Direct-mail campaigns aren't the most effective way to secure interviews, especially if you flood the job market with identical cover letters and resumes. However, direct contact with companies can be worthwhile if you select the employers carefully and then tailor your correspondence to capture their attention.
Some careers are highly specialized (e.g., petroleum engineering), so determining employers who need this type of expertise is a no-brainer. On the other hand, many fields and functions, such as human resources, sales, accounting, and public relations, are important to a variety of industries. If your career is one of them and you've decided to use direct mail, you must narrow your targets to a manageable number. A good rule of thumb is to calculate how many employers you can personally call to confirm receipt of your resume, then mail only to that number. The following sections describe techniques to begin the winnowing process.
Consider Your Current Industry
If you're in telecommunications and you get a real kick out of a high-tech environment, it makes sense to stay within your industry, not only because you enjoy it but because you have experience in that arena. Begin your job search by listing your current or most recent employer's top competitors. This group of organizations should comprise your most viable direct-mail targets.
Make a List of Your Favorite Products and Services
I once had a client who loved airplanes so much that he wanted to be involved with them professionally. While he didn't know much about aircraft, his enthusiasm more than made up for his lack of information. After considering various ways to apply his skills to the air transportation industry, he focused on companies that leased and serviced private jets for international clients. Because he had previously been an anthropologist, he had many international government and business contacts who might want to maintain their jets in the United States. During his first year with the firm, he doubled its international business.
If you've become an unofficial cheerleader for a particular product or service, you might want to work for the organization that makes it. Enthusiasm can be a valued substitute for specific experience, especially if you know how to court a team you truly admire.
Look for High-Growth Opportunities
You don't have to be an economist to know that high-growth companies and industries create more jobs than declining ones. Or that major healthy industries in any city or region will employ more people than those with a limited presence.
To learn which local or national enterprises are important and growing, head for the library and locate these resources:
The U.S. Industrial Outlook, Published by the Department of Commerce: This reference volume provides an excellent thumbnail sketch of 350 industries including sales performance during the previous seven years, primary issues affecting their ability to compete, annual and long-term forecasts and other sources of information.
Infotrac or the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature: Infotrac is a computerized database of magazine articles published during the previous three years. Users can search for articles by subject, author or title and learn the name of the periodical, issue, title and page number. You also can request synopses of various articles. The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature is a similar resource for articles in hard copy form.
Encyclopedia of Business Information: This reference lists each industry's encyclopedias, handbooks, indexes, almanacs, yearbooks, trade associations, periodicals, directories, computer databases, research centers and statistical sources.
The Gale Directory of Publications: This directory lists national, local and trade magazines alphabetically and by state.
Business Magazines: Publications such as Forbes, Business Week, Fortune, Inc., Money and Financial World contain a wealth of information on business trends and individual industries and companies.
Local and National Newspapers: Particularly useful newspapers to read for industry trend information are The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, USA Today, local weekly business newspapers and daily papers in larger cities.
Trade Journals: Every industry and profession has at least one publication devoted to it. Ask librarians or research the preceding resources for the names of those covering your targeted industries. Researching Potential Employers
Investigate Companies You Admire
Have you ever aspired to work for a particular company but thought your goal was unattainable? This may be a good time to learn if the organization is what you've envisioned and if you have talent and experience it considers useful.
Robert Half's Resumania
Explaining her reason for leaving a company, an Oregon woman writes: "I took this job, and picked up and moved to a new city based upon the expectation of rapid advancement. Instead, I was met with a constant string of broken promises and lies, as well as cockroaches, which was simply too much for me to bear. So I returned home and now seek a job with a company that lives up to its promises and provides clean and sanitary working conditions."
Just another example of a company not being sensitive to the needs of its employees; the least it could have included in its benefits package was a monthly supply of cockroach traps.
You must do some research to discover which firms need your particular combination of experience and skills and can provide you with an opportunity to make a satisfying contribution. Start your investigation by learning about each company's culture along with such facts as size, philosophy, product line and locations. References you can use to gather this information include:
Clipping Files at large city or college libraries include articles from a variety of publications offering a range of perspectives and information on various companies.
Corporate Annual Reports Publicly held corporations produce these handsome booklets to impress and attract current and potential investors, suppliers, employees and other interested readers. The reports include information about financial performance and products and services, and publicize the organization's business, community and charitable activities. The reports are authored by the firm itself, so they're generally highly positive. However, they're worth reading as long as you keep their intrinsic spin in mind.
Dun & Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory lists approximately 160,000 U.S. businesses alphabetically, geographically and by product classification.
Moody's Complete Corporate Index gives a lengthy description about a particular company; this publication is for you. Moody's provides extensive details about companies and their histories-ranging from financial information to when the companies were founded.
On-line Services like America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, Dialog, Dow Jones News/Retrieval, Data Times, USENET Newsgroups and special interest bulletin boards on the Internet are among a growing number of on-line resources. Even in its infancy, the information superhighway is an incredible source for just about everything you can imagine-including terrific data on potential employers. Many libraries subscribe to these services, or you can access them through your computer's modem at home or work.
You can find products or services of almost all companies in The Thomas Register of American Manufacturers; Thomas Register Catalog File. Published annually Thomas's includes data on branch offices, capital ratings, company offices, addresses and phone numbers and company catalogs.
Yearbook of International Organizations Lists 27,000 international organizations that are active in at least three countries; they are indexed by name, address and description.
As you're doing research, take notes on each company that might need your services. The following example shows a completed form that summarizes the data you'll need when writing a cover letter and resume. With this information, you can write an intelligent letter to a hiring manager explaining why you're interested in her organization and why you're a good candidate.
Company/Agency Research
Name of Company Environmental Technologies Inc.
Address 2222 Rimer Road, Irwin, PA 15146
Phone Number 412-686-3000
Contact Name Gene Cunningham
Title President
1. How old is this organization? How did it get started?
Environmental Technologies was started in 1984 by Gene Cunningham and John Berry, both environmental engineers. They foresaw the increasing need for environmental consulting, particularly among companies in the heavy industries that were gradually closing plants in the Pittsburgh area.
2. How has it grown; slowly, quickly, internally, by acquisition?
The company has grown quickly for several reasons. It had an excellent niche in its market. Management knows how to sell its expertise. The need for environmental consulting continues to grow, especially now that the Soviet Bloc has dissolved and the United States and Mexico have signed NAFTA.
3. What are its sales volume, annual budget and number of employees?
While the company is privately owned, I did find some interesting statistics in a local business directory. Its annual sales are about $100 million, and it employs about 100 people.
4. What is its profit, return on investment and market share?
Profit and return on investment figures weren't available, but market share in this region is about 45 percent, especially in water, smokestack filtration and toxic chemical management. In the past three years, the company has established a presence in Mexico and Poland, but market-share figures aren't available for those countries.
5. Where are its plants, offices, stores, and corporate headquarters?
The corporate headquarters is in a suburb of Pittsburgh. It has branch offices in Mexico, Poland, Detroit and Los Angeles.
6. What are its products and/or services, especially major areas of concentration and new developments?
It's an environmental engineering consulting firm that specializes in "rust belt" issues including smokestack pollution, water pollution and toxic waste. It uses cutting edge technology in these three areas, and it's increasing its business in Mexico and Eastern Europe by about 20 percent a year.
7. Does it seem to be community spirited and/or profess an interest in cultivating its employees?
While none of the articles I've read specifically mentioned this, ET does use humor in its ads by playing off the initials ET. A friend who lives in the Pittsburgh area told me he has seen a newspaper article that describes ET's pro bono work advising a few small towns about ways to dispose of their slag dumps.
8. What kinds of careers does it offer?
The careers that interest me the most are the engineering ones, particularly consulting assignments in Eastern Europe.
9. What specific experience, personality traits or skills do I have that might interest this company?
My parents have often talked about growing up in Poland, the natural beauty of the country, and the likely opportunities there now. I would like to use my environmental background and dual-language capability to get to know the country better and help residents make it beautiful and healthy again.
