Pick up any newspaper or trade magazine and you will see numerous advertisements placed by job hunters, usually in the classified section under "Situations Wanted." Despite such widespread advertising, classified ads are not a primary means of obtaining interviews and probably won't get you any interviews at all. The reason is that few PEs will read your "Situations Wanted" advertisement. Thus you are not reaching the market for your services, and your chances of connecting with a PE who is looking for someone with your qualifications are pretty slim. Also, a good advertisement is expensive and may not be cost-effective compared with other means of securing interviews. Finally, in some media, you may face a one or two month delay before the ad appears.
However, advertising can be a useful adjunct to your campaign. To maximize the returns from your ad, you must know where to advertise, what type of advertisement to place, and how to construct your advertisement for maximum effect.
If you place an advertisement in a general circulation magazine or newspaper, the only responses you receive may be prospectuses from firms eager to assist you (for a fee) with job-hunting services. In order to advertise effectively, you must select publications that your PEs are likely to read-business papers, trade magazines, professional journals, and so on. Once you have selected the best publications, check to see when your ad will appear so that you can allow for the lead time in your campaign.
What Type of Advertisement to Place
Few PEs take the time to read down a list of classified advertisements on the off-chance that they will find an employee they are seeking. A PE may, however, respond to a well-written advertisement if he or she sees it. The only way to insure that a PE sees your ad is to use a display advertisement-that is, one that catches his eye because it has been set in a different type size and style than the usual ads. It may be artistically prepared, with different sizes of type. It is at least one column wide and at least one inch high. Such an advertisement can cost several hundred dollars or more, depending on the paper or magazine and how many times you run the ad.
How to Construct Your Advertisement
Your advertisement should be an abbreviated version of your sales letter, with the same purpose in mind: to get the interview. The basic parts of your advertisement are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Sound familiar? Right, it is the same formula we used for the sales letter. The basics are the same. Our only change is how we present the material.
Attention and Interest
For the attention element, we use a headline. The objective of the headline is to attract the PE's attention and encourage him to keep reading. It serves the same function as the attention getter and the interest element in your sales letter. Your headline should be short and to the point. Make every word count. You are aiming at the PE who has a need for your services and happens to be glancing through the medium you are advertising in. If your headline captures his attention, he will read the rest of your ad. Here are some examples of headlines:
- Marketing Executive Opened $50 Million Segment Available"
- Electronics R&D Manager Directed Development 76 New Products-Looking for New Opportunities"
- Girl Wonder-Developed 7 Marketing Plans While A Student -Seeking Great Job"
Like your sales letter, the desire part gives compelling reasons for someone to hire you. Rework the statements of accomplishment in your letter, eliminating titles and personal pronouns. Keep the action words and the quantitative descriptions. Your presentation should list no more than five accomplishments. Here are some examples:
- "Developed strategies that boosted sales from $5 million to $10 million in 2 years."
- "Found 7 new markets for 3 old products for $3 million in profit."
- "Turned a loss product into the leading product in 3 months."
- "Completed marketing research study with $5 million potential."
What to Do If You Must Conduct Your Campaign in Secret
If your campaign is to be conducted in secret, you must be very careful in preparing your advertisement. You may have to list a friend's telephone number or use an answering service. To be completely safe, you may not want to list even an area code, since this small clue could give away your identity when combined with other information in your advertisement. State your college degrees but do not give your school or schools. Be careful not to mention any unusual accomplishments or assignments that could allow a business acquaintance to identify you. If you are looking for a superior job in secret, you can advertise, but you must be extremely careful.
Six Effective Ways to Advertise Yourself
In addition to the method described above, there are five ways that are extremely effective for advertising yourself and promoting your expertise in any field or for any job. These are:
Writing articles
Making speeches and giving seminars
Active memberships in organizations
Initiating your own publicity releases
Presenting papers at professional meetings
All these methods mean direct exposure for you, and exposure means career contacts in two ways. First, it will bring you to the attention of various headhunters who are seeking to fill positions. This is not a short term thing. You cannot expect to become active in an organization, and get a job offer a couple days later. However, over the long term, your name will become known. When someone of your qualifications and with your expertise is sought, you are much more likely to be called by headhunters or companies that are seeking to fill top-level positions in your field.
Secondly, the exposure given to you by these five methods means personal contact with people who will see you perform as an expert or will observe what you have done in writing, in public speaking, or in some other way. These contacts can be used by you during your search.
Not only have I seen others use these methods effectively, I've been contacted and offered various positions because of my activity in all six of the above areas. You can do the same thing.
