IN THIS ARTICLE, MY COLLEAGUE KATE WENDLETON GIVES A SUCCINTLY PERFECT
DESCRIPTION OF HOW TO WORK YOUR COMPANY LIST AND MANAGE THE DIRECT CONTACT
TECHNIQUE FOR GETTING MEETINGS. READ IT!!!
-WENDY
THE SHORTEST ROUTE TO A NEW JOB
Forbes
posted: Apr 072011
Instead of wasting your time on job listings, go directly
to the source.
In his editor’s introduction to this year’s Forbes 400 issue of
Forbes magazine, chief product officer Lewis D’Vorkin recounts
how he first came to work here. “I grabbed an orange grease
pencil and vigorously marked up three issues, boldly suggesting
ways to make a storied media brand even better,” he writes. “I
then mailed my handiwork to Jim.” He’s referring to Jim
Michaels, the legendary late editor of the magazine. Soon after,
Jim brought Lewis in for a chat. It took some time, but 10 years
later Lewis’s phone rang. It was Jim Michaels, offering him a job.
Lewis’ is a classic story of direct contact leading to a great job. He didn’t find the position through an ad or
even through networking. Instead, he knew where he wanted to work, he figured out who was in charge,
and he reached out to that person directly, making a compelling case with his orange grease pencil for why
he’d be an asset.
According to Kate Wendleton, founder and president of the Five O’Clock Club, the national job coaching
firm, too few job seekers use this method. “The first thing people do is answer ads on the Internet,” she
says. “That’s probably the least effective thing you can do.” Fewer than 10% of job seekers find work that
way, she says.
Many of us got our first jobs using direct contact. Perhaps you went from shop to shop in the mall and
asked each manager for work as a clerk. Or you approached all the dining establishments in your
community for a job as a busboy or waitress. The method still works as your career advances.
People often confuse direct contact with networking. Networking is an effective way to find work, but it
can be roundabout. A friend of a friend may work in production at the company where you want to work in
marketing. By all means take that person to lunch. If he or she can put in a good word for you with your
would-be boss, great. But don’t let that prevent you from going straight to the person you’d like to report
to.
To start a direct contact action plan, you should make a list of companies where you would want to work,
figure out who heads the division you want to target at each, and get in touch. The Five O’Clock Club
recommends you put an exhaustive 50 to 60 companies on your list, in three groups, A, B and C. The C list
is made up of companies that would want you though you might not want them. The A list is where you
most want to work. Start with the C list first, and then move to the B list. By the time you get to the A list,
you should have several job offers (or at least lots of insight), so you can say to the A companies, I have
four offers, but I really want to work for you.
Target each letter to the specific company, and ideally to the person you’re contacting. “You could say, ‘I
see that international sales have dropped in many companies in your industry,’” Wendleton suggests. “‘I’ve
got 10 years of international marketing experience in your industry, and I’ve been able to increase sales in
every organization I’ve worked for.’” Wendleton calls that your “grabber” opener. Then you should include
bullet points outlining concrete achievements you’ve made. For instance, when you worked at the Gap, you
increased sales in the U.K. by 35% over a period of two years, from 2002 to 2004.
For your C list companies, you can be a little less aggressive than with the A list. Close your C list letters
by saying, I can only imagine how busy you must be, so I won’t follow up with a phone call. However, if
you’re interested in meeting, please give me a call. Attach your résumé. In your A list letters, close by
saying, I’ll call you in the next few days. Send duplicate letters via e-mail and snail mail. You can
acknowledge in the e-mail that you’re also sending a hard copy in an envelope.
Wendleton has lots of advice for those phone calls to the A list. First, she suggests getting acquainted with
your contact’s assistant before you send your letter and e-mail. Treat the assistant with respect. Introduce
yourself, explain why you’re calling, and tell her to look out for your letter, if she wouldn’t mind. You can
even give the assistant a mini-job pitch on the phone: I’ve got 10 years of international marketing
experience, and I think I can help your company with its challenge. Then you can ask, politely but
persistently, if she wouldn’t mind keeping an eye out for your letter. Include a sticky note addressed to the
assistant, so that when she opens the boss’s mail, you’re addressing her directly.
Leave only one phone message for the contact. Do follow up with more calls to the assistant, but don’t
leave more messages; each time just tell her you’ll call back later, and ask if she knows when a good time
would be. Try phoning early, before the assistant arrives, or late in the day. Prepare yourself to make at
least 15 calls before you get through to the boss.
Your goal in the direct contact method is to meet the person who would have the power to hire you and to
convince that person that you would be an asset to his or her team. Wendleton recently met a job seeker she
thought was a “dynamo.” She was looking to fill a low-level job for an assistant who would set up sales call
appointments, but because she was so impressed with the dynamo, she created a new job for him as head of
marketing. “We had to readjust our thinking around him,” she says.