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Success Rates

The success rates on this page are long term averages from surveys, statistical data, and hundreds of testimonials over 10 years. These are guidelines with all things being equal. 

Today, all things are NOT equal - unemployment is high and jobs are scarce. It takes a more aggressive approach no matter which strategy you use. This is why we focus so much attention on your value proposition, targeting, mailing lists and sweet spot to maximize your odds.

90% in 90 days

If you combine direct mail with networking, recruiters and job boards, your total odds are 90% in 90 days. (Ask a math teacher if you need help understanding how 85% + 30% + 1% + 1% = 90% odds)

Direct mail to decision-makers ... 85% in 90 days

Normally it takes 3,000 letters (snail mail, with a stamp) per $100k in salary to achieve 85% odds of success in 90 days. In good times (late 1990s), it took only 2,000 letters. In deep recessions it takes about 5,000. Since this recession is now over, our best estimate now is 4,000 letters per $100k.

Here are two approaches:

1. Saturation: Send all your letters on the same day for 85% odds. This is the fastest approach and it maximizes your odds of multiple, simultaneous job offers.
2. Progressive: Send smaller quantities every few weeks until you land what you want. Your odds of multiple, simultaneous job offers go down, and this approach takes longer ... but you do conserve cash.

Direct mail is the #1 way to reach the decision-makers most likely to hire you. It's also the ONLY polite and practical way, and the ONLY strategy where you can increase the power of you job search as much as you want, whenever you want. It's the only polite and practical way to reach the hidden job market.

This is a numbers game

Not everyone needs you, no matter how good you are. Not everyone needs your lawnmower either, but some do. The point is that you need to reach out to thousands to find the one or more who might want to hire you.

Email and fax

Email and fax cost more per interview than sending a letter - we've tested both. Plus, they are tasteless, inappropriate and unbecoming for 6 and 7 figure executives.

Networking ... 30% in 90 days ... 50% in 12 months

Networking is the most popular job-finding strategy used today. In 2005, the average time to find a six-figure-plus job thru networking was 10 months. In 2009, the average went up to 12 months.

In 2005, a well-known six-figure job board with 10,000+ members found that 37% of their members landed interviews through a combination of 3 strategies, including networking. And, their average member had been on board for 11 months. Networking by itself (1 of their 3 strategies) was statistically less than 37% in 11 months in 2005. Most would argue MUCH less in 90 days. And during a recession, it's even less. Our estimate of 30% in 90 days is VERY generous. 

Before you put all your eggs in one basket, consider this: Networking is a competitive job-search strategy that gives employers the most-qualified candidate at the lowest salary. Employers want their "best buy" and can intentionally "leak" their job openings to the networking community where the news spreads like fire. Then, hundreds or thousands apply. 

Here's the staggering part.

Since networking is the most-used job-finding strategy, how come ...

• Within a year, hiring managers regret 50% of the hiring decisions they make. (source)
• Only 10% of attempts to hire a top performer are successful. (source)
• 46% of new executive hires quit or are fired within the first 18 months. (source)
• Only 45 percent of Americans said they were satisfied with their jobs. (source)

One could argue that the most-used system, networking, is not working very well. Maybe that's because with networking, people take whatever job happens to come along next, rather than proactively looking for the job they want and deserve through direct mail.

Outplacement ... 25% in 90 days

In theory, your employer pays an outplacement firm to help you find a job. In reality, many employers use outplacement firms to do whatever it takes to make you go away and avoid litigation.

Outplacement firms don't tell you is that only about 25% of their clients find a job in 90 days. Insiders call it their "dirty little secret." Instead, outplacement firms redefine success as learning how to network, interview and write a resume ... and they offer upscale offices and secretarial services ... but they never define success as actually finding a job. Some firms claim higher success rates, but look at the fine print - the time frame is "eventually," not "90 days."

Most displaced executives already know how to search for a job and can do it from home. They don't need an office, fax, Internet access and secretarial services. They also don't need a career map, interviewing techniques and training on how to find a job.

Outplacement is quickly becoming a commodity benefit, much like healthcare, farmed out to the lowest name-brand bidder ... which lowers the odds even more. The standard fee for outplacement is 15% of an executive's salary. Unfortunately, most executives get less.

Here's the interesting part: JobBait's services are 3 times more effective than outplacement at less than half the cost ... a 6 to 1 advantage for the job-seeker.

Want more? Read the article by the WSJ on Outplacement Firms Struggle to Do Job.

Recruiters ... 1% in 90 days

Are you a perfect fit for exactly what a specific recruiter wants?

Thousands of recruiters get thousands of resumes a year (some get thousands a month and a few get thousands a week). With so many resumes received, they can't possibly call everyone back.

We called several large and small recruiting firms to check our 1% - and without exception, they all told us that 1% in 90 days is way too high.

About 80% of all retained searches for highly-compensated executives are managed by these 7 firms:

1. Korn/Ferry
2. Heidrick & Struggles
3. Spencer Stuart
4. Egon Zehnder
5. Boyden
6. Russell Reynolds
7. Christian & Timbers

For these 7 firms, you should visit their website and fill out their forms.

If you would like to email your resume to hundreds or thousands of recruiters, you would do well to start with RiteSite for $94 (their recruiters are "100% retained") or MyResumeAgent (a division of Kennedy Information) for $87 (their recruiters are "mostly retained"). Others who offer to email your resume to recruiters typically license their list from Kennedy Information and spin it differently to make it look better. Surprise!

Employers want their best buy, and recruiters are paid about 30% of an executive's salary to give employers the most-qualified candidate at the lowest salary. Classic direct mail gives you a 30% advantage over those who use recruiters.

Job Boards ... 1%  in 90 days

In 2005 there were 33,000 job boards. In 2006 there were 40,000. In 2007 we stopped keeping track - they were popping up too fast.

Here are a few six-figure boards to get you started:

• RiteSite
• Netshare
• ExecutiveRegistry
• CareerJournal
• ExecuNet
• SixFigureJobs
• TheLadders

One of these six-figure job boards shows "all" success stories at just over 500 and they boast more than 1 million members. Do the math: that's 1/20th of 1% without a time limit. CareerBuilder, in a CNN interview, said they help "over 1 million people in the United States find jobs each year" (that's 83,000 per month). They estimate 23 million people were looking for jobs on their site in January 2008. Do the math: that's 1/3rd of 1% in 1 year. For executives, the odds are much smaller.

Caution: Most executive job boards have solid privacy statements. However, one of them has many pages of warm, fuzzy text assuring you that your personal information is safe and secure. Then, about two-thirds of the way through they say: "In some instances in the future we may share your personal information with third party contractors for the sole purpose of mailing you promotional or educational materials." Ouch! Surprise!

Job boards allow employers to get the most-qualified candidate at the lowest salary.

Resume Posting ... 1% in 90 days

There are thousands of places to post your resume. Monster had 70 million resumes posted in early 2008 including more than 2 million executive resumes. With about 140 million employees in the United States workforce, the odds should be obvious. 1% in 90 days is way too high.

Before you post your resume, consider the potential consequences. You're exposing your personal information for the world to see (identity theft) and you WILL be contacted by "bottom feeders," aka ambulance chasers. Some bottom feeders do a bait and switch - telling you they have a job for you and then oops, you don't fit - but they conveniently have something to sell you that might help.

Resume posting allows employers to find the most-qualified candidate at the lowest salary.