Gaining the hiring manager's attention is achieved by a thorough understanding of the business environment and the challenges facing the organization. Good probing questions and listening skills are highly desirable. Job hunters who customize resumes for each particular company, job opening, and hiring manager have a much greater probability of a second look or a call back. Mail campaigns don't work. Most business communications took place through the mail.
Most business communications take place through the telephone.
The place to find the best prospective employers after networking, search firms, and ads failed to work was in the reference section of the local library. Most of waht is in the reference section is outdated and too well known to be a good source of leads. Most successful job hunters today spend their library time using tools like InfoTrak and Nexus and reviewing current periodicals to identify the most current information on hot companies. A hiring manager's task was to find the best candidate for the job. A hiring manager's task is to make his division the best, most profitable part of the company.