Spending Big Bucks To Get a Job?

Out of work? Join the crowd. But there are a select few of us, rather an elite few, who have been making big money at the job they just got booted from, that are about to spend a chunk of that cash to help them get their next job.

A lot of us are out of a job these days. But some of us who have been making big bucks at their last job, let's say $300.000 a year, may decide to hire a professional marketer to improve their prospects of finding a new job. These are experts like executive-marketing firms, executive agents and certified personal-branding strategists who claim they can offer more tailor-made guidance than run-of-the-mill employment coaches. And while most of us are out pounding the pavement, looking for work, these professional marketers are doing very well. In fact, their businesses are booming. Last year, about 100 Wall Street executives asked for the assistance of David Werner International Corp., a New York executive-marketing firm that serves just four people a month. Neal Lenarsky, a Los Angeles executive agent, says he's been getting three times more calls from potential clients than several months ago. And Paul Copcutt, a branding strategist in Dundas, Ontario, reports a similar recent pickup in demand. Now there are the good and the bad guys when it comes to such help. The Wall Street Journal published this list of ripoffs to avoid. * Ignore cold-call solicitations, especially those that promise access to the "hidden" job market * Skip services that ask for large sums of money upfront * Be sure to get a contract that describes specific personalized services, graduated fee schedule and refund policy * Ask your lawyer to review the proposed contract * Ask to speak with several recent customers Even if you do all this checking, you could wind up spending a bundle for these services with little results. In the past, state agencies cracked down on numerous career-marketing concerns for charging hefty upfront fees without fulfilling their promises, but not so much anymore. Perhaps the practice will start up again, given the jobless climate we're in. Joseph Daniel McCool, a management-succession consultant in Amherst, N.H. cautions,

"A lot of people would like to make money off job seekers. Not all will bring you the ideal job at the end of the rainbow."

To get David Werner International to work for you, first, you have to have been making at least $300,000 in your last job. And for a fee of about $26,000 plus a $13,000 "success fee" if they land you a position, they will revamp your résumé and send letters boasting of your qualifications to as many as 3,000 companies. Craig Schmeizer, a senior credit-card executive for Washington Mutual Inc., joined up as a Werner client just before he left WaMu last spring. He says they sent out about 315 letters to officials and board members at 114 insurance and financial services companies. The result: Schmeizer says he interviewed for great jobs at five corporate giants and still is in the running for one of them. And he got a temporary consulting job with an upcoming Internet company. Schmeizer says he thinks the $30,000 he gave Werner for this, was money well spent, even though he still doesn't have a steady job.

"I'm happy to pay David a bigger success fee if his work helps me take on an even more meaningful assignment than the last."

There are also Werner clients that are not so happy. Steven L'Heureux, a California broadcast-technology executive, says Mr. Werner made 962 contacts on his behalf without naming him. L'Heureux says: The letters

"didn't produce a single interview; a blind mailing campaign is not the best way to get a job."

Executive agents are really personal talent scouts, much like sports agents. They arrange introductions with employers, coach their clients during offer negotiations -- and continue counseling clients once they find jobs. But there is a downside to the profession. Only a handful of executive agents operate in the U.S. Joe Meissner, a Portland, Oregon agent since 1993, says "It's really hard to make a living out of this." So now just represents "bankable" chief executives interested in buying a business.