Guerrilla Marking for Job Hunters 2.0 - Jay Conrad Levinson [66]
You can increase the number of calls you get from employers—by including a provocative P.S. at the end of your Guerrilla Cover Letter.
All you have to do is think of the one statement you absolutely, positively want hiring managers to read. Then stick it in your P.S.
Here are 3 examples to get you started:
1. P.S. If you do not have a current need, please pass my resume on to someone who wants to turn a $400,000 loss into $800,000 profit in 2 years, as I did for my current employer.
2. P.S. Please call me at (612) 555-0000 to find out why my supervisor recently said: “I have absolutely nothing but great things to say about Dan. His strengths are troubleshooting problems, taking care of situations in a timely manner, and always being willing to go the extra mile.... Dan is a great team player.”
3. P.S. If you don’t see a fit at this time, please pass my resume on to someone who needs to increase qualified deal flow by more than 300 percent and sales closing ratios by more than 25 percent, as I have repeatedly done.
Take advantage of the fact that people are trained to look for and read the P.S. in a letter. You will gain an immediate advantage over ordinary job seekers.
A WAR STORY
Mark J. Haluska
In November 2008 I received a phone call from Anthony, who is at the Director Level in the fast-food (QSR) industry. He asked if he could send me his resume. I said, “sure.” The resume was like 99 percent of all the resumes I get. BORING!
It just so happened that the timing could not have been better because I just received a heads-up from an industry insider regarding a restaurant organization that is well funded and has an aggressive growth plan of becoming a $100 million dollar company within the next 2 to 3 years. I was told they needed someone at the Director or VP level that could lead the operations side of the company.
As a favor to Anthony, but more realistically in my own $elf $erving interests, I asked if I could help him do an Extreme Guerrilla Resume. He had no idea what that was, but he said, “Sure, you’re the expert.” Under my guidance, within 2 days we had the perfect marketing piece.
Now, I’ve never met, much less ever had spoken to, the CFO or the COO of the company, but with a little networking and research I did obtain their e-mail addresses. Uninvited, I sent both the COO and the CFO Anthony’s Extreme Guerrilla Resume. I did blind his contact information to ensure the company had to call me if there was an interest.
Two days later a call comes into my office from the CFO of that company. She introduced herself, and said, “How soon can we see this candidate?” I asked her what she liked about Anthony’s credentials and she replied, “the company officers looked at his (Extreme Guerrilla) resume and were simply blown away!” The first Guerrilla Lesson here is that Anthony’s resume looked like everyone else’s. Although he is impressive in every respect, his resume certainly did not reflect it and it certainly did not scream, “Hire ME!” The second lesson is that Anthony was also doing what everyone else does. He was going directly to HR rather than to decision makers. No wonder he had yet to get any interviews!
We broke all the so-called “rules” and within 1 week of my first contact with Tony, he was invited to interview with this company that neither of us had ever spoken with, and as I write, these talk’s are ongoing between Tony and the company.
Contributed by Mark J. Haluska, founder and executive director, Real Time NetWork, www.rtnetwork.net LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/Mark J.Haluska.
Chapter 6
Twenty-First Century Digital Weapons
If You Build It, They Will Come for You ...
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
So, your resume is done. Your cover letter is complete and you’re feeling pretty good about