M.A. was a vice president of operations of a major transportation company when he was suddenly terminated after a shakeup in higher management. During his 25 year career, he had never been out of work. By the time he began his campaign using the techniques in the book, he had already been out of work for approximately six months. As a consequence, he was then interviewing for all sorts of jobs, many far inferior to the one he had held previously.
Following the advice in the book, he stopped this practice, decided what he wanted to do, and ceased sending out a resume at all. He concentrated his campaign using the direct mail and telephone technique contained in the TTP program. Within ten weeks he had achieved a position as executive vice president of corporate planning in an international trading company, reporting to the president, with responsibilities for overseas agency coordination, corporate planning, expansion of administration, and other corporate matters. His salary was significantly higher than it had been before he was discharged from his former company.
From Engineer to Engineering Program Manager
R.E. was an engineer for a large company after having spent approximately seven years in the Air Force. However, his career was practically at a standstill because he had been an engineer at the basic level for over five years with no promotion. R.E. wanted increased responsibility and he wanted it fast. Although, of course, he would have liked to make more money, this was strictly incidental. Other criteria R.E. decided on for his superior job were those he wanted to be a program manager for an advanced engineering project, and he wanted to continue to work for a major company. Following the advice contained in the first edition of, he avoided personnel like the plague and sent letters to vice presidents of engineering in major companies, describing his specific accomplishments.
He was hired as a program manager for a major subcontractor, at a 20 percent salary increase, only three weeks after starting his campaign. In his note to me he said, "Thanks a million. Everything you said worked exactly as you said it would."
From MBA Student to Management Consultant
A.L. was a foreign student from Mexico who was completing his MBA studies in international business. He had held no previous job and was only 26 years old. His major ambition was to become a management consultant in a major consulting company. Failing this, he was interested in working on an interim basis as an export manager. His job campaign was complicated by the fact that many American firms did not wish to hire him because he was a non citizen. He began a campaign three months before completing his MBA degree. He also emphasized the direct mail technique and sales letters described in Chapter 5. He constructed two entirely different sales letters, one for a management consultant job and the second for a position as an export manager. The management consultant list was small, fewer than 100 firms. The export manager campaign required approximately 500 letters sent to various companies exporting from California. These 500 sales letters yielded seven interviews and three job offers. However, none of these offers met with A.L.'s salary requirements or other aspects of what he felt to be a superior job.
A.L.'s 500 sales letters also brought another opportunity, which he was forced to consider at this point four firms contacted him by telephone and offered to hire him as an independent consultant for various operations in Mexico and South America that they were interested in. A.L. had to decide whether he wished to continue his campaign to be employed by someone else or actually go into independent consulting. He decided to continue his campaign.
The 100 sales letters sent out to major consulting firms resulted in only one face to face interview. However, he used the interviewing techniques discussed in Chapter 15, and this ultimately resulted in an offer at the highest salary received by anyone in A.L.'s MBA class.
Two years later, I received a call from A.L's wife. The call was to invite me to a surprise party. A.L. had been recruited by another major international consulting company to join an office in Mexico with a salary that would be the envy of many executives who have been in industry 20 years or more. A.L. had used my techniques again.
These job campaigns are only the tip of the iceberg. I have heard from many, many others who have successfully used. To express it in the words of one executive I unexpectedly ran into on vacation some time after he had read the book and put it into action, "Please tell everyone that these techniques really work."
