The broadcast letter also provides four key advantages: First, it affords the opportunity to develop an interview with any company of your choice. Second, it enables you quickly and efficiently to contact any number of potential employers. Third, it allows you to tailor your background to fit the requirements of the position you're seeking. Fourth, it enables you to present only the information that will interest a company in hiring you. You can omit all information on which you might be screened out.
The broadcast letter should therefore be one of the first strategies you consider when you don't have personal contacts to arrange interviews with companies you're interested in. Although this letter lacks the credibility that a personal referral provides, it compensates for this by the speed with which it enables you to put your background and qualifications in front of any number of potential employers.
Even if you don't decide to use this method for generating interviews, you should still be knowledgeable about how it works. The broadcast letter is the cornerstone for presenting experience in letter form, and some of the strategies you'll want to utilize will require a written summary of your background. (Furnishing a resume will be less effective. This will be explained shortly.) To demonstrate the broadcast letter approach, the back ground of Jack Bartello will be used:
Like most job-seekers. Jack's work history consists of negative as well as positive points. Jack has job-hopped, he must account for two periods of unemployment, and his objective is to join a large company that manufactures industrial products, preferably chemicals. Although his choice is to be a sales manager, he will consider positions as sales training manager and key account sales representative.
Examples of Jack Bartello's resume and broadcast letter are given on the following pages.
Analysis of the Broadcast Letter and How to Compose It
1) Prepare your correspondence on personal letterhead. Omit a business phone number.
2) Write to the manager who has the authority to hire you, using his name and title. Since Jack was at the regional level, he contacted a manager at the national level.
In the event that your background is so strong that you think a manager might view you as a competitive threat and not interview you, contact the manager at the next level up. In this instance, Jack would write to the vice-president of sales.
3) The purpose of the opening sentence is to arouse a manager's interest so that he will read the letter in its entirety. (This is achieved in job-search strategy no. 1 by stating that a mutual acquaintance suggested that you write the letter.) Accordingly, cite your most significant accomplishment or responsibility (prefer ably the former) in regard to the position you're seeking. The accomplishment, however, need not have been with your current or most recent employer. Also, this sentence must never imply that you're unemployed or that the achievement wasn't a recent one. For this reason, don't begin with, "When I was a (your title), I (accomplishment)," or, "Two years ago, when I was a (your title), I (accomplishment)." Notice how Jack began, even though he was unemployed: 'As Regional Sales Manager. . .
* Had Jack been currently employed, he would have written, 'As Regional Sales Manager for a manufacturer of industrial chemicals, I have increased sales. .. Stating "I have increased sales" versus "I increased sales" is an even stronger implication of being currently employed.
When you describe the accomplishment, show its magnitude by using numbers. For example, instead of saying, "I significantly increased sales," write, "I increased sales 75%. . . within a 2-year period of time," as Jack did. In addition, use actual numbers, not words. Numbers have more impact. They also stand out and catch a reader's eye. Jack wrote "75%," not "seventy-five percent" and "2-year," not "two-year."
When you describe the company with which the accomplishment occurred, your wording should be such that the company resembles the kind of organization for which you want to work. Don't be so specific, however, that other types of companies might decline to interview you. Notice that Jack described his employer as a manufacturer of "industrial chemicals." Had he deleted "industrial" and just written "chemicals," he would have been less attractive to companies that were not m the chemical business. His wording allows all suppliers of industrial-type products to decide to interview him.
4) This sentence has two purposes. First, it indicates your interest in arranging an interview. Second, it implies the type of position you have in mind.
This sentence should never suggest that you're interested in one particular position (unless this is the case). You don't want to limit the kinds of jobs for which you can be considered.
Notice that when Jack referred to the type of person a manager might be looking for, he wrote "an individual with my capability." Once a manager reads the letter, he would see that Jack was qualified for several positions: sales manager, sales training manager, and sales representative. He could interview Jack for any of these.
Had Jack written "a sales manager," "a sales training manager," or "a key account sales representative," a manager would assume that this was the only responsibility in which Jack was interested. Jack would have precluded his being considered for other opportunities.
