nonsense. No wasted words. And no claims that aren't frilly backed up by his accompanying resume.
One of the most important factors in establishing the "this-person-might-be-/or-we" reaction on the part of your reader...and indeed any employer...is your level of compensation.
Yet most executives omit any mention of money...either current or desired. They worry that some employers may be frightened off because the figure is too high, and others may lose interest because it's too low. And any employer who winds up making an offer, they fear, may propose less than he otherwise would, if he knows what they're accustomed to.
What these wary executives don't realize is that by not mentioning salary, they've created a situation that's even more limiting. Compensation is the single most important factor in categorizing people as appropriate or inappropriate for a particular job. For employers...and executive recruiters as well...it provides a quick and easy way to figure out whether a candidate is "the right size." Titles can be misleading, and the importance of a given position can vary considerably from one organization to the next. Salary remains the most reliable index, since it's determined by the marketplace.
So the challenge is to mention compensation in a way that encourages consideration. You want every potential employer to look at your money and think:
"Well, that's in the ballpark. He might be for me"
Obviously, if your money is above what the position pays, she'll figure she can't attract or hold you. And if you're earning far less, that's a pretty good indication that you're not yet ready for the responsibility the position entails.
Meet the weasels.
In consumer-products marketing, there's a term for wordings that state the truth precisely enough to wiggle through the narrow openings defined by company attorneys and government regulators. They're called "weasels" after the squirmy little animals that are almost impossible to catch.
The three key phrases..."weasels"...in your compensation statement are: "in recent years," "total compensation" and "in the range of." Used together, they open the way for you to state, perfectly truthfully, a broad range that will make you seem "right for me" in the mind of every reader who controls a position you could possibly be interested in and qualified for.
The "low-end" figure will be the least take-home pay you'd consider, assuming the job offers major advantages beyond immediate compensation. After all, the preface to your "three-weasel" sentence said, in effect, "money isn't everything to me." For this bottom figure, use a round number that approximates your tax-return "income-from-employment" for a recent lean year.
For the "high-end" figure, start with your top base salary within the past few years. Then add everything else you're getting:
You can even estimate this year's raise, and include that in the base of your "high-end" figure.
Thus, using the three "weasels," you can truthfully state a wide range. You'll probably end up with numbers that are $20,000 to $40,000 or $50,000 apart...maybe even more. It's perfectly reasonable for the second figure to be 50% larger than the first: $80,000 to $120,000 for example, or $100,000 to $150,000.
Let's imagine that you've specified a range of $90,000 to $130,000.
First we'll picture your letter reaching the CEO of a young growth company with great prospects, but with venture capitalists on its Board who don't want Management draining its life blood with high salaries. This CEO looks at your low number, $90,000, and figures she can realistically reach up to you. She can't offer more than $75,000 in cash compensation. But you'll have the opportunity to purchase at 50 cents per share 25,000 shares of treasury stock the company expects to take public at about $20 per share within 18 to 24 months; and as an officer, you'll have a company car. She's pretty sure she can grab your attention. So she calls to suggest a get-acquainted lunch.
Now picture the CEO of a large multi-national corporation who must fill a job he thinks is worth about $150,000. He sees your top figure of $130,000...assumes it represents your most recent year...and reaches down to you. After all, you're probably expecting an increase of at least 10% or 20% for making a move. Obviously, your next job should be in the neighborhood of $150,000...just what he expects to pay. So he asks his assistant to give you a call.
As you see, your "three-weasel" range of $90,000 to $130,000 has actually triggered a "/or me" response in the minds of two very differently-situated employers. You're being considered for jobs paying anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000 a year. Cash compensation on one job is 100% more than on the other.
Moreover, you haven't given up any negotiating flexibility. You've got a shot at a job that pays even more than the top figure you mentioned. And of course you can always settle for less, depending on the job's advantages that extend beyond immediate in-pocket cash.
Mentioning money...and having it "right" for your reader...encourages her or him to consider your resume. And using a "three-weaseled" range lets you be "right" for every reader whose job could possibly be right for you.
Just about everybody refuses to believe they can be as good as they are, send out lots of letters describing how good that is, and not be swamped with phone calls, appointments, and interviews. Worrying that they can't cope with too many responses, they hold back on their mailing, sending only a portion of their ultimate total per day or per week.
Don't drop your spy-in-the-sky satellite back to earth. Don't forgo the instant reconnaissance that only direct mail can give you. Instead, send your letters everywhere at once, so you'll look everywhere at once. Do an aerial scan of the entire desert. Survey every oasis. See all three, four, or five of them...simultaneously. Then you'll be able to pick the greenest.
Sending only a few letters, when you could have sent them all, puts you back on the ground, where you can only see as far as the horizon.
You're still looking for water in the desert. But now you're riding a camel. Suddenly you spot a brackish little watering hole in the valley below. Should you head for it? Or should you keep to the high ground and peer into the valley beyond the next hill? Maybe that's where you'll find the main outflow of the underground stream this little trickle merely foretells. If so, the water will be cool, sweet, and abundant. There'll be plants, fruit trees, and maybe even a comfortable bed for the night. And if not beyond the next hill...then surely beyond the one after that. But what if there's only sand? Then you'll fervently wish you hadn't passed up the meager security of this little spot.
You see my point.
Believe me when I say that 1,000 letters won't bring more than 3 to 5 interested responses...2 or 3 interviews...and 1 or 2 offers. And that's not too much "action" to handle all at once.
No matter how good you are, timing will be wrong at almost every company you contact. So send all your letters at once and get all your offers simultaneously. Then you can choose the best the market has for you at any moment in time. What's more, you'll know it's the best, and not a compromise you feel forced into, because you can't risk waiting to see what's behind the hill behind the hill.
Ideally, it comes right up front.
For some reason many people think direct mail should only come after personal contact, networking, and reaching out to executive recruiters, in an aggressive job search.
There's only one logical reason I can think of to justify this view, and it's because direct mail is a lot of work. So most people don't bother with it, until after the other methods have been tried and seem to be failing.
That's really shortsighted. The first thing needed is an ideal resume... one written so persuasively that it could be effective when merely delivered by mail. This document is your best possible "leave-behind" in personal contact, networking, and dealing with recruiters. And when it's prepared, you've already done about half the work of your direct mail campaign.
Moreover, just as preparing your "sales representative" resume forces you to study your achievements and determine what you'll say about them, preparing your mailing list forces you to survey prospective employers and determine where you're most likely to do well and gain satisfaction. Shouldn't this strategic analysis come at the beginning, rather than the end, of your job-changing efforts?
Bear in mind that:
- Your personal and networking contacts will only know a very few of the possibilities that exist for you in the world of work, and
- The retainer recruiters will only show you a very few of the opportunities they know about.
Also take advantage of the 200 or 300 rejection letters you'll get. Sift them carefully to find the unusually cordial ones...perhaps 10 or 20... from people who were so impressed by your mailing that they really did wish they had a place for you. Since they're at high levels in industries and companies that appeal to you, they're ideal early contacts for your networking campaign, which would otherwise be narrowly based on the people you already know.
Begin your "search" by skimming your best personal contacts and alerting the retainer recruiters you're already acquainted with. If that doesn't solve your problem within the first few days you're "looking," then chances are you're in for a full-scale effort. If so, you may save many months in the long run, by devoting two or three weeks to direct mail right at the outset.
We've looked at the sunny side of direct mail. Now let's examine its dark side.
Some products can be sold by direct mail and some can't. Same with people. It works for some and not for others.
Moreover, the requirements for direct mail success are exactly the same for both people and products. So let's talk only products for a moment, and bypass the ego and emotion that make it nearly impossible to talk about ourselves as people. Here are the make-or-break questions:
- Is the product special? Exceptionally high quality? Uniquely useful? Then we're interested. But if it's ordinary ...something we see in every store all over town...we'll pay no attention at all, when we get a letter about it.
- How many potential purchasers? Is this something nobody has and everyone wants? Something everyone has and nobody needs two of? Something nobody has and nobody wants? There are some things a letter can't fail to sell; and others it can never sell.
- Is the description enticing? Maybe the product is truly wonderful...surpassing everything else. But if the description makes it seem like something we see in every store all over town, we yawn, and throw the letter into the wastebasket.
That's why I'm glad we're not face-to-face right now. I can deliver some harsh facts and...even if your gun is loaded...you can't shoot the messenger.
For most people during most of their career, direct mail is one of the four components of an all-out job search. But for some of us at certain times, direct mail fails. Methods 1 and 2...skillful handling of personal contacts, and unrelenting networking among strangers...are our only really good bets. Whatever the Postal Service delivers isn't persuasive. And the headhunters won't risk their credibility by pleading our temporarily weak case.
Here are five surprisingly prevalent situations in which sending out your letter and resume probably won't pay back your mailing expense:
1. Too many too-brief jobs. It's very difficult to seem special... exceptionally high quality, or uniquely useful...when you haven't been in place long enough to generate impressive recent accomplishments to include in your letter and resume.
Sometimes, of course, brief jobs can be favorably written up. For example, the boss who recruited you to a new company may have been so impressed with your first six months' achievements (describe them!) that he took you with him to a more exciting company. But then a takeover swept you both into a third company, where you were both forced out. Written up as a three-year segment of great work for the same superior, those three short jobs may look okay.
Remember, however, that employers all realize that it takes the better part of a year for you to dig in and get established. During that time you're more pain and drain, than gain. So even if you do wonderful things for a few months afterward, but then walk out, it's right back to pain and drain with someone new. Your former employers are not thrilled. And readers of your mailing probably won't be either.
Face-to-face...preferably with supportive friends and acquaintances..is the only effective way to convince a potential employer that "this time it will be different." For direct mail to work, the premise has to be "more of the same."
2. Not special enough. What if you've been a good, honest, kind, congenial, competent, zestfully healthy employee, with an engaging sense of humor, a great home life, outstanding kids, a wide and devoted coterie of friends, and lots of commendable civic involvement? And what if, at work, you were never absent, never late, never given a poor performance review, and never unwilling to sacrifice an evening or a weekend to cope with a crisis?
But now you're looking for a new job.
Can even the finest direct mail copywriter make you as tantalizing as that dastardly, driven, and devious workaholic with the string of remarkable accomplishments that even those of us who detest him are forced to applaud?
No. I like you a lot better than I like him. And I'd much rather have you as a friend, a neighbor, or an in-law. But in job-hunting, you'll do far better face-to-face with the many people you already know and the strangers they'll enthusiastically introduce you to, than you will if you ask the Postal Service to do your communicating.
And besides, with your fine connections in your community, you're likely to find a fulfilling job right where you are. One of the great advantages of direct mail is that it can extend your search to unfamiliar companies in far-off places. But are they where you want to go?
And what do the naysayers mean, "Not special enough"? You're plenty special...among the people you're special to. So make absolutely the best resume you can. Develop it into a "sales representative" on paper. And then put it into circulation in person. Don't dump it in the mail box!
3. Changing field or function. Suppose you've toiled for years in a certain field or performing a specific function. You're exceedingly proficient. You've racked up enviable accomplishments, and in the process you've become quite well paid.
But now you've had it. You're bored, BORED, BORED!
Or the handwriting is on the wall. Your field or function is a downer. And you want to get into something more promising.
Or maybe you're retiring from the military or the diplomatic corps, leaving the clergy or teaching, walking out on your family's business, or ending an ill-fated entrepreneurial venture.
I could go on and on. But you get the idea. You've been something significant for quite a while, and you're very good at it. You have an expert's accomplishments and, hopefully, you're earning an expert's pay. If you decide to continue, you can probably write a great "sales representative" resume and get a similar or better job for the same or better money.
But no! You want to do something different. Something in which you're not yet an expert, something other people know a lot more about than you do. And you'd like to keep right on making your usual or better money, while somebody gives you on-the-job training, or patiently waits for you to bring yourself up to speed. Somebody who could just as easily hire an already-established expert with lots of experience and a string of achievements that are just as impressive in the matching field or function as yours are in a foreign one.
Isn't that too much to expect from just a letter and a resume-no matter how elegant-merely dropped into the mail by a complete stranger interested only in his or her preferences, and hot the recipient's needs? Usually it is.
Generally speaking, when you're trying to stretch-fit yourself into an entirely new situation, direct mail is not a realistic option. Nor is the executive recruiter who, to earn his pay, is slavishly working to "fulfill the specifications."
When a "leap of faith" is required, you're much more likely to achieve it face-to-face through your already-supportive personal contacts and the open-minded strangers you meet and impress through networking.
4. Special, but you can't, or refuse to, communicate. You may be very special indeed. But if you can't look shrewdly into your career and choose as the theme of your letter and the show-pieces of your resume the things you've done that will best recommend you to a new employer...and if, having chosen, you can't distill them into a very few clear, simple, straightforward, and non-self-praising words...then you'd better not waste your time and money on a direct mail campaign.
Direct mail is merely another form of advertising. And with all advertising, success or failure depends on whether or not it identifies the most strongly-felt consumer need the product can satisfy, and then persuades the consumer that the product will meet that need.
If you insist on writing a cover letter centered on what you want, rather than what the employer wants that you provide (based strictly on specific past accomplishments that are likely to be repeated, rather than self-praising adjectives and evaluations)...and if your resume is nothing but the usual recitation of times, titles, and responsibilities... then don't take it to the mail box. It won't do you any good at all, unless you hand it over in person, concealing the self-centeredness and insensitivity your cover letter would otherwise have revealed, and unless you're right there extolling the achievements your resume leaves out.
If you can't, or refuse to, create a direct mail resume...then by all means, don't undertake a direct mail campaign.
5. Not very good and your mailing proves it. Remember, whatever you send in the mail is a free sample of your intellect and your performance. If it's obviously inferior, nobody will respond. Nobody will invite you in for an interview. And you'll never know why.
What's wrong here?
This fellow is spending lots of his own money on an ad campaign with no advertising! Over and over it says, "I am a marketing person looking for a marketing job "...not "I am a good marketing person, as these accomplishments prove." Just the four titles on page one tell us he does marketing. And mailing his resume says he's job-hunting. The "Objective" and "Summary" take up the top half of page one, 50% of his best space...25% of his total space...and yet they tell us absolutely nothing that isn't obvious!
Should we hire this Senior VP to make sure our corporation gets maximum effectiveness from every dollar it spends on advertising? No way! Forget the dark cloud of four jobs in five years. Here's a total eclipse of marketing judgment, as demonstrated by his resume. He has sent you, me, and 4,998 other people a free sample of his work. And not one of us has liked it enough to want more!
The same thing happens when an educator's resume displays poor grammar (hazardous to the rest of us too); a lawyer's isn't logical; a CFO's leaves us wondering whether some of his figures are pre or post-tax; a President's or General Manager's speaks only of sales and not profits, and confuses ROI. You get the idea.
Your resume is always scrutinized as a sample of your work, whether you mail it, or walk in with it. But the risk is greater when you mail, because you're not there to distract attention. If you're not very good and your resume proves it, don't go near the Post Office!
A bit more, before we leave this fellow. You're probably thinking, "Yes, John, but doesn't he also represent fault #4, 'Can't, or refuses to, communicate'"? Yes, that too. His merely saying "Marketing, marketing" rather than "Good marketing" is also a #4 failing. But since communication is the very essence of marketing, he proves he's no good at his job. Failure or refusal to communicate under #4 could be accomplished by someone who told us "Manufacturing, manufacturing" rather than "Good manufacturing," but we wouldn't know from just his resume that he can't do his job. Obviously too, this man displays fault #1, "too many too short jobs." Recommendation: Non-stop networking (ultimately successful).
How many vs. How Good?
Just 20 outstanding letters and resumes...or even one or two...are far more likely to get you an interview than tons of terrible ones. Statistical odds are overwhelmingly against a few succeeding. But tons of unimpressive...or as we've seen, negatively impressive...letters and resumes won't do any good at all. And mailing them does a lot of harm, because it wastes precious time and money.
So I warn you against this very real danger. If and when you're ever unemployed, you'll be under lots of stress, and you'll tend to become the panicky soldier in the old cliché:
Please be careful. Try to get back into the same objective frame of mind I insisted on as we began this section by talking about products, rather than people. Your letter and resume are a small free sample of you. The sample had better be good...or don't send it.
Knowing the terrible statistics of direct mail...only three to five out of 1,000 companies having the right job open right now...lots of people panic and think only "How many?" They forget that success is even more dependent on "How good?"
Hiding Behind the Post Office
Most of us are shy.
Probably you're like me. You love a big party, if you know everyone there. But you hate going to the same affair if you only know the host or hostess. Because after a couple minutes with them, you'll be on your own...an embarrassed wallflower, or a pushy nerd, accosting un-intrigued strangers.
And if you have to make phone calls for your church, temple, or trade association, you don't mind rescheduling a picnic. But like me, you're a lot less comfortable asking for money.
Unfortunately, networking by its very nature demands we do both unpleasant things...plunge in among strangers, and request help. No wonder most of us would rather avoid it if we can.
But sadly, we can't. Reaching out to our personal contacts and networking among strangers are the most powerful of all job-hunting techniques. Face-to-face communication does have more oomph than a letter. But what direct mail does...and very effectively...is to lengthen our reach beyond the relatively few and nearby people we can visit face-to-face. Direct mail expands networking; it doesn't replace it.
So here's the single biggest danger and downside of direct mail:
Hiding behind the Post Office.
Lots of basically shy folks like you and me are tempted to avoid massaging our personal contacts and networking strangers, merely because we don't enjoy that sort of activity. If we did, we'd be VP of Sales, instead of CFO. So quite understandably, we'd rather stay home and do nothing but send out letters. That's dumb...cowardly... and lazy! If it becomes your idea of an all-out job campaign, don't say I suggested it.
The Trade-Off: Follow-Up vs. Get-'Em-Out
Obviously, there's potential benefit in calling up the people you write to, and trying to see them for a networking visit. Or perhaps phoning them long-distance to network.
Some people I know have even succeeded in making friends with the secretaries of their direct mail targets. They call to ask if their letter arrived; what's being done with it; whether it's realistic to try for a few moments of the boss's time in person or on an aptly-timed phone call; who else might be more appropriate to receive such an approach; and soon.
Unfortunately, aggressive follow-up takes lots of time. If that's your strategy, you can't handle more than 50 or 100 per week. At that rate, it will take you 10 or 20 weeks...two and a half to five months...to send out 1,000 letters (and preferably today a lot more) in the hope of hitting just three to five recipients who, according to statistical odds, ought to have the right job for you open or soon-to-open.
Of course, if your letter and resume do a fine job of selling your impressive accomplishments (and they'd better be impressive), then just the mild stimulus of your mailing without follow-up should trigger a call from those few recipients who have a screaming need for someone like you right now. Wouldn't it be sad if a delay-for-follow-up strategy made your mailing too late for the one or two most attractive jobs that will open up while you're unemployed?
I can't tell you how to balance this trade off. Should you risk under-exploiting your mailing? Or should you risk missing current opportunities? And, of course, also missing the looked-everywhere-before-I-had-to-decide benefit of a direct mail spy-in-the-sky satellite.
Maybe you should divide your mailing into two categories:
- Highest-priority are the most attractive employers, and the ones where you're already so well-connected that they merit maximum follow-up.
- Lesser-priority are the far larger number that are less attractive, or where you're less well acquainted.
The remainder might as well go into the mailbox right away, because even the best mailing will generate only about three interested replies... certainly not enough to disrupt your high-priority activities. Moreover, any unusually warm "no thank you's" will arrive in time to be "networked" when you finish processing your high-priority letters.
There's no pat answer to the follow-up vs. send-'em-out dilemma. But at least there's an organized way to deal with it.
The Proof is in the Proofing
Here's a tip from the exceptionally sharp-eyed woman who opens and sorts my mail:
"Tell them not to trust their own proofreading."
She spies a typo in "about a third" of the letters and resumes she looks over. And quite often it's in a spot Murphy himself would have chosen ...like an early paragraph of the letter or the first title in the resume. Her theory on why:
Be forewarned. Show your mailing to two or three completely fresh-eyed people before you push the mass-production button.
First of all, you'll need an anonymous version of your "sales representative" resume. And secondly you'll need a "sponsor" to send it out for you...and to receive the five or six interested responses you're likely to get from a 1,000-letter mailing.
Your Anonymous Resume
It's easy to omit your name, address, and phone number from your "sales representative" resume. And it's not hard to describe your current and recent employers "generically," rather than identify them by name. Employers that are "ancient history" can be left "as is."
Assume, for example, that your "regular" resume has headings like the ones shown on the next page.
As you see, it's possible to substitute information about the corporation and what it does, for the name of the company. In effect, you're merely moving facts you'd otherwise provide in the first sentence of the following paragraph up into the line that normally identifies your employer.
Try to give concrete orientation to your reader, even though you can't "name names." Leave out specific trademarks. But state all the same numerical comparisons you'd include in an "open" version of your resume. Also give your actual college degrees (with dates), and your marital status. After all, you're not the only married person who graduated from Stanford in 1972.
Your Sponsor
You're doing something difficult. And this time you can't do it without help. You must have a "sponsor" who's willing to "front" for you...distributing the anonymous version of your resume and accepting replies from employers who are interested in meeting you.
Of course, you might instead try to be a "Lone Ranger." You could send out your own identity-concealed resume. And you could ask that responses be addressed to a post office box, explaining your need for secrecy, and hoping that mystery and novelty might make up for your lack of straightforwardness.
Unfortunately, this approach has already been tried many times. And as far as I know, it has always failed. Considering candidates for management positions is no joke. And people in a position to do so are too busy to fool around. Your resume won't be taken seriously unless it comes from an obviously credible source.
Therefore, since you can't send the resume...and you certainly don't want it circulated by some headhunter who's attached a price-tag...you need someone else who can submit it almost as straightforwardly as if it came directly from you.
You need a "sponsor"...a. real live respectable person who'll openly send your name-omitted resume, say why she's doing so, and forward to you any interested responses she receives. Moreover, it will be a big help, if the person is rather prominent in the business world...someone obviously capable of knowing a fine executive when she sees one. Then her mailing out your resume will more than make up for your anonymity. Indeed, it will enhance your image.
Well, it can't be Pope John Paul II, Sandra Day O'Connor, Bill Cosby, or Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Prominent they are. But experts on who would make an ideal chief manufacturing officer for a large metal-bending business they're not. Better for your purposes...and easier to enlist...would be someone who could begin this letter knowledgeably:
Here's someone, you and I never heard of...yet a perfect "sponsor." Lining up someone like that probably isn't beyond your reach.
Since your spokesperson should claim to have first-hand knowledge of your outstanding on-the-job performance, chances are he or she is a former boss or subordinate. She's probably not just a prominent businessperson you know socially or as a fellow board-member of a nonprofit institution...although "any port in a storm," as they say.
However, you don't want a sponsor who's too high on the corporate totem pole relative to the position you should occupy, because one essential element of his letter must be a believable statement of why... despite your being so special he can't use you himself. If your sponsor is Chief Executive of ITT, it's hard to believe he can't fit you in somewhere. Therefore, the reader will suspect he doesn't want to.
Here are the essential elements of a "sponsor's" letter sending out your identity-concealed resume:
- His credentials that make him a valid judge of executives like you;
- His vantage point that enables him to endorse your on-the-job effectiveness;
- His recommendation;
- His reason for not employing you himself;
- His explanation of your need for secrecy; and
- His offer to put the interested reader in touch with you.
Someone introducing a colleague can say things that modesty prevents the individual from saying about himself.
And such a plug is far more believable coming from a senior executive with no economic axe to grind than from a headhunter filing for $30,000+. Moreover, a "no-price-tag" introduction is much more likely to be followed-up.
"Sponsored" direct mail is often "the only alternative" in a ticklish-ly sensitive situation. Fortunately, when handled well, it also becomes a highly persuasive marketing campaign.
The Dual Standard on Stationery
Notice that the "sponsor" uses her corporate stationery when recommending someone else, whereas she normally would not do so when proposing herself.
The reason for this dual standard is purely psychological. Corporate stationery is virtually essential to prove that the sponsor is indeed a substantial, knowledgeable person in the business world. And fortunately, the reader has no negative reaction to the use of office paper to help a colleague.
But the "vibes" are totally different when the writer offers himself. Then using his employer's paper triggers a negative reaction. His reader says, "Wow, at the same time he's trying to get me to hire him, he's ripping off his current company's stationery and postage meter."
Absolutely right! You couldn't. And you won't.
You're requesting a huge favor, just to have them lend you their name, mailing address, and phone number. So you've got to get virtually all the work done without burdening either your sponsor or his secretary.
Here's what you do:
- Get your sponsor's general agreement to help.
- Show him a letter you've drafted (to save him work), stressing that he may change it as he sees fit, since it's his letter.
- Establish agreed-upon wording for the letter, and walk away with at least two reams of office stationery and 1,000 #10 envelopes (enough for 1,000 letters).
- Create your mailing list, check it by phone, and have "his" letter word-processed. But first, show him a sample to make doubly sure he's satisfied. Also offer to let him see your mailing list, in case he wants to make sure you haven't accidentally hit anyone he'd rather not be "writing" to.
- Sign, stuff, stamp, and mail the letters yourself. That's right, I said sign them...with his signature. Unless he feels like signing 1,000 letters, he'll gladly leave this chore up to you. But ask before you barge ahead; this point is inconsequential to some people and an emotional issue with others.
- Almost nothing else. After he approves your letter and list, he's just about finished. Remember, a 1,000-letter mailing will produce only 3 to 5 interested replies...hardly enough to create a traffic problem.
- Letter replies will be opened by your sponsor's secretary with the rest of his mail, and merely forwarded to you every couple days in a large envelope. These could be a slight nuisance for a week or two, because 200 to 300 recipients will send polite "no thank you".
- The 3 to 5 phone callers who inquire about you will be cordially dealt with by your sponsor. He'll say he doesn't know the exact status of your explorations at the moment, but will gladly forward their name and number to you. Then, if you're not already in your new job, you'll call their office, giving your sponsor's name as well as your own, so they'll know you're the person they inquired about.
But look what you've accomplished. While keeping yourself completely hidden, you've probed 1,000 (or more) companies to find the rare 5 or 6 who right now are interested in what you have to offer. And you've done so without tipping-off your current employer!
True, you've put a lot of work into the project. But, except for checking a few times with your sponsor, no more work than sending the same mailing under your own name. Your sponsor has also contributed some time. But not much. You've done everything, except sat in his office and been him when three to five people called to ask about you.
You catch the concept. The more tendency to discriminate against an executive, the more helpful "sponsored" direct mail becomes.
With direct mail, the number of employers contacted can be infinitely expanded. Maybe 2,000 or 3,000 will have to be reached in order to find 5 to 8 with an immediate need, because only one-in-three or one-in-five will consider a disadvantaged candidate. Fortunately, a "sponsor's" letter can deal with the prejudicial factor far more frankly and successfully than one from the candidate herself...or from a headhunter or an outplacement firm with a fee on the line.
Whenever there's a severe problem, consider sponsored direct mail. A successful business executive who's a retired military officer can make a strong case for a former subordinate just mustering out. A former top-echelon businessperson who's now an ambassador or a college president can knowledgeably extol a current subordinate who wants to enter business from the diplomatic corps or academia. And any high-level executive can sponsor a former subordinate or boss with an attribute most employers will shun...lawfully or not...such as age, physical handicap, obesity...even, perhaps, return to work after a jail sentence for "white-collar-crime."
Direct mail, with or without a "boost" from a sponsor, may turn out to be the only viable "Rite of Passage" when you're looking for the exceptionally rare employer who must have...in addition to need, which is always rare anyway...broadmindedness, compassion, or firsthand knowledge that an apparent disadvantage isn't disabling.
When you're fully challenged and well rewarded where you are...and you're also being tempted by retainer recruiters...you won't bother reaching for the unlimited power of direct mail.
Indeed, direct mail as a job-changing method is rather like the police, the fire department, and the hospital. Drastic! But great to have around when needed.
Whenever more casual methods aren't enough, you know what to do.
