Guerrilla Job Hunting

Of guerrilla tactics and job hunting. Some “dirty little tricks” to improve your search. « Singapore Jobs

Remember our cool jobs post? We like challenging you by throwing interesting but insightful questions once in a while on this blog. A way to induce breathers? You can call it that, but we do this primarily to get you to share your insights with us, much like our goal for headlines that matter and survey discussion. The same goal but in a different approach of getting results, get it? Here’s another one.

via jobsdbsingapore.wordpress.com

Guerilla Marketing for Jobseekers - JobsDB.com interviews David E. Perry

Here are a dozen and readers can download an hour long MP3 on exactly how to be more creative by going to the book's web site: www.GM4JH.com

via www.jobsdb.com.sg

Interview on JobsDB.com Singapore's top job board

Guerrilla Tactics

Be bold!

Be passionate!

Be creative!

Be tasteful!      

Be safety conscious.

Be image conscious.

Enlist a personal army of helpers.

Offer a reward to anyone who helps you secure an interview or job.

Involve the media whenever you can.

Don’t do exactly what others have done recently.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Don’t try this at home

There’s a huge obvious benefit to engaging in creative out-of-the-box activities which will bring you to the attention of hiring managers.  There’s also a real danger of crossing the line and doing something in poor taste or something that puts you or the potential employer at risk.  Here’s an example pulled from the pages of the Montreal Gazette in Montreal, Canada on October 15^th , 2004: 

“The job hunter hoped his resume would land him an interview. What he got was the attention of the bomb squad.  The man was arrested after he included his CV in a ticking package left in a Montreal marketing firm’s washroom last month.  It was his way of drawing attention to the application, as he was among 400 contenders vying for six paid internships.  The 24-year-old didn’t get the job but he did get charged with public mischief. He had handed the receptionist an Arabic newspaper with a note alerting her to the ticking parcel in the men’s washroom, police said. At a time of heightened concerns over terrorism, the package raised the specter of a bombing. Montreal police evacuated the company’s building.  Later, police discovered the package was harmless. It contained a metronome - a device used by musicians to help maintain rhythm and tempo - along with the candidate’s CV. “

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Guerrilla job-hunting | Chattanooga Times Free Press

TIPS FOR YOUNG JOB SEEKERS* Network.* Create your own business cards.* Volunteer/do internships to make connections and get resume experience.* Do whatever you can do get experience in your field while you’re still in school.* When applying, be assertive, but don’t be a pest. Follow up, but don’t call every day.* Know your industry. A tactic that could be effective for a public relations company might not fly in an investment banking firm.* Do your research. Demonstrate why you want to work for that specific company, not just that you want a job.* Have a solid cover letter that provides a clear picture of your experience and qualifications.* Make sure your cover letter and resume have no typos or errors.* Emphasize demonstrated skills to fit the job.Sources: Steve Rondone, Bureau of Labor Statistics; Jean Dake, UTC; Jessica Noonan, Unum

via www.timesfreepress.com

Give away a book

As a door opener, try sending a booklet which embodies the value or values you can bring to a company.  You can go to www.successories.com or www.successitems.com and select from a variety of professionally done booklets which will cost about $4-7 each.  Booklets like Companies Don’t Succeed People Do or Motivation Lombardi Style are good choices.  You can send one with a note that simply says,

“Please accept this book as an indication of my interest in your company.  If you’re interested in discussing how I may be able to help you reach the goals you’ve set for your company, I’d be pleased to have a coffee with you.”

This is a soft sell approach that is a very solid yet subtle way to get your foot in the door.  Follow your mailing about ten days after sending it with a personal phone call.  Ask them if they’ve had an opportunity to glance through it and if they have any interest in having a coffee.  When they say “yes”, be prepared to put on your consulting hat and enquire about what their business goals are and if the company is hitting all of them. 

Be prepared to offer up stories which relate what you’ve done for your other employers.  Frame your story this way: the problem; what you did to fix it; and what the results were.  You want to imply subtly that perhaps you could do the same for them but you’d need to get more closely involved.  You may want to try closing them by asking if it’s an important concern they intend to address any time soon.  If it is, suggest the employer “consider” looking at a short term contract.  Short term contracts can lead to long term employment if executed correctly.  Never offer to fix it for free.  If in doubt as to what to charge ask them what they think is “fair”.  The word “fair” will disarm most employers because if they are really interested in solving the problem they won’t want to chisel you for fear you’ll walk away.

Research their company like crazy.

Research their industry like crazy too.

Focus your questions on the whole business first and then move into your area of expertise.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Sell yourself on eBay

This story appeared in a Wired News Report on April 27, 1999

‘What Am I Bid for These Geeks?’ 

EBay calls itself “your personal trading community.” Now it can rename itself “your PERSON trading community.”

On Monday, a seller listed a complete team of 16 Internet service provider engineers, opening the bidding at a whopping US$3.14 million.

The description for the auction says that the team works for a major ISP and is willing to leave as a group. Buyers are limited to companies in Silicon Valley.

The $3.14 million figure includes the salary of one director, three managers, seven senior engineers, and five administrators, along with a $320,000 signing bonus.

Open an ebay account and try it.

You can sell your skills under a couple of catagories like “business”, “industrial” or any titile that is specific to the industry you’re interested in.

Place yourself under every sub category where an employer  browsing the site is likely to look and which is relevant to your background.  For example a dental hygienist would want to be in: “Healthcare Lab”and “Life Sciences” under  medical equipment, equipment, and medical instruments. 

Put in a price that is your median salary request, -- for example $35,000 -- because most people set their search options to sort their results by price.  

Try an auction too.

Send links to your ad to your friends and ask them to forward the link to your ad throughout their network.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Executive Talent Retention: How to Recruiter-Proof Your Company by David Perry

After all the effort and expense an organization goes through to acquire and develop top talent, how do you ensure your Key Performers remain for the long run -- that they don't get raided or head for greener pastures?  Food to think about BEFORE you accept your next offer.

Executive Talent Retention: How to Recruiter-Proof Your Company by David Perry.

Chris Rock’s Guide to Job Search - ExecuNet Executive Insider

Published on: Friday, July 02, 2010 Chris Rock’s Guide to Job SearchPosted By: Robyn GreenspanFiled Under: job search, robyn greenspan, reinvention, online profile, risk, networking, chris rock, saturday night live, new york timesComments (6) 

via insights.execunet.com

Free-king great advice form Robyn Greenspan of ExecuNet for everyone looking for a job and anyone still trying to figure out to get out there and get known. It doesn't have to extravagant - you just have to start.
Thanks Robyn

Your tribe

Recruit your entire tribe: doctor, dentist, lawyer, mechanic, hairdresser, butcher, banker, and real estate agent to help in your job-hunting.  Ask everyone who’s connected to the community you want to work in.  Commercial real-estate brokers are usually plugged in better than anyone else.  They know who’s growing and who going… out of business that is.  They’re among the first to know when a new business is coming to town or when a company is growing or downsizing.  Brokers usually belong to local business or service clubs.

Brokers live and die on referrals so they understand your need for leads.

Bribe them with regular breakfasts.

Reciprocate when you hear about leads for them, but don’t ask for a referral fee yourself.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Email Marketing

Use a company like Got Marketing, www.gotmarketing.com to build and distribute your e-resume.  GotMarketing has menu-driven templates which allow you to build a beautiful resume.  You choose to whom you’ll send it by uploading your database or Excel spreadsheet.  You can embed links and track who has received it.  You can embed links for your web site.  You can measure how many emails were opened, by whom and when.  You’ll know who they forwarded it to and if it the recipient read it or forwarded it and who it was forwarded to.  Follow up personally with the people who you know viewed it and re-contact those who did not.

Keep it to one page.

Tease them and get them to click to your web site.

Embed a link to your full text resume.

Give them permission to forward the message to other people who may be looking for your skills.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Audition

It worked well for the people on “Survivor” and “The Apprentice”, so why not you.  Produce a video, burn it on CD or DVD, and distribute it to potential employers.  Keep it tasteful and highlight the results you achieved on one or two projects.  Ask for an in person interview.  If you buy video editing software and have a fast computer you can burn your own copies for less than $2 complete with the box

Use a DVD box because you can tuck a resume inside the front cover.

Personalize every one of them and I don’t just mean the label. 

Start each video telling the employer why you’re interested in working for them.

Talk about the research you did to conclude they’re a good fit for your skills.

Highlight accomplishments which would be of interest to them.

Ask for an in-person interview.

A War Story

I had recruited a young guy (very early twenties) for a Visual Basic Developer position at one of my clients.  He had a two-year computer science degree and had been working for a year and a half to two years as a sort of one-man IT department for a very small, rural manufacturer.  He did it all...programming, networking, support, you name it. The day before the interview he and I met for lunch.  He brought along his laptop and proceeded to show me how he had developed an application for my client, based on information he had gleaned from me, their website and other sources.  He had been working on it every evening for the past week, and I have to say, it was most impressive.  Good functionality, slick interface, intelligent use of technology...simply awesome. The day of the interview came and went.  He did well, just as I had expected, but we were a bit nervous.  Another, more experienced  programmer had applied on his own and interviewed as well. I spoke with the client just as he had made the decision to hire my candidate.  He stated the deciding factor was (no surprise) the 'homebrew" application my candidate developed....proving, in one fell swoop, that he could, without a doubt, do the job, and perhaps most important...he proved who wanted it more.

Compliments of Jim Moens, Owner, SearchWorks www.searchworkscareers.com

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.

Consultants’ League

If you and others have been downsized, “right-sized”, or otherwise reallocated, consider building and promoting a web site for all the affected employees.  For the company this is good corporate citizenship.  Former Nortel employees broke new ground when they did this with www.hiretoptalent.com.  Eventually the site had several thousand Nortel employees on it and employees from other companies as well.  Recruiters flocked to the free site.  Hire Top Talent was newsworthy.  It garnered a lot of media attention which just helped propel the brand and fuel the growth of the site.

Ask company management to pay for a site like this if there are more than fifty people being laid off.

Ask for free server space if your employer will not pay for the development.

Make resumes available in Word, ASCII and Adobe PDF format.

Promote the site to recruiters, head-hunters and temporary help agencies.

Promote the site to competitors and suppliers.

Use a central phone number if you can for incoming calls so people aren’t harassed unnecessarily.

Establish a Pay Pal donation button for people who want to contribute to keeping the site going – it’s free and you just never know.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.