Page 165 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

The Accelerated Job Search

methods you are using to place the call—aggressiveness, proactivity,
courage, initiative—are sometimes the very qualities that brought
the executive up “out of the ranks” and the very ones he or she will
most admire in you. It’s up to you which kind of calling best suits
your personality and the particular situation.

Four Steps for Making Direct Contact
Remembering what you know now about the unadvertised job
market, these four steps are the game plan for getting yourself an
interview:

1. Choose up to 40 companies or businesses for which you’d
like to work, regardless of whether or not they have an
advertised job opening. You can generate your list from the
business directory of the phone book, from hoovers.com on
the Internet, or from Rich’s Guide, Standard & Poor’s Directory,
Reference USA, or Thomas Register, which are available in hard
copy (and sometimes online) at your local library.
2. Determine the exact first and last name of the person most
likely to have the power to hire you. Most often, this is the
person who is the boss of your next potential boss.
So if you are a manager, rather than calling a senior
manager, you would call the director or vice president.
Similarly, if you were a director you would call the executive
vice president or the chief operating officer. If you are call-
ing a small company, ask for the owner or manager.
You can find exact names of managers and executives on
the Web site of the company or, in one of the directories listed
above in step 1. Or you may have to use a direct approach.
For a direct approach, call the receptionist of the busi-
ness and say, “I’m going to send a FedEx to the (vice presi-
dent, manager, director) of (marketing, engineering, manufactur-
ing, health services, production). Can you give me the exact
spelling of his or her name?” Three times out of five, you’ll
get the name.
3. Send a fax, USPS Priority Mail, or FedEx with your Q letter or
approach letter (see sample on page 144). You may send the
letter alone or with a résumé. The approach letter is a great
way to strike up productive communication with someone

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