We have included, with this email, the approved, final copies of your résumé and cover note, a customized spreadsheet listing the detailed contact information of 100 target companies and a copy of the script that we will use to make the follow-up calls on your behalf.

The active researcher will continually correct and enhance this information while we work through the follow-up calls and the interview process. If you find any incorrect information in your project during the process, please contact us and we will quickly correct it. We are also prepared to generate additional targets and contacts, as needed, until you have met your board seat appointment objective.

Delivering Your Résumé and Cover Note

Our first step is to send your cover note and résumé to each of the contacts, whom we will have confirmed on your behalf. We hand-address all of your envelopes and sort the recipients on your contact list into alphabetical order. We mail them in this manner because it is easier to figure out from whom returned calls are coming and for us to assist you with additional contact information. Hand-addressed envelopes are the most practical and cost-efficient mailing media and the most effective way to get your résumé and cover note viewed by its intended audience. Printed envelopes, from an unknown party, are usually thrown away as junk mail. We hand address the contact information (including contact and company name, while excluding position title) with no return address on watermarked, matching 24 lb. #10 white envelopes.

Please note that your contact may be located at a different office than the one at which you intend to occupy a seat on a board. For instance, the chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee, the board on which you perhaps seek to sit, may work for a different organization or be retired. In these situations, it is noted in the “Comments Section” of your contact list and we direct your correspondence to this specified address.

We mail your cover note and résumé in batches of 10 per day. It is imperative that your résumé gets mailed to all of the targets in a timely manner, as contact information changes constantly. The next step is for us to call contacts on your behalf the following week.

Conducting Follow-Up Calls

Follow-up is essential in the board seat search process. Candidates often complain that boards do not acknowledge the receipt of their résumés or believe that after mailing hundreds or thousands of résumés, they are owed a call. This is a huge misconception. Boards have no moral or business obligation to acknowledge anything. Board directors may also have other duties and responsibilities that keep them from doing so. This is why follow-up calls are so essential—it will not only remind the person of the qualities that you have to offer, but it will separate you from other candidates.

It is difficult for board candidates to make follow-up calls, once they have sent their resumes out, because rejection feels harsher than a simple lack of response. The problem is that a lack of response may not be a “no” at all—it might be a “yes” with a little follow up and persistence.

We make all follow-up calls on your behalf to ensure that we uncover every potential opportunity

Please keep us informed of any calls, emails or written correspondence that you receive so we can log it on your Contact List. We will keep detailed notes on your progress with each company on the “Follow-up” sheet. Board staffs are lean and time pressures make it less likely that the contact will be available to take our call. Thus, we leave your follow-up call pitches on the contact’s voicemail. This ensures that your information gets directly to the contact and that the contact has time to process it and get back to you at their convenience.

We leave two follow-up call pitches: once, five business days after we have mailed your résumé and again five business days after the first follow-up call/email/fax, unless of course you have heard back from the contact. We start the second follow-up call with “I left you a voice message and sent you some information regarding my background. I just wanted to confirm that you have received them.” Then we repeat the rest of the original pitch.

If we are unable to leave a voicemail, we will ask you to send the follow-up pitch in an email format, with an attached PDF copy of your résumé that we will have prepared for you. If this method is also not possible, we will send a fax that appears as if it was coming from you with the follow-up pitch and an attached PDF copy of your résumé.

In all cases, we will make two follow-up attempts to each contact unless they have responded to the résumé or first follow-up attempt

Board Appointment Interviewing Strategies

Most board interviews begin with informal conversations either by phone or in person, to determine general chemistry. After the initial chat, though, you must be prepared to dig in and become knowledgeable about the company, management and board and be able to clearly define your value proposition.

We outline several demands of prospective boards and company representatives that are necessary but must be diplomatically extended to be productive and effective.

Before your interview, we do your homework for you by finding out as much about the company as we can. We begin with a basic search of publicly available information, such as that found on the company’s website and the company financial and stock performance information found on D&B Hoovers.

Next, we look up the company’s proxy statement, as this will provide particularly useful information, including biographies of board members and company executives. We pay special attention to their backgrounds and length of service to see how your skills complement those of the current board members. The Director’s Compensation section of the proxy will provide board member compensation. The Executive Compensation section of the proxy statement warrants consideration as it reflects performance. In addition, the Stock Ownership section outlines whether the company is widely held or has major ownership interests and indicates the level of stockholdings that other directors have in the company. We can also review Related Party Transactions as this section can highlight potential conflicts of interest that may be red flags.

Most companies provide an information package to prospective directors for the first informational interview. You should specifically request that analyst reports and recent company news be included in what they send to you. This is a test from your own research: you will know if they send you the “bad” reports and press clippings as well as the favorable ones, giving you some indication of how transparent the company tends to be with directors.

Ask for the board agendas from the last two board meetings. This is somewhat atypical and you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but those are usually easy and straightforward. Viewing the agendas will allow you to gauge whether the board information packages sent out, prior to the meetings, adequately provide directors with what they need to intelligently discuss the agenda items. Asking for agendas from two meetings is beneficial in case one is woefully weak or exceptionally good.

Once approved by the Committee Independent Director, the Nominating/Governance Committee will generally quarterback the recruitment process, and you will typically meet with members of the committee for which you have garnered the most interest. If the board has a Lead Director, make sure he/she is included in these interviews as he/she is the leader of the independent directors and often sets the tone of board dynamics.

Some general questions to ask:

The single most important factor, when deciding to join a board, nearly always comes down to one thing: the CEO, save special circumstances. Nearly all directors base their decision about joining a board on whether they feel that the CEO is someone they like, respect and want to help out by serving on his/her board. As such, your meeting with the CEO will be a pivotal step in helping you decide whether or not to become a director of the company for which you are interviewing.

Always try to meet the CEO face to face and make sure you focus at least some of your questions on two areas: corporate strategy and board relationship. Our research, conducted prior to the interviews, should help you formulate some good strategy questions. When you ask these questions, determine if the CEO is providing a balanced perspective on both the challenges and opportunities facing the company or if the discussion tends to fixate on only the positives. On the board front, try some of these:

The answers to these questions will pretty much tell you how he/she wants to work with the board.

Common Questions and Suggested Responses

You should prepare short one-sentence answers that you can remember easily to these questions that you will potentially be asked in your interview so that you have a point of reference to begin a comprehensive answer. Review your answers often so that they become hard wired in your memory. Keep your responses to the interviewer short and refrain from interrupting, rambling, name dropping, or trying to become too familiar.

“Tell me about yourself.”

This is a good time to establish your character and personal attributes by giving the interviewer a short life synopsis establishing these attributes through actions without making black and white statements.

“Why do you want to join this board?”

Let the interviewer know that you feel that you have a lot to offer in the way of business acumen and governance (specify a particular area), enjoy working in team environments and feel board participation adds to your own professional growth.

“What is your value proposition? What makes you unique?”

You should be able to articulate the area of board governance to which you would add the most value and be able to link that area to your experience, such as corporate development, audit or compensation, among any others.

“What has been your greatest contribution to your organization?”

Choose an accomplishment or set of strengths that specifically relate to the area of board governance for which you are being considered. For example, you could mention that you challenge the status quo and provoke creative thinking. Studies indicate that people who take risks are generally more successful than those who do not, as optimists are far more successful than pessimists.

“What would your boss, colleagues, staff and clients say about you?”

Generally, you should keep this as simple as possible and only mention relevant personal descriptors, such as passion, reliability, fairness and flexibility, that are compatible with potential reference comments.

“What values are important to you?”

Examine your values and try to establish what you feel your core values are and incorporate them into your thought process. For instance, you could say, “I am prone to doing the right thing as opposed to doing the thing right.”

“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

This is a good time to point out what you can bring to the area of governance on the board for which you are being considered, while also pointing out your ability to establish consensus. A weakness might be never having served on a board before. It is better to focus your answer on challenges that you have not had time to pursue, as opposed to ability weaknesses.

“How have you changed the nature of your job or your company? Why?”

Try and use how you changed your company to answer this question. You can develop a more powerful scenario that will reflect your efforts, while acknowledging others, further boosting your team player (consensus building) propensity.

“How do you tell your boss or a board of directors that the action they contemplate is wrong or that they are going in a direction with which you are in total disagreement?”

You could respond that it is crucial to provide analytical information and distribute it before meetings, if possible, to assist stakeholders in decision support and building consensus, as opposed to making unilateral and divisive statements during meetings in which egos may prevail.

“Describe a crisis situation where you were part of the team or board mandated to provide solutions. What was your role?”

Apply your relevant governance skill to a past situation and describe the final outcome, while always attempting to give due credit to others who may have also been involved.

“What are your short- and long-range objectives?”

This is obviously personal but make sure they do not conflict with the time commitment and average longevity related to the potential board seat for which you are being considered.

“How would you describe the ideal board director?”

Most experts agree that willingness to challenge company management may be the most crucial qualification for a board seat. Directors at many companies disrupted by scandals, including Tyco International Ltd., WorldCom Inc., Enron Corp. and Wynn Resorts, had stellar credentials and were well-respected in their businesses and professions. They also followed most of the accepted standards for boards, such as attending meetings regularly and establishing a code of ethics. But they did not question enough and failed to see inquiry and dissent as one of their obligations.

“What outside activities or organizations are you active in?”

Prospective boards want to know that you will have the time available to honor your board duties, so do not overdo this and rattle off a laundry list of nonprofit and country club boards.

“What are your current time commitments?”

You must be very honest here. The average board member contributes approximately 200 hours per year and due to the complexity of independent governance, this time commitment has been increasing at the rate of 20% per year.

Additional Questions to Ask

What is the history of the board?

What is the committee structure and how does it work?

What is the role of management on the board?

What role do the organization’s advisors play?

What are the organization’s strategic and business plans?

What is the distribution of shares? What is the organization’s relationship with its largest shareholder(s)?

How are the directors’ meetings run?

What are the organization’s corporate governance guidelines?

What are the potential liabilities of the directors?

How are the directors protected from liability?

What skill sets are you lacking on the board?

Why have you chosen me as a candidate to sit on your organization’s board?

Common Mistakes

Not researching the company before the interview

Not researching the Chief Executive Officer and Board backgrounds

Not knowing the organization’s key competitors

Not connecting your skill with the board seat for which you are interviewing

Board Appointment Follow-Up Letter

The value of sending follow-up/thank you letters, to everyone with whom you interviewed, is well worth your investment of time and effort. Research shows that a compelling follow-up within the following 24 hours of your interview is often the decisive, distinguishing factor in choosing among potential, similarly qualified board candidates. Once you have interviewed, you obtain more knowledge about the company, board culture, and strategic direction. Thus, you can re-state your candidacy and highlight key points:

Board Appointment Follow-Up Thank You Letter Format

Your Address
Date
Contact’s name
Contact’s Address [could be different than the company]

Dear _______:

FIRST PARAGRAPH: Thank the Board member or representative for speaking with you. Express your enthusiasm about the possibility of a seat on the board.

SECOND PARAGRAPH: Reiterate your qualifications and continuing interest in the board. Include any personal skills you forgot to mention during your discussion or clarify data that may have been misleading during your conversation. Emphasize and/or illustrate a particular skill or accomplishment that would bright-line your governance qualifications and credibility.

CLOSING PARAGRAPH: Briefly thank the individual again for consideration. Express confidence in your ability to perform well on the board. State that you look forward to speaking with him/her again and give a specific date that you will follow up by phone.

Sincerely,

(Signature)

Your name (typed)

Board Sample Follow-Up Thank You Letter

Your Address
Date
Contact’s Name
Contact’s Address [could be different than company]

Dear___________:

I wanted to thank you and let you know how much I enjoyed our conversation and the opportunity to discuss my credentials for a possible seat on [name of company]’s board. I certainly appreciated your time and interest.

To reiterate: I have over twenty years of experience as a CPA, finance executive and strategic advisor, identifying and mitigating risk and establishing best-in-class, internal governance and financial controls for leading Fortune 1000 and private equity owned organizations. My roles have been both as a corporate executive and a big 4 public accounting firm Director. As we discussed, I have considerable experience establishing successful Sarbanes-Oxley compliant, state-of-the-art Enterprise Risk Management.

I am familiar with the company’s regulatory environment and capital structure. I have reviewed the background of [name of company]’s key executives and [CEO name], as well as [company name]’s operating results and those of competitor firms including, [names of competitor companies]. I am very much in line with the company’s strategy to compete in technological leadership, process capability and throughput!

I gathered from our conversation that a seat on [name of company]’s board would offer a challenging and exciting endeavor, and I want to reiterate my interest and time availability to pursue this opportunity. I look forward to speaking with you again and will call you Friday at 2 o’clock. If this is an inconvenient time for you, please let me know. I can be reached at 333-444-5555.

I look forward to speaking with you again shortly.

Sincerely,

(Signature)

Bob Jones

Overcoming Rejection Shock

To offset the pressures associated with “rejection shock,” here are some specific steps you should take:

Make an anxiety list. List all the thoughts and feelings associated with yourself and your board search that come to mind, even if they seem a bit exaggerated or inaccurate. Don’t stop to analyze, but include emotions, attitudes, self-image, fears of failure and rejection, and anything else. Stand back and let them flow.

Redo your list frequently. Anytime you feel stopped or blocked, reflect on your experience and list what you find. Remove items on last week’s list if they aren’t true today.

Communicate. Find someone in your support system that will listen to you objectively without exaggerated sympathy and pity. Their only role will be to receive your communication and acknowledge it.

Ask yourself, “Am I willing to allow all of these things to be true in my experience today, or should I express myself powerfully anyway?” Become the observer of your anxieties rather than a victim of them. Once you observe and describe your anxieties accurately, you won’t have to act them out.

Always bear in mind that each rejection moves you one step closer to receiving an interview. You can minimize your sense of rejection by remembering the odds that you are working against. Consider this: people in the insurance industry follow a formula called “10-3-1,” which means if they find and follow up with ten prospects, they will establish personal meetings with three. Of those, only one will result in a sale. So, when we are making your follow-up calls remember that even the best in insurance sales only succeed one out of ten times.

Networking is simply the process of increasing personal visibility through social contact. Board seats are filled when preparation meets opportunity. Making these contacts is not always easy. Some people will not be helpful, but many will be. You must be proactive, patient and persistent, and take the initiative to express interest. You will fulfill your board seat goals and meet many engaging and interesting people along the way.

Additional Tips