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The manager listened intently but wasn’t totally convinced yet, so the young woman told him she would work for free for 1 month and if she couldn’t meet his hiring expectations during that period, she would leave and he would not have to pay her for her services. However, if she did produce what he wanted he would have to pay her for the time she had worked with a bonus at the end of the month for achieving her goals and a full-time position with the company. The manager thought about it and took her up on her challenge. She not only succeeded in producing what the manager had given her but she also went beyond what he expected. After 5 years with the company, she went on to receive several promotions and was eventually offered a position as a manager. That woman has been in the recruiting industry for 35 years and earns a 6-figure income annually.

Deanna J. Williams, www.linkedin.com/in/deannajwilliams/.

■ EXAMPLE 3: CHELSEA TEGAN

• FME mix: Networking, competitive analysis, functional resume, personal letter, market research with a white paper

• Target job: Technical lead

In Chelsea’s own words:

I also started to research, not just companies to work for, but their businesses. When I chose a company that I thought I should pursue, I asked for an introduction. Before that meeting, I completed two or three days of research on their business, competitors, and general issues. The day before the meeting, I summarized this in an e-mail to my contact (generally the CEO) with the comment that this is what I understood about their business and that there were questions about their business I would like to explore. The conversations I had were good ones, where we were discussing topics of mutual interest (the contact’s business is always of interest to that contact). In every case, I left the meeting with someone who had a future interest in my whereabouts.

Other notes:

I quickly found a company I wanted to work for. I realized it by the way the CEO responded to my questions. Essentially after about 15 minutes of discussion, he looked at me and opened up, “This is what we are really lacking, and if you can do this, we are interested.” He talked for 45 minutes. Now, this company was bound by commitment to the board not to hire anyone in this position until next budget round, about a year away. I had researched the company and heard only good things about the business and the management. So I was intent on joining.

• I asked the CEO if I could have several business contacts phone in to him as references, which he agreed to.

• I continued to research the business and tried to find ways to provide service even though none had been required.

• I made sure to be friendly, never expecting them to “get back to me right away.” Having been in a leadership position myself helped. I knew that 2 weeks for an answer is okay sometimes.

I realized that making things easy for people was important, but positioning was important, too. A junior person usually communicates by e-mail, a senior person is generally confident enough to pick up the phone and call. However, e-mail is easier to answer. And I knew it was my job to sell into this account. So over the summer, I ensured that I phoned both senior contacts roughly once a month with something that I felt might be of value to them. If I reached voice mail, I mentioned at the end of the message that I’d send the information in an e-mail for their convenience. And then I immediately followed up with an e-mail with the subject line “follow-up to phone call.” (This worked not only with the target company but with several “plan B” companies. It was a combination of establishing a relationship, while offering the contact convenience of response. It was a simple approach that focused on making it easier for them, not for me.)

After a particularly long conversation with two senior individuals, I took it upon myself to summarize what we had discussed and also to add input from my