Offer a free gift if a potential employer will complete an online survey. Companies send online surveys out all the time. Many of them have four to five screens to complete and I almost always answer them if I know the company or am interested in the free gift.
Years ago one of my client companies did this. They sent a targeted mailing to potential customers offering a cheap pocket knife to anyone who completed the survey and sent it back. They were overwhelmed by more than 30,000 responses. Enough qualified leads for their sales force for more than a year. The knife from China cost them less than $1 – the resulting sales amounted to $20 million.
You can do a similar thing. Send a survey on hiring trends and target employers you’re interested in. You can ask an almost limitless number of questions which could reveal their hiring intentions.
Send it to hiring managers and not to Human
Resources.
Do a targeted mailing to no more than fifty companies to start.
If you get five leads you’re doing well.
Avoid sending alcohol or food which could spoil.
A thank you note and a coffee cup… with an offer to buy them a coffee if…
Send your resume to whichever department they indicate is hiring.
A gift need not be an item you buy, it could be a report you’ve prepared.
Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin
Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.
