Corcodilos suggests that you separate winning the offer from negotiating the terms of your acceptance. "Now it's time for you to explore changing the offer to suit your goals. It's time for you to interview the company," he says.

Ask to meet members of the team that you've been invited to join. Ask to see the tools and resources that would be at your disposal. Ask to interview managers and important staff members who would affect your ability to do your job. Ask for more money -- but only if you think you truly deserve it. And don't fret about how the employer might react to these requests.

"As long as you present your requests professionally, and not as demands," says Corcodilos, "a good company will consider the things that are important to you."

Just remember, once you get an offer, the relationship between you and the employer turns upside down. Now you are the interviewer, and the hiring manager is the candidate: "You have the power," says Corcodilos, "to decide whether, and on what terms, you want to hire that company."

Coordinates: $14.95. "Ask the Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job," Penguin/Plume, 800-788-6262, www.penguinputnam.com; Ask The Headhunter, www.asktheheadhunter.com; Nick A. Corcodilos, nbgroup@aol.com

Action Item: Job Hunter's Guidebook

The Search Bulletin is one of those rare job lists that does more than provide "insider" openings -- it also gives contact information for the headhunters who are working to fill those openings.

Published twice a month by the Beacon Group Inc., the Bulletin lists between 400 and 500 openings per issue. The newsletter is targeted to mid-level and senior managers in such industries as finance, sales and marketing, human resources, general management, and information systems. Salaries for the posted jobs range from $70,000 to $500,000. Later this month, the Beacon Group will launch a revamped Search Bulletin Web site, which will allow subscribers to check daily for new job listings.

But the Bulletin's key added value resides in its extensive headhunter listings -- which offer a great way to connect with the people who are wired into the best jobs in your field. "By networking with several key headhunters," says Nancy Schretter, 43, president of the Beacon Group, "you become more of a three-dimensional person to them -- instead of a hit-and-run job hunter."

Shannon Spring

Coordinates: $115 for 6 issues; $187 for 12 issues. The Search Bulletin, 800-486-9220, www.searchbulletin.com

Sidebar: Anti-Interview

In his 18 years of hiring salespeople at four separate companies, Michael Freilich has been snookered into bringing on more than a few reps who aced their interviews but then turned out to be lame sellers. That's why Freilich, 44, vice president of Advanced Computer Communications Technologies Inc., an Internet-consulting company, has devised an interviewing regimen that makes it almost impossible for candidates to hide behind their game faces. Here are three of his hard-won lessons.

Do a stealth interview. "I get candidates to call me at home in the evening. They have no idea that this casual exchange is the first round of interviewing. Six out of ten people never get to the next level."

Get them to show you the money. "I ask salespeople how much they earned in commissions over the past two years. If they say that last year was an off year, I know that there's a problem. If I decide to meet with them, I tell them to bring their W-2 forms."

Let them do the talking. "When a candidate arrives for our meeting, I announce that I already did my interview -- over the phone. 'Now you have my time,' I say. 'What do you want to talk about?' People don't expect this tactic, so I get a chance to see how they handle a curve ball."

Coordinates: Michael Freilich, mfreil54@erols.com

Bill Breen (bbreen@fastcompany.com) is a senior editor at Fast Company. Michael Kaplan (mkap@interport.net), a freelancer based in New York City, contributed three of the sidebars.