The letter will consist of two or three relatively short paragraphs followed by six to nine of your Accomplishments, selected specifically for their relevance to what was asked for in the ad. This letter is selling YOU. This is not the place for false modesty. You are looking for a job. Don't be afraid to tell them how capable you are. This is the time to toot your horn. You know you are good, so tell them you are good - it is what they want to hear. Your objective is to get that job interview.
When you have completed all your analyses and selected the ads for your replies, what information do you provide in your letter of response? Don't ever lose sight of your objective of staying out of the C pile, which means, don't give them any reason to reject you.
Suppose an ad asks for a blonde, blue-eyed, female blackjack dealer who is a non-smoker and whose father owns a liquor store. If you match these qualifications that is what you give them in your letter. Your name will probably reveal you are female. So, say that you have attractive blonde hair, but don't elaborate as to whether it is natural or dyed. That was important, they would have so specified. Mention your card playing experience and it can't hurt to say you have excellent mathematical skills. An implied skill for a blackjack dealer would he the ability to add figures rapidly and accurately. Tell them your Dad has a liquor store, but don't go into details as to its location, size or success of his operation. Of course you want to mention you don't smoke without explaining whether you have ever touched the vicious weed, or if you just quit tobacco two weeks ago.
If another ad calls for a "hands-on manager," tell them you are a hands-on manager. If they call for "a dedicated professional,'' tell them you are a dedicated professional. But don't volunteer. "I also speak four languages," even though you may be justly proud of your linguistic accomplishments. Don't tell them that you are an expert tennis player. If they wanted tennis players, they would have mentioned this in the ad.
Go back to the ad for "Vice President, Manufacturing" where you felt you offered everything they asked for. In your reply you are going to mention each of the criteria and, as you do so, you should place a check opposite each item on your list to make sure you haven't overlooked any point that might be on the young clerk's matching list.
Dear Sirs:
As Director of Manufacturing Operations for a Division of a Fortune 100 diversified firm, I have had heavy involvement with plastic forming and fabrication and with specialty molding processes. Ten years with this Division have also included recent experience with light metals and precision woodworking.
(Stop and place checks after the items you've covered:
C, H, I, J, and K. Now continue with your letter.)
Reporting to the President of the Division, I was totally responsible for directing and coordinating manufacturing operations and supervised the activities of the executives in charge of Production Scheduling, Inventory Control, Ware-housing, Purchasing, Shipping and Receiving and Material Control. These efforts demanded a thorough knowledge of up-to-date production control methods and material control systems.
(Now you can place check marks after: L, M, O, P, and Q.)
Following are a few major accomplishments while directing the operations of our rapidly expanding organization which achieved a leading position in the building products industry.
(The paragraph above covered: A and G. Now you should list between six and nine Accomplishments, making sure you include Accomplishments covering any criteria that still need covering, plus any Accomplishments further supporting your candidacy for the position. Note you still haven't covered B, N and R, so select Accomplishments to cover those points. After your listing of your Accomplishments, you then close with a simple request for an interview. For example :)
A personal interview will permit us to discuss in further detail the many ways in which I can contribute to the growth and profitability of your organization.
(Following, without the editorial comments, is how your letter should read. YOU HAVE GIVEN THEM EVERYTHING THEY HAVE ASKED FOR, AND YOU HAVE NOT VOLUNTEERED ANY NON-PERTINENT INFORMATION. How can they not want to talk to you? You have given the young clerk no possible reason to place you in the C pile. Granted, you did not enclose a resume or give them salary information. You never should, as will be discussed in later pages.
This point deserves to be repeated: Every word in that ad was given careful and intelligent consideration. Therefore, your list of criteria in the ad will match the list given to the young clerk who separates the replies into A, B, and C piles. And remember, the young clerk is reading your letter-and your resume, if you are foolish enough to send one --negatively. The clerk cannot get into trouble if a response is discarded that should not have been. Who would know? The clerk can only get into trouble if a response is kept that should have been rejected. So, the clerk is looking for reasons to reject. Don't provide any.
Should You Enclose Your Resume?
Don't give them any reason to reject you (i.e., to put you into the C pile) by mentioning anything they did not consider important enough to put in their ad. And that is why you always answer an ad with a letter and never a resume. Not sending a resume limits the information you give prospective employers to what they need to know and to what you want them to know.
You feel you have developed a great resume. Most ads say: "Send resume," so you must send it, right? Wrong! Don't take that request seriously. "Send a resume" is shorthand for: Give us information about yourself, about your education, your job history, your age, and so forth. After all, what is a resume? It is no more than a piece of paper providing a reader with information about you. Your letter is a resume you have prepared especially in response to that ad. The reason you never send your regular resume is that it will give them too much information and some of it is very likely to get you dumped into the dreaded C pile. Your resume is probably full of reasons to get you rejected.
What if one of the criteria given to the young clerk is: Must include a resume? You should still ignore the request. Write a good letter to get into the A pile. If you match all or most of the criteria, that is where you will wind up. Sometimes you may receive a phone call from a secretary who says, "You didn't send us a resume.'' Fantastic, they liked your answer. Your response should be: "I thought my reply covered all necessary points. What else is it that you'd like to know?" If they want more information about your work experience, or your education, type that information on a sheet of paper, type the words additional resume information at the top, and send it to them.
You have satisfied their list of criteria. They are interested. Are they not going to interview you because of that missing piece of paper? Ridiculous. You might want to consider whether you want to work for an outfit that was that stupid.
Additional Examples
COMMERCIAL LOAN MANAGER
Position available for individual who has been
in the number 1 or 2 commercial loan function
with a Commercial Bank. Prefer someone with 10
years Commercial Loan experience. This is the
opportunity to organize this new function for an S&L.
Salary open. Outstanding benefits program.
Send resume and salary history to:
Box WG 765, The Wall Street Journal
The above ad is much less explicit than most. Never the less, before starting a reply, you should still go through the exercise of listing the requirements expressed or implied by the ad. Criteria specifically mentioned are:
A Knowledge of the commercial loan function
B Prior experience as No. 1 or No. 2 person in commercial loans with a commercial bank
C. Over 10 years commercial loan experience
D. Ability to set up a commercial loan function
There is no point in answering this ad unless you can answer a loud, resounding "yes" to each of the requirements. They will receive over 100 replies from individuals with experience of more than ten years who have acted as No. 1 or 2 in the function and who will boast of having set up a new loan function for another institution. This is a case where getting into the A or B piles will depend on your ability to list accomplishments strong enough to support your understanding of commercial loan operations.
Assume you will be hired, and then hypothesize as to who your boss will be in your new job. It probably would be the President, or certainly a Senior Vice President of the S&L. Now make a list of the problems faced day-to-day by this person that you, as Commercial Loan Officer, would be expected to handle. Remember, managers are basically problem solvers. The main reason they might select you over other candidates will be when you convince them you can best solve problems for them. You can now add to the list a few implied criteria such as:
E. Ability to deal with business owners and top financial officers
F. Knowledge of accounting
G. Understanding of economic forces that influence interest rates
H. Ability to set up system to monitor loan payments
I. Experience in collections and handling problem loans
J. Hiring, training and developing competent staff K Ability to solicit new accounts.
A longer list could be developed, but the seven items listed above are sufficient for your present purpose. Anyway, having answered "yes" to all of the requirements in the ad, you are now ready to start your letter.
Additional Suggestions
Overqualified:
After studying the contents of an ad, suppose you feel you are a little overqualified. Go ahead and answer the ad. Each interview is good experience and you never know where it might lead if you make a good impression. Employers are always on the lookout for good people. You might walk into a situation where the employer is trying to fill a slot at a salary of $45,000. You walk in and have everything they are looking for and more. Wouldn't they be stupid to let you get away because you demand $50,000 or $55,000? If they are sufficiently impressed with your presentation, they can restructure the job, perhaps adding a few responsibilities to justify the higher salary. So, go for it.
The first person singular:
A very important point: When you respond to ads, avoid using the first person singular as much as possible. Avoid use of "I", "me", and "my" and substitute "you" as often as possible. You are a supplicant, trying to appeal to another person's ego and to the company's collective ego. Every time you eliminate an "I" or a "me", you have strengthened your communication.
Salutation:
Some job hunters worry about the proper salutation to use if the sex of the recipient is not specified. If the company's name is on the ad you can call them and ask the switchboard operator whether the person you are addressing is a man or a woman.
If it is a blind ad saying: "Reply to Pat Nelson," write, "Dear Mr. Nelson." If Pat is a woman, she is probably aware of the ambiguity and will not be offended. If getting an interview hangs on such a minor issue, you probably would not want to work for them, anyway.
The closing:
Close your letter with a request for an interview. Don't beg. Say something such as: "A personal interview will allow us to explore the many ways I can contribute to the growth and profitability of your organization."
Proof read carefully:
Of course, you are going to check and double check your letters for typos, spelling, punctuation, and content. And give each letter a separate reading for the Ts" and "me's" to eliminate as many of them as possible.
Prior employment:
Generally, it is best not to name past employers. It could knock you out of contention by getting you referenced before you wish to be. You should have a list of three to five good references, but you should protect those references zealously. You don't want them annoyed by too many phone calls. You want your references contacted only after you have reached a point of high mutual interest with a prospective employer. Then, you want to speak to your references first and prepare them for the call they may be receiving. If your references are prepared and have some idea of the situation, they can do a much more effective job of helping you.
You also want to make sure the prospective employer reaches someone at your old company who will say complimentary things about you. Over the years, you have had many relationships at work, some good, some not so favorable. If you list a company you worked for, the call inquiring about you might reach someone who did not think highly of you. So, it is important that you direct the prospective employer to the right people.
And don't offer the inane comment on your resume or in your letters: "References available on request." Of course they are.
Personal information:
Don't volunteer personal information such as: marital status, number or ages of children, religious affiliation, hobbies or other entertainment interests. None of these will get you the job interview, but any one of them might put you into the C pile and cause the loss of an interview opportunity.
Don't give your age or reveal it indirectly by giving the year you graduated from college, or mentioning you fought in the Korean War, or showing twenty-eight years of work experience. If you suggest your age, it may well be a problem and throw you into the C pile. But if you can get an interview and can present yourself amiably and effectively, the interviewer may overlook any age bias that may have existed.
Education:
Don't mention academic degrees not related to the job. If the job calls for an MBA, and you have one, say so. But don't go waving degrees around. Some people might see you as an egghead who will make others in the organization feel inferior.
Salary information:
Most important of all, don't give salary information. What should you do if an ad specifies: "Replies without prior salary information will not be considered?" Ignore the request. The reason is simple: Whenever you provide a prospective employer with salary information in your reply to an ad, you've been mugged. Mugged just as surely as if a robber had stuck a gun in your ribs and demanded your wallet.
What do you do if you are reached by telephone and someone starts going down your employment history asking for your salary on each job? Remember, phone interviews get you nowhere. You want a face-to-face meeting. Say something like this, "I'd rather not be interviewed over the phone, but I will be very happy to come to your office and discuss the job and myself with you. As for salary, I'm sure we'll be able to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement when we meet.*
Could this reply get you into the C pile? Possibly, but not often. So, stiffen your backbone and don't give out information regarding prior remuneration or your salary expectations. You will get more interviews if you stand firm, and the higher up you are organizationally, the truer that will be. Even if you say "mid-five figures," the employer may be ready to go higher than that and you may have sold yourself for a lower price than might have been possible. Don't even give a salary range such as, "I'm interested in $55,000 to $60,000." Congratulations, you just told them you are willing to work for $55,000.
Conclusion
It is better to answer one ad properly than ten ads carelessly or haphazardly. You should be putting your energy into those ads you should be answering and you will be doing so in a way that will keep you out of those deadly C piles and get you into the A and B piles where you belong.
Suppose you give them everything they ask for. They have no apparent reason to reject you. Does this then mean that all of the ads you answer will call you in for an interview? Of course not. There is competition out there, and even though you may have submitted an excellent reply, there may be four or five candidates who have greater appeal to the employer. These may be interviewed first and the job may go to one of them. You may have been seventh or eighth in quality among the 300 respondents, but you will never know.
Executive job hunters who have followed the methods of analyzing and responding to ads set forth here have experienced a 25% to 35% favorable response rate. This translates into more opportunities to win the battle for the successful marketing of YOU.
