What's the worst way to approach a job opening?

Let me count the ways, as in the umpteen responses I received when I posted a notice to an electronic mailing list of folks involved in filmmaking.

I was seeking a director and director of photography for my video podcast. Here are some responses.

"Just wanted to see what you've got going on with this project — sounds cool — anyway, you can check out some of my work here," one person wrote.

"What are the qualifications, pay and timetable of this project?" wrote another — and nothing more.

This person said: "I just made a horror feature film. ... I look forward to hearing from you." I also heard from someone saying he is a "novelist, director and playwright ... To get the skinny on me, feel free to visit my Web site."

Only two people actually visited my Web site and watched my podcast to understand what I needed. They "got" it and got a response from me as a result. What did they get? That my posting was not about them. It was about me and the problem I needed solved. That if you take a little extra time to find out about me and my need, you will know how to craft a great response that gets attention.

Ineffective approaches are not just limited to initial contact.

A worried mother-in-law of a pharmaceutical sales person wrote me to ask if her son-in-law's follow-up to a job selling drugs for another company would be "at best risky and at worst, totally embarrassing."

After his interview with a company, she says his follow-up plan included a "marketing blitz" every day over the next week aimed at the interviewers to assure "them that he's their man." Day 1 "was to send 'Balloon Bouquets' to each of them along with some kind of snappy message about 'lifting' their sales. He is considering sending flowers. I think it smacks of brown-nosing, sucking up and is totally inappropriate."

She suggested he "put together some in-depth and innovative ideas for marketing to potential customers — not simply greasing up to the potential employers. He said he doesn't have any more time to devote to that but wanted to keep himself in the forefront of their minds. I've had the best success with thank-you notes and enthusiastic follow-up to show I really want the job. Am I a fossil?"

Pharmaceutical sales jobs are rewarded for assertiveness, persistence and knowledge, says The Princeton Review. I contend that pharmaceutical sales job seekers will be rewarded for the same things. So, this mother-in-law's idea to follow up with more detail on how he'd market to potential customers is right on. This could include attending meetings where pharmacists and hospital administrators show up and other ways to get in front of physicians, patient advocacy groups and hospital and retirement home personnel.

Since education is imperative, he should make sure they are aware of not just what he knows now, but how he'll stay updated on health issues and the problems his target audience faces.

If he takes more time to explain such things to these decision makers, he'd demonstrate the assertiveness, persistence and knowledge they're looking for in the ideal candidate while keeping himself in the forefront of their minds.