1000 resumes? One extreme job-hunting strategy that worked.

My colleague David Salaguinto recently shared the bizarre story of how he got here—here being Microsoft's caffeinated halls. He took an extreme approach to job hunting after the start-up he was working for downsized overnight, back when startups everywhere were shedding payroll fast. He had a new mortgage, a new baby, an aversion to networking, and no time to panic. So after quickly conferring with a few cool-headed friends, he devised a strategy:

·         He compiled a list of almost 1000 high-tech companies in the greater Puget Sound area, complete with the names of their CEOs or owners, by researching government records.

·         He printed 1000 copies of his resume and cover letter. (This was back before online submissions were the norm.)

·         He asked his friends for one day’s worth of hands-on help.

·         In one marathon session, they stuffed nearly 1000 envelopes addressed directly to the heads of every one of those companies (and ate enough pizza to make it fun). 

But here's the ingenious bit:

David knew he was an unknown to these businesses. So, hoping for an extra edge, he and his friends handwrote the message "Hey <owner's or CEO's first name >, you should check this out" on sticky notes and affixed one to every resume. His friends even initialed the messages to make them more authentic.

It was the ultimate cold call, but it worked like a charm: Daily interviews for more than a month and 13 serious job offers later, he chose a position that could position him well for access to Microsoft. Now he's celebrating his 8th year as a Microsoft employee and, as a writer for Office Online, has morphed into the talent behind the comic, Office OFFline.

"If there’s any moral to my story," David says, "it’s to “zig” when everybody else “zags.” In my case, I hate networking and I knew that everyone else looking for a job would be networking and would have that advantage over me. So I decided to do the complete opposite of networking, but in a way that tried to achieve the same benefits--hence the sticky notes."

The key word is strategy. If you're in the job market, develop a strategy that plays to your strengths and follow it.

Do you have a job-hunting strategy that worked? Kept you focused? Something that might have seemed a little extreme at the time, but paid off? 

--Holly