Nick,

I first used your techniques in late spring 2003, when I began to feel it was time to move on from my position as the sales director of a Maryland-based network cabling company, where I had worked for four years.

I researched companies throughout the region -- not looking for existing openings, but instead investigating places that seemed to offer the type of environment in which I believed I would be able to really make a difference.

One of those was the regional headquarters of a British-owned software manufacturer. Following Ask The Headhunter advice, I did a lot of homework and put together a Working Resume, outlining how I would approach several key issues in their business space, and put it into the hands of their national sales director. And despite no specific software industry experience, I found myself interviewing for a director's position in one of their subsidiaries.

It became clear after the third interview (with two national VPs) that the fit wasn't right, but it was already clear that the ATH approach was extremely powerful.

I began using more of your advice. Specifically, I began networking to develop background knowledge, and to position myself as an "insider" for other targeted companies in my area. And I began using the Working Interview -- whiteboarding for a group of VPs how I would carry their business into the state and local marketplace, and what impact that business would have on their bottom line.

Again, the result was exactly as advertised. They fell over themselves putting an offer together. This time I accepted.

But...

I hadn't exactly followed all of the ATH program. I didn't Peel the Onion. I didn't take advantage of the "power of the offer" you describe in your book. I just showed up for work and was blindsided by a bunch of stuff that would have warned me off if I had done any kind of due diligence after the offer was extended.

But I was so mesmerized by their excitement at bringing me in, and by the sheer size of their monetary offer, that I didn't do any of that, and found myself in what you so eloquently call a broken job.

I didn't waste time -- it wasn't fixable, and my gut told me I wouldn't be able to change everything that needed to be changed. I moved on.

And I started using the rest of the ATH program.

I contacted associates I had met at national conferences and began consulting for several of them. One in particular wanted me to come on board full-time. This was a person with whom I had long discussed business issues and problems and aproaches and solutions -- in short, a peer, not necessarily a potential boss.

Coming on board would require a relocation, so we negotiated long and hard. I peeled the onion to its core and uncovered a bunch of things that I was unsure of, and put them all on the table before shaking hands. It was a textbook win-win negotiation, marked by the respect that comes from approaching potential employers as an equal.

I have been in South Florida since November, and I do not second guess any of the process.

Your advice is so valuable that I have recommended numerous people to your website, and will continue to do so. I am continually impressed by the quality of your approach and the generosity of spirit that encourages you to be so willing to share it with the rest of us.

Please feel free to use any or all of this story, and yes, please feel free to use my name any way you see fit. I would be proud to help promote your good work.

Sincerely,
Michael Gavaghen