Once in a while, when your networking efforts have led to a meeting where you and the hiring manager truly click, the idea will occur to him or her to ask if you'd be interested in coming to work for their company. At that point, there may not even be a specific job opening at that company, but you've piqued the interviewer's interest enough to start the hiring conversation.

In this case, you should think about preparing a Work Proposal. This is a document in which you itemize your qualifications, skills, and accomplishments, and show how they align directly to the challenges, problems, and needs that the hiring manager has discussed with you. The Work Proposal is usually a one- or two-page document that outlines all of the different things you could do for the company and how you would generate results for them, based on the specific needs you uncovered during the networking meeting.

Because the Work Proposal usually grows out of a networking meeting, the letter takes a soft-sell approach. Rather than pushing for another meeting (as you would with other sorts of follow-up letters), you'll leave it in their hands. If the individual calls or writes you back, you'll know you've got something. The company may even create a position for you. If you don't get a response to the Work Proposal, this indicates that the company wasn't interested enough in you to engage in an ongoing dialogue. A sample Work Proposal appears next.

Sample: Work Proposal