This example is near and dear to my heart – it’s how I landed a job with a marketing communications firm back in the 1990s, when I use to work for other people.
After mailing in my resume, I was called by a receptionist to schedule an interview. During our conversation, I asked if she could send me back issues of their corporate publications. I explained that I wanted to research the writing styles of the magazines and newsletters I would be editing if I got the job.
She immediately agreed, and had a nice package of materials couriered over to me the same day.
It turned out to be a gold mine.
I found three typos in one back issue of a magazine I would be proofreading in the position I was interviewing for. Here was proof I could do the job.
Two days later at the interview, the subject of proofreading skills came up. I pulled out the magazine (with post-it notes marking the typos) and said: “I’ve been researching your publications and found these three errors. I can improve your image by preventing this kind of thing from happening again.”
They hired me.
Action Step: do whatever you can to research your target company and “start working” for them before the first interview. It’s one thing to claim you can do the job. It’s quite another -- and much more powerful -- to prove it.
Another client, we'll call him Chuck, hand-delivered the resume I wrote for him. He applied for a warehousing/electrical position at a local firm near Detroit, Mich.
When I called the next day to check on his progress, he told me the hiring manager loved his resume and that the interview went well. So far, so good.
Then I asked him if he had written and mailed thank-you letters to the people he had interviewed with.
"No, gosh, I forgot. Oh, well," he said.
Fighting the urge to jump through the phone and strangle him, I said: "Chuck, you're making a critical mistake. Never assume the interview went perfectly. It's essential that you sit down right now (it was Saturday), write and mail a thank-you letter to everyone you spoke to. Thank them for their time, restate your best qualifications and tell them how much you look forwarding to working with them."
"I got the job!" he said. "The hiring manager appreciated the thank-you letters I sent. He said nobody he's interviewed in the past year did that, so I really stood out."
Normally, I hate to say, "I told you so." But not this time!
You've heard it again and again that you must send a thank-you letter to everyone you interview with. Yet, so few people take the two minutes to do it. Their loss is your gain.
Action Step: Assume nothing. Diligently follow up, before and after the interview, until you get that job. You and your family deserve nothing less than your best efforts here.
Your response to a letter of rejection may, incredibly, get you the job, according to California-based James Adams, a career expert and former job-search consultant to the U.S. government.
"I was consulted by a woman who interviewed very well for a position, but still got a letter of rejection after applying. Most people would have torn up the letter and gone on to other things," says Adams.
Instead, Adams told her to write a gracious reply, thanking the company for their time and reaffirming her strong desire to work for them.
Did it work?
"The top contender for the position had to relocate on short notice. The hiring panel remembered the letter they got from the really eager and pleasant woman who replied to their rejection letter. She got the job," says Adams.
Action Step: Write a polite reply to every rejection notice you get. Thank the company for their time and restate your strong desire to work for them.
One more thing, I would suggest you include a final sentence requesting that the hiring manager(s) pass your name on to other fine companies who may be looking for talented employees.
Say something like this: “Because you saw enough value in my background to consider me for this position, would you be so kind as to pass my name and resume on to anyone you know who would benefit from my skills and experience? Thank you very much in advance!”
Yesterday Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters surpassed the 1 million mark. Google revealed that a search for “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters” returned 1,010,000 page references.
You may laugh, but I think it’s a big deal. I can still remember when McDonald’s declared “more than a million served” – okay so I’m showing my age. I know Lady Gaga and Bieber have a billion but it’s a start AND honestly what’s more popular GAGA or a book that tells you how to take control of your life and get a great job? GAGA of course!
Of course the real test is what are the numbers for my mentor’s book? Dick Bolles and What Color is Your Parachute is the reason I became a head-hunter. After reading Richard’s book I created a self-help group with my friends and actually placed 23 of them before I naively thought I could do this for a living ... but that’s another story.
So while Parachute remains the most popular seller on Amazon, clearly people are talking about the guerrilla books too [there are three editions now... I got that idea from Dick... I’m just not as prolific.]
And Dick is ever the gentleman. Here is the cover quote from the first edition of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters in 2005:
This is an immensely helpful book, with the ancient wisdom of recruiters, and the up-to-date insights of two skilled Internet surfers. If you're job-hunting, you’ll be grateful to learn the tips and tricks of these two seasoned veterans. I learned a lot myself."
-Richard N. Bolles, author, What Color Is Your Parachute?
We feel great that people are landing jobs faster because of the book. Our Guerrilla Job Search methods have already passed the test in some of the toughest cities in America, like Detroit where one man landed a 6-figure job just 8 days after hearing us speak. Three others whom we tracked landed just 7 weeks later – 5 times faster than the national average of 38 weeks [9½ months].
Read that back – 5 times faster than the national average of 38 weeks. Why should your family or friends have to look for a job for 9 months? Imagine if everybody in America had this information. How much faster would this recession be over!
Commentary from the Jaded Hacks at the New York Post. Praise from New Yorkers is great. High praise from BRIAN MOORE is golden as he writes Jaded hacks with little remorse for the ordinary.
Fortune Magazine’s Cover Story didn't hurt though. What started as a request for a single coment for a 300 word piece evolved into the cover story for writer-reporter Jia Lynn Yang,
The secret to finding a suitable job today lies in mastering the digital search environment used by employers. A rapid transformation in hiring practices has gone unnoticed by those looking for work.
Every year, 50-million jobs are filled in the United States -- almost all without a job posting because employers can’t deal with the avalanche of resumes they get. Today, employers are relying on a brand new digital suite of tools and tactics to find the handful of “most qualified” recruits that they want to interview.”
Taking control of your employment is especially important in today’s demographic because so many people are looking for new kinds of work - work that has meaning for them. Our population is getting older – for the first time, there will be more people over 65 than under 5 -- and older people are more reflective: they want to know they are doing something meaningful. Our book helps provide a catalyst for their productivity.
The nature of work is also changing, as people seek control. A new business model for the 21st century is arising. Enjoyment-based motivation, namely how creative a person feels when working on the project, is the strongest and most pervasive drive for workers today. When you are in control of your work there is the pure joy of creating.
As the economy moves toward more right-brain, conceptual work, the motivators need to change as well: to those stressing self-satisfaction and self-motivation. More and more people are working to their own tune: 15 million people telecommute every day…a large part of the workforce beyond the gaze of a manager. These kinds of jobs require confident self-driven control of employment.
A rapid transformation in hiring practices has gone unnoticed by those looking for work and the secret to finding a suitable job today lies in mastering the digital search environmentused by employers
Every year, 50-million jobs are filled in the United States -- almost all without a job posting. This is happening because employers can’t deal with the avalanche of resumes they get. Today, employers are relying on a brand new digital suite of tools and tactics to find the handful of “most qualified” recruits that they want to interview.
Let me tell you about the “hidden” job market and how you can use it to get hired.
First, let’s dispense with a common misconception -- the hidden job market isn’t really hidden at all. It’s just not in plain sight. It’s referred to as the “hidden” job market because of how positions are created and filled. In most cases, jobs are created inone of three ways:
A company is growing and creates a new job;
An employee quits, vacating an existing job; or
An employee is fired from an existing job.
When a company is growing, the owner, president, or other hiring authority may know they need new employees, but haven’t initiated the process. They may not have the time, the budget, or the willingness to go through the hassle of advertising and interviewing. So, while the need is real, the job itself remains hidden inside the head of the hiring manager.
When someone quits or is fired, managers will first decide ifthey can eliminate the job, or combine it with another position. If they decide a new person is needed, they will first look inside their organization for someone to fill the role. If that doesn’t work, they’ll likely ask employee for referrals. And if that doesn’t work, they may opt to run an ad through HR, or hire a headhunter.
Companies often contact a headhunter when secrecy is required, because good recruiters can conduct a search without anyone ever knowing. This is especially important if an employee is going to be replaced without their knowledge – loose lips not only sink ships, they can also damage company morale.
In all of these cases, jobs remain hidden to the outside world for weeks if not months. Hence the term “hidden” job market.
The only way for you to access the hidden job market successfully is to reach out to hiring managers directly before they opt to go the advertising or HR route. The hidden job market is your private laboratory to test the best methods for finding your dream job.
One quick way to discover new opportunities is by doing structured search engine queries. And it’s fairly easy to do. Here’s how to do targeted research, in two easy steps:
Step #1 Develop a list of companies you want to work for.
Here’s how you build that list. Before you start, you have to answer two questions: What job do you want? and Where do you want to do it?
Let’s say youwant an advertising job in New York City. We’ll visit Google.com and use the Advanced Search option. The search string shown below instructs Google to search for a directory of advertising firms in New York or an industry conference on advertising held in New York. This will bring back leads for prospective employers.
Your search query should look like that in the picture above.
My search returned many hits, including one for AD:TECH, billed as “The Event for Interactive Marketing”. It’s a conference held in New York for the advertising industry. There where also hits for directories of advertising companies in New York, complete with web site addresses, phone numbers, and profiles of the owners. Pay dirt!
If you spend a few minutes experimenting with different combinations of search terms, you should turn up a nice list of potential employers who can hire you – your own private “hidden” job market.
Now, it’s on to …
Step #2 Find People Who Can Hire You:
Once you have a target list of companies, you need to find out who the people are in those companies that can actually hire you. A good headhunter would pick up the telephone, call and ask. You might not be so inclined, so here’s another way to get the names of hiring authorities …
Visit each company’s web site and look for names of people who can say yes. Who are you looking for? Executives, not human resource people – the latter group can only say NO … unless you’re another human resources professional. If you’re lucky, every corporate web site will identify its senior executives, including names, titles, phone numbers, career summaries and sometimes email and photos! Web information should be up-to-date, but I would still call the receptionist to confirm it.
Let’s go back to our advertising example. Let’s say I’m looking for a sales job in an ad agency in New York City. Who would have the power to hire a sales rep? I would scour company web sites for the name(s) of a VP of Sales, VP of Sales & Marketing or a General Manager.
If you’re having trouble finding names on a web site, go back to Google’s advanced search box and type in the company name in the first box and “Vice President Sales Marketing Director” in the thirdbox. (By the way, you don’t need to put the words in brackets and don’t include commas or punctuation.)
That search string will bring you:
♦ All the people who are, or have ever been, VPs or President or Directors of Sales and/or Marketing for that company.
♦ The resumes of a whole pile of people from that company whom you may be able to call and solicit for information.
Once you have the name of the person one rung up the ladder from the job you want, you need to process their name through Google again. This time, put their first and last name in the first box and the company name in the third box.
This will produce a list of press releases, and news articles in which they are mentioned, as well as conferences they’ve attended. Read an article or two and clip something memorable to use in your NarrowCast letter, in which you demonstrate your knowledge of the person, the company, and how you can help both. (You can view an example NarrowCast letter at this link).
When you send your letter, you can to write. “I read your article in … [name the publication] about … [name the subject] which prompted me to write.” Very powerful, and a great way to get interviews.
Article by David E. Perry Managing Partner of Perry-Martel International Inc., co-author Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters with Kevin Donlin, President Guaranteed Resumes, author, Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed, Guaranteed Sales Resumes, and 51 Ways to Find a Job Fast -- Guaranteed. David and Kevin are co-authors of Guerrilla Resumes for Job Hunters
Everyone advises you to post your resume on leading sites like Monster.com and HotJobs.com. And there's nothing wrong with that -- my clients have been hired using both.
But don't forget the growing number of job postings found on niche Web sites that cater to specific industries, associations and other affinity groups.
This tactic worked for one of my clients Carla S., from Marshall, Minnesota.
"I interviewed for and got offered a great job this week after applying to openings on sites from my industry, like www.jobsinlogistics.comand www.careersinfood.com ," says Carla.
Action Step: Follow Carla's lead and focus your search on sites that appeal to a narrow audience. As a result, you'll likely find less competition for jobs that are closely matched to your qualifications.
I do not endorse job search sites - however ExecuNet has always been the exception because of the results obtained by senior people who take the time and make the effort to engage with the site's features.
There are tons of stories throughout Guerrilla Marketing - many of which came from successful job hunters who use ExecuNet. Here's just one of them provided by Lauryn Franzoni, Execunet's Managing Director [and a real class act]. Now, in her own words.
"A methodical strategy paid off for this ExecuNet member who was very active in her local human resources groups. She contacted the national headquarters for the names of local chapter presidents, and mounted a campaign of contacting each one every two months. Her persistence paid off when she received an offer. "
Proving once again, that a direct line is often the shortest distance between two points
With reference to the definition of success, how successful have you been so far?
Relate your answers to your career accomplishments. Be prepared to define success and where you believe you are in relation to your career plan.
Map your successes to their requirements for the job. Re-read the job posting before you go in the interview. Remember, they want to hire you because they think you've got the experience they need and they made that assessment form the information they pulled form your resume.
If the employer can't put 2&2 together you better make sure you can.
The interviewer probably needs to know if you're introverted or extraverted with this kind of question You're best off answering " It depends on the circumstances." Let them explain more and put your answer in context with the position. Are you being interviewed for a sales position or executive secretary.... it matters.
If I spoke with your previous boss, what would he or she say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses? First of all.. you better have expected this question. If you didn't shame on you. If you did I hope you asked your previous boss this question --- after you left the job so they'll tell the truth --- that way there will not be any mistakes or inconsistencies. So you forgot or your ex boss was the moron brother of the owner. Now what? Be consistent with what you think they would say as a reference. Always turn a negative into a positive. Cite an example of a minor weakness and how you have overcome it or are currently working on it. This is no time to be honest about your compulsive pencil stealing habit.
Do your investigative homework before the interview! Take a look at the Internet for information or at the library researching the company. Research as much information as possible including products, history, size, financial status, reputation, image, management talent, people, and philosophy. You will want to be excited about the company and project that to the interviewer. Go beyond everyone else and find their competitors too. Use Alexa or Hoovers or just call your favorite librarian and ask. AND don't forget to send a box of chocolates at Xmas. It'll be remembered. Lastly, let the interviewer tell you about the company from their perspective. Simply say, "I would love to know more --- particularly from your point of view. Do we have time to cover that now?"
Over prepare. An interview IS the ultimate sales call. YOU’RE the product! You not only need to understand your product, you must understand the employer's needs. Prepare a T-account on yourself and the opportunity AND then overlay it on the company’s competitors as well as the industry. Position yourself relative to the industry not just the company you are interviewing with.
Obviously if you're being interviewed it's because the company sees you as a solution to a problem they have identified. Relate past experiences that show you've had success in solving problem(s) that may be similar to the ones they are currently facing. Succinctly tell them what you bring to the table. What sets you apart from your competitors.
Relate past experiences that show you've had success in solving problem(s) that may be similar to the ones they are currently facing. Succinctly tell them what you bring to the table. What sets you apart from your competitors. Don't be a bragard --- just the facts!
ISSUE: This question seems like a softball lob. Don’t kid yourself - be prepared. Don't come across as egotistical or arrogant. Humble is out too. In America you're expected to “pitch” yourself.
Prior to any interview, you should have a list mentally prepared of your greatest strengths.
You should also have, a specific example or two, which illustrate each strength, an example chosen from your most recent and most impressive achievements are ideal.
These should be so well committed to memory that you can recite them cold after being shaken awake at 2:30AM. You won't get a 2nd chance. Nobody cares about you until after you're hired.
Then, once you uncover your interviewer's greatest wants and needs, you can choose those achievements from your list that best match up.
As a general guideline, the 10 most desirable traits that all employers love to see in their employees are:
1. A proven track record as an achiever...especially if your achievements match up with the employer's greatest wants and needs.
2. Intelligence...management "savvy".
3. Honesty...integrity...a decent human being.
4. Good fit with corporate culture...someone to feel comfortable with...a team player who meshes well with interviewer's team.
5. Likeability...positive attitude...sense of humor.
6. Good communication skills.
7. Dedication...willingness to walk the extra mile to achieve excellence.
Tell me about yourself. Focus on relevant skills and experience. Be on guard against the interviewer who gives you free rein. Don't spend too much time answering (1-2 minutes). Avoid details. Don't ramble. Touch on four areas: Born and Raised, Education/Military Background, Work Experience, Current Situation.
Yesterday I experienced one of those interview moments from hell. Great candidate. Great Company. Horrible interview. Ever watch some one really blow it? I mean become so tongue-tied and scattered in their thoughts and presentation that you’re actually embarrassed for the guy? That was my experience yesterday. It will cost this candidate a terrific six-figure Job. Don’t let this happen to you.
The candidate was caught flat footed when my client asked the following most basic of questions: “Jeff can you map your skills and experience to our opportunity and tell me how you would manage the growth of a growing sales force”. One shot - right through the head. It was over in 30 seconds.
Now the interview went on for an hour but it was clear the candidate was road kill. He’d missed his opportunity. So, as a well trained client of mine, the CEO asked the question again in around about way – twice – just to be sure it wasn’t us. A half-baked answer was all we got. Interview over the candidate called me last night to see how it went. I was blunt. I told the candidate the answer to the CEO’s question in less than 2 minutes, perfectly lining up his experience and skills – as I had to the CEO before setting up this meeting. To which the candidate said, “that’s what I said”. I quickly pointed out that it indeed was nothing like what he had said. Which he sheepishly agreed with.
It’s your responsibility as a candidate to glean as much information as you need to about the job and “rehearse” your presentation.
On one of the on-line forums I frequent, a candidate asked the question “when is enough enough? He had been through a protracted interview process with one company for months and couldn’t find out if they where going to make an offer or not and was asking the group when to call it quits. My response is below.
“So when is enough enough? 96 hours. If you haven't heard back from them within 96 hours with a complete description of the next steps... sorry to say, you're not the star candidate.
1 phone call is all it takes to a recruiter asking where you stand. If they don't call back assume they're tied up in a deal or dead. All recruiters live and die on a daily basis by their production. You're the product they have to move. No movement = no money = no job. If a recruiter is dancing with you then you can assume you're the "B" candidate which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Technical skills count for a lot but no where near as much as chemistry does. And as the world continues to shrink and companies become more competitive expect every hire to become critical.. As that happens the chemistry piece outweighs skills. Some recruiters know this - most do not.
How do you win? Make it clear in the interview process that you have your own agenda and schedule to meet. In an unspoken way you need to telegraph the fact that you're in demand. The easiest way of doing that is ask deep penetrating questions that get at the business issues of the company. And don't wait until the end of the interview for your chance to do so. Ask them up front and then make a decision to stay and finish the interview or go. Take control of your life and your career and you'll get the respect you want.”
On one of the on-line forums I frequent, a candidate asked the question “when is enough enough? He had been through a protracted interview process with one company for months and couldn’t find out if they where going to make an offer or not and was asking the group when to call it quits. My response is below.
“So when is enough enough? 96 hours. If you haven't heard back from them within 96 hours with a complete description of the next steps... sorry to say, you're not the star candidate.
1 phone call is all it takes to a recruiter asking where you stand. If they don't call back assume they're tied up in a deal or dead. All recruiters live and die on a daily basis by their production. You're the product they have to move. No movement = no money = no job. If a recruiter is dancing with you then you can assume you're the "B" candidate which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Technical skills count for a lot but no where near as much as chemistry does. And as the world continues to shrink and companies become more competitive expect every hire to become critical.. As that happens the chemistry piece outweighs skills. Some recruiters know this - most do not.
How do you win? Make it clear in the interview process that you have your own agenda and schedule to meet. In an unspoken way you need to telegraph the fact that you're in demand. The easiest way of doing that is ask deep penetrating questions that get at the business issues of the company. And don't wait until the end of the interview for your chance to do so. Ask them up front and then make a decision to stay and finish the interview or go. Take control of your life and your career and you'll get the respect you want.”
There’s a huge obvious benefit to engaging in creative out-of-the-boxactivities 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 youor the potential employer at risk. Here’s an example pulled from the pages of the Montreal Gazettein Montreal, Canada on October 15th , 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. “
The most recent hire was hired because she sent me a beautifully hand designed booklet which contained the best samples of her design work. She didn’t just email me a link, or send a resume. The fact that she went over the top to design a hand made booklet was impressive. In fact, her experience on its own wouldn’t have gotten her the interview, much less the job. But the book did it!
If you want to increase the pull of your direct mail campaigns then consider putting together matching letterheadand envelopes that have your picture on them. I use the head and shoulders shot below with quotes from clients to increase my mass mailings. You can do the same thing. I recommend you do this with your second and third tier prospects because the direct one-on-oneapproach will work better. This is a great idea for marketing and sales people who want to change industry and need to generate a large quantity of leads quickly.
Use a good quality head shot.
To save money ask a friend to use their digital camera. Make sure it’s set on the highest quality. You’ll need a 400 dpi resolution jpeg to ensure a crisp picture.
Wear a good suit and tie.
Take off your glasses so the flash doesn’t reflect off them.
Use a light background behind you and wear dark clothes.
Make certain you wear a contrasting color shirt. For example white with a blue suit, so you can be seen clearly when the picture is shrunken to one square inch and printed in black & white or gray tones.
It’s a statistical fact that if you hand-address the envelopes more people will open them.
I worked with one client who specialized in retail merchandizing (POP, planagrams, etc). After developing her resume, we discussed putting together a targeted job search campaign to go after some of the bigger players in retail. While working out her “unique selling proposition” she made the claim that she could walk into any retail environment and recommend how they could make more money through better merchandising. I asked, “Can you really back that up?” and suddenly her plan was born.
My client targeted 5 major retail outlets, went to a number of their locations, and made detailed notes on what she saw and how she would improve it. The first company she contacted was a major outlet with offices located in the building over the store. She walked into the offices, asked to speak to the person in charge of marketing, was told he was in a meeting until 11:00am, so she scribbled a quick note on a piece of paper that read “I’ve just spent 30 minutes in your store. I found 3 merchandising inconsistencies and identified 7 ways that should increase your sales by about 12-15%. My name is ____________ and I will be waiting in the coffee shop downstairs.”
“Please hand this to him at the end of his meeting. It’s very important” and she walked out.
Shortly after 11:00, the VP of Marketing came downstairs, met her in the coffee shop, and spent the next hour walking through every corner of the store discussing her findings. Although no such position existed, the VP hired her as their new Director of Merchandising.
Do a competitive analysis on one of your targeted employer’s products and send it to them. People assume that all companies keep up to date on their competitors, but this is rarely the case. Most companies don’t have the budget or the ability internally to keep on top of innovations and best practices so your piece will likely be most welcome.
Focus on companies that are direct competitors with those you want to work for, not your own company.
Potential employers need to get something out of reading the piece.
Use graphs and charts wherever possible because people like visuals.
Make it only as long as it needs to be.
Ask for an opportunity to discuss your findings with the hiring manager if they’re interested.
Offer to share your primary research if they’re interested
Send your resume and a cover letter which states “It’ll appear obvious from my resume that I’m over-qualified for the job you advertised, so let me tell you why you should interview me and consider “super-sizing” your opportunity”.
Write a bulleted list of 3-5 benefits you think they might be interested in.
Close the letter saying something to the effect that “I am old enough to have already learned from my mistakes – so my experience is more cost effective than a more junior person. In a few months, or years, you’ll need to send them on training to upgrade their knowledge, whereas I come fully equipped to do the next job too.”
Point out any certificates or advanced training which you already have that someone in that job might be expected to acquire.
Show you are already qualified to do the next position too.
Point out any retraining allowances or incentives employers might be eligible for if they hire a more seasoned person.
I received this email yesterday addressed to, "Dear Recruiter".
Let me ask you something... when was the last time an HR manager said to you at an interview: "Thanks for sending me your generic resume. And your generic email instructing me to read it. Aren't they the ones usually insisting you research the company and spell their name correctly?
Boy I sure felt special – honored even to have received it- Because you're the hottest candidate I've ever seen.
NOT!!!!!
Isn’t it HR who always complains about people who send resumes with generic cover letters that say; dear sir Madame... or something to that effect? It's un professional. Don’t they also say they prefer candidates who understand their business and can speak to their needs? It’s a rhetorical question. Of course they do! AND all the books on writing résumés and cover letters including my own, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, say the same thing. Customize your letter and resume to suit the opportunity. Research the company before you send the letter. Do your home work and show initiative by addressing your letter – email – fax to the person who’s responsible for hiring people into the role you’re looking to fill.
Well in my SPAM basket tonight is yet another RESPAM-ume [that’s a resume sent to me with a generic “hey buddy look at me message”.
But this one is different. It’s from an HR Director. And not a junior at that. No less than an “Accomplished Senior Human Resources Professional with over 12 years of experience".
Ok I admit her subject line got me to open it because it was so provocative: "Results Driven HR Professional" This, I thought - I have to read. So I clicked on it with great hope only to be disappointed again with her note to me, “I have attached my resume for your review. You are receiving this resume because your firm specializes in the industries and functions I selected while using resume distribution service. Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you if an appropriate opportunity presents itself.” BLAH BLAH BLAH [emphasis mine]
So I think --- ok how bad can this be?
Their must be some merit to it, I was wrong, sooooo wrong. But all is not lost. I wasted 15 minutes of my time so you can benefit from their mistakes.
Let me tell you the top 3 things this candidate did wrong so you don’t do it too.
Their resume was titled, “current resume.doc". This is absolutely wrong. At a minimum your resume should have your name on it like John Smith when you save the document. Or better yet John Smith results driven HR Manager. It's recipient needs to be able find it later, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that you should make it easy for a harried recruiter or hiring manager. Do you know how long it would take to open and sift through ALL the other word documents titled “current resume doc?”. Do you think anyone is seriously going to bother!
Ok sowhat else? Well there wasn’t one shred of proof in the resume, anywhere, that this person was indeed “results driven” as her subject line had promised. Not one accomplishment in 3 pages, no savings of money or decreasing costs. No streamlining of processes. No revamping of procedures. Exactly the things this HR manager would likely be looking for in the resume of a new hire. The closest I came was this line:, “Displayed great enthusiasm, creativity, and initiative”. To which I must ask – so what? Ok, so now I’m really confused. I’m just a simple headhunter but I have to wonder if this “Results Driven HR Professional” would even bother to read their own resume if it came across their desk? I think not and
I conclude that because I opened up the properties box in the word document [it’s under the “file” prompt] to find out when the document was written. 11 months ago. So they’ve been looking for 11 months. Must be spamming now because they’re desperate. But it would be a whole lot easier less costly and better for the environment [less dead trees] if this HR Professional where to articulate their value proposition, research the market demand for their skills and target employers instead.
DON”T let this happen to you.
I concluded this candidate obviously isn’t “results driven” nor are they a hot property I would want to promote to any of my clients.
But the part that just kills me?This that this is the norm with HR people.
America is facing a crisis of confidence with its workforce.
The social bonds between employer and employee where severed in the last recession and are irreparable on a national scale. HR isn’t an island of trust anymore and it needs to be because culture is the last bastion of competitive advantage in America, just HR is responsible for guarding and extending culture.
Tonight, this candidate scars me to death. Because I know they’ll get a job. They’ll land somewhere --- eventually AND then they’ll be put in charge of hiring the company’s best and brightest – and yet another company will go belly up with everyone wondering why, is it any wonder applicants try to circumvent the “system” when clueless people are in charge? It just stuns me. Perhaps I should be thankful. No I – I hope HR wakes up and become a FULL PARTNER in building America’s businesses, because right now they’re still getting in the way --- and don't even realize it.
Here's Why you should use LinkedIn to Research your Interviewer
Know who you’re negotiating with. Ever drive a great deal on a car only to find the salesman couldn’t approve the deal? Did the 'Sales Manager" suddenly appear only to cause you to start the negotiations over? Frustrating isn't it! Suddenly you're sitting in the drivers seat and one wrong move and you crash. Knowing where a company is in the hiring process gives you power to negotiate.
You can leverage the situation you figure out:What’s their time frame for a hiring decision? How long has the position been open? What kind of deal you get with their competitor is if they have made any offers that were refused.
Lastly, do your homework to understand what’s in the deal for the interviewer. Can they afford to walk away?
"The Worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have. Leverage is having something the other guy wants. Or better yet, needs. Or best of all, simply can’t do without." —DONALD J. TRUMP, TRUMP: THE ART OF THE DEAL
There’s a huge obvious benefit to engaging in creative out-of-the-boxactivities 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 youor the potential employer at risk.
Here’s an example pulled from the pages of the Montreal Gazette in Montreal, Canada on October 15th , 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 Montrealmarketing 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. “
A letter from a job hunter after I presented at ExecuNet.
"Dperry"- Thanks for a stimulating and frank discussion of guerilla job tactics and for not recycling the same old tired mantras on the Execunet webcast. I would like to see what your lost chapter is all about.
Also, although you demonstrated that direct contact was the way to go, the reason a lot of people aren't doing it more is that there is so little agreement about the best way to accomplish it. Your story about tracking the exec down in his bathroom was cute and made for a good journalistic newsbite, but I don't know how practical and systematic that is for most of the non-sales executives on the broadcast, especially when there is some uncertainty about how how good a match or how great a need there may actually be at one particular employer. (I'm also the one who asked about "research" and the lack of specifics it yields.)
As a "for instance" of the propaganda we get, see the quote below for a hardened opinion by one of the opinion makers in the executive job search business, John Lucht (Rites of Passage at $100,000...). I'm sure you and Jay would not be anywhere in the ball park on this line of thought. Does the book lay out some sound approaches?
UNLESS YOUR NAME AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS WILL ALREADY BE KNOWN TO THE DECISION MAKER, THEN YOUR MOST COURTEOUS AND EFFECTIVE APPROACH WILL BE AN IMPRESSIVE ON-PAPER SUBMISSION.
If you're unknown to both the gatekeeper and the decision maker when you phone, you'd have to be the world's glibbest con artist to imagine that you can talk your way through to an exceedingly busy and prominent person. So don't even try. You'll only make yourself look ridiculous and spoil the majestic entrance you could otherwise make on the wings of a powerful referral. If, in the long run, you have no better introduction than a superb on-paper mailing, don't doom it to failure by being remembered as the dope on the phone who tried to barge in with no credentials earlier. THE BOTTOM LINE Gatekeepers will do their job, whether you like it or not. So, cooperate ... or move along to another gate. THE TAKE AWAY Sometimes, you can't bypass a good person doing a good job.
###
Dear Job Hunter
Yes GM4JH lays out many tactics and strategies to lead you to your ultimate goal – an interview and an offer. The book is heavy on the do-this and not-that advice. The tactical “dirt under your fingernails” stuff.
I am quite sensitive to the needs of the non-sales executives. Of the 999+ ways to find a job perhaps 3 require the type of outgoing personality normally found in a sales or marketing type. We knew full well that the readers of GM4JH would be 95% comprised of people who are NOT S&M people.
The book is slanted toward creating interest in yourself as a candidate by showcasing what you have already done for others – thereby implying “I can so the same for you” – through creative packaging of your experience.
As to John’s assertion: UNLESS YOUR NAME AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS WILL ALREADY BE KNOWN TO THE DECISION MAKER, THEN YOUR MOST COURTEOUS AND EFFECTIVE APPROACH WILL BE AN IMPRESSIVE ON-PAPER SUBMISSION.
I can’t agree and here’s why. The purpose of Guerrilla Marketing is so your name “will” be known –even if you can’t ride on “the wings of a powerful referral” – and your experience desired by employers for the rest of your life.
A career is a process with many transactions [jobs] with you as the CEO of Me Inc. Deciding who you work with is your business – literally. You’re not “powerless” which is the impression this quote leaves me with. As the holder of the asset [knowledge+ skills+ aptitude], you have ALL the power. Your job is to articulate your value in a manner they understand – that’s the challenge. If the Gatekeeper – gets it – and most do, s/he will let you through whether your approaching them by phone, fax, email or paper. It a gate keeper’s job to pan for gold for their boss and to keep the “claim jumpers” at bay. What impression does your approach leave?
In this instance the author is talking about networking which is the major underpinning of the book – in the context of 1988 when it was first published - and it’s a good book on networking, but networks are passive not active. The challenge becomes what do you do when you don’t have a powerful referral? When you’re not known outside your circle of acquaintances? When your circle drive Chevy’s and not Jags?
The challenge with networking in general is that traditional networking ultimately relies on having a fundamental belief in the kindness of strangers.
At its core, it preaches that job-hunters must have faith that they’ll find a job through a friend of a friend of a friend. This is largely a myth.
Although I’ve heard that this strategy yielded great results in the past, it’s not enough today. With the constantly changing marketplace, there is more competition for fewer leads. Traditional networking is much like casting your fate to the wind. It is too passive to rely on. Moreover, there are three flaws in traditional networking in my opinion:
1. You need to have a network at hand when you find yourself out of work (by the way—being out of work is not the best time to start building one).
2. It requires you to be at least a little outgoing because you need to talk to strangers.
3. There’s no way to guarantee the jobs people refer will be ones you’ll excel at, much less be interested in.
On the networking front, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters shows you – in great detail – how headhunters and executive search professionals use networking to discover opportunities where it would appear that none currently exist.
Beyond networking, GM4JH shows you how to command attention. How to leverage the halo effect of your previous employer[s] brand; how to build buzz; how to become the designated expert - even how to work with the gate keeper to make them beg to hire you!
David Perry Coauthor Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters
Harness the power of direct mail. The first thing you need to do for a prospecting letter is compile your list. Find 5-10 companies you want to work for based on your research. Compose a letter to your network of contacts asking them if they know of anyone who works at any of the companies on your enclosed list.
When a contactdoes know someone at one of the companies ask him or her to forward your resume to them and let you know how to follow up on the referral. Enclose an eXtreme makeover resume or a functional one with 3-5 bulleted accomplishments that would be of interest to hiring managers at the companies you target.
Send the letter to all your direct contacts first: lawyer, accountant, friends, colleagues, former employers.
Send the list to your closest neighbors next and then people that you don’t necessarily know but you’ve always meant to stop by and introduce yourself to.
Attacha hand written note to your list and sign your name
If you hit a dead-end find out who supplies the company with computer products, stationery or any other service and approach them the same way.
Don’t be surprised if someone calls one or two of your target companies and tells them you are doing research on them… that’s not a bad thing to have happen.
You Guerrilla doubters out there are going to appreciate this article because it is added proof that a Guerrilla Resume simply is not everyone’s favorite flavor; and that our methods are especially disliked by many so-called, process oriented job experts out there.
One of our current students (Mark G.) who is enrolled in the 10 week Guerrilla Job Seekers Boot Camp shared an interesting in the trenches story during last Friday’ job seekers conference call.
Per one of his weekly assignments, Mark applied to a particular department, and to a specific person within a company that piqued his interest. He used his Guerrilla cover letter and one page Guerrilla Resume in the “precise manner” that he learned in our boot camp. (The former is where I believe the overwhelming majority of “maybe want-to-be” Guerrilla job seekers fail. That is because they don’t follow our EXACT Guerrilla instructions and/or the job seeker puts together what they “think” is a Guerrilla cover letter and resume when in reality, it simply isn’t.)
To continue Mark’s story, the hiring authority routed Mark’s resume to Human Resources (HR) and “directed” them (HR) to call Mark in for an interview. Therefore, HR had no choice but to call Mark because HR does not have the authority to tell the boss –“no !”
Here is where the story gets interesting…
Upon arrival for the interview and following company protocol, Mark first sat with the HR Manager before meeting with members of the actual hiring team. According to Mark, after the HR person looks over his resume, that individual sits back and says, “You truly do yourself a disservice using a one page resume such as this.”
Mark asks, “How so ?” The HR professional responded by saying, “Well this is really nothing more than a dressed up functional resume that lacks sufficient detail. It’s not the way things are done.”
Mark responded by saying, “The cover letter and the 1 page resume method I used was only intended for the sole purpose of an employer to sit-up, pay attention and want to talk with me.”
The HR person then said, “But this resume leaves out particulars that we would like know before an interview takes place.” Mark then said, “Well, my one page resume and the information I provided got me in the door for an interview, didn’t it ?”
Purportedly the silence in the HR persons office was deafening regarding the matter and Mark was sent on his way to interview with the real decision makers !
Did I say, “Do yourself a favor, dump that Guerrilla resume ? “ Sorry, I didn’t really mean that, but it got your attention didn’t it ?
Mark J. Haluska, Senior Certified Guerrilla Job Search Coach for North America
After being laid off, George Brown knew exactly which company he wanted to work for next, but every time he called, Human Resources told him the company wasn’t hiring. So George sprang into action, and another guerrilla job-hunter was born.
George printed business cards that were round, slightly larger than normal, and very colorful. On the front was a picture of a pizza with a circle-shaped message: “Win a Free Pizza.” The flip side of the card gave his name, e-mail address, and telephone number along with the promise of a pizza for the first person to get him an interview with a manager in the company.
Dressed for an interview, George stationed himself at the entrance of the company and handed out cards to everybody who would take one. He kept this up for a couple of days and became a topic of conversation at the company. One manager figured that anyone who would go to so much effort deserved an interview.
One extra-large pizza later, George guerrilla-marketed his way to the job of his dreams at very little expense, and the company is more profitable because of it.
Compliments of Shari Miller, Principle of The Elmhurst Group, www.elmhurstgroup.com.
“I saw a job advertised online and applied by mail. I sent a box with a paper Starbucks coffee cup, my cover letter, and resume inside. On the side of the cup, where it has boxes for the type of coffee, I made my own box that said, ‘Hire Mary’ and checked it with a black marker. I heard back a couple days later to get my first interview,” says Berman.
After her first job interview, which went well, Berman followed up with panache. “It was Halloween time, so I decided to send them a chocolate covered apple with my hand-written thank-you note in a bag. I had a friend of mine, who was off work that day, take it over and deliver it to [the employer]. That was a big hit — they were thrilled — and I got the second interview out of it.”
Berman’s second job interview was with the executive vice president. Afterwards, she followed up diligently. “When I came home, I wrote a 30-60-90 day plan. I had taken copious notes during the interview and used that information to create suggestions for what I would do in my first 30, 60, and 90 days. I sent that to them via FedEx with another thank-you note. And I got a job offer.”
Now. Let’s break this successful Guerrilla Job Search down …
1. Start smart.The Coffee Cup Caper — a paper Starbucks cup, full-color Guerrilla Resume, and a cover letter (asking to meet for coffee), shipped in a box — gets extraordinary results. By contrast, ordinary resumes and cover letters, sent by email, get ordinary results.
2. Follow up with style. Delivering a Halloween treat with her thank-you note was correct seasonally, if not politically. Use good judgment before sending items that might be perceived as bribes by employers sensitive to such things, such as universities or public-sector organizations.
In Berman’s case, however, it worked like a (chocolate-covered) charm.
And, leaving out the gift, think of the impact a hand-delivered thank-you note can have on an employer, versus standard U.S. Mail or email. Could you arrange to have your thank-you note delivered by a courier, or a friend acting as one? Of course.
3. Give employers another reason to hire you. Mary did this in spades after her second interview, when she sent a written plan of action that outlined her first three months on the job.
A 30-60-90 day plan is a way of proving you can do the work — before you’re even on the payroll — by describing how you would learn the job, build rapport with employees/customers, and contribute to the bottom line.
Mary’s plan was 8 pages long and took the better part of a Friday night to prepare. (Before you balk at spending an entire evening at home researching and writing a 30-60-90 day plan, ask yourself if you wouldn’t trade a night out for getting a steady paycheck again.)
4. Score style points with your delivery. Mary’s first follow-up, the chocolate-apple-thank-you note, was delivered by a courier, not by email. Her 30-60-90 day plan was delivered by FedEx, not by email.
Do you not see a pattern?
Email should NOT be the delivery method for your career documents. Because you can’t delete a courier, and a FedEx envelope can’t get caught in a spam filter.
Bottom line: This smart Guerrilla had failed to get even one job interview in 20 weeks of job hunting with conventional tactics.
After adopting unconventional Guerrilla tactics, she found work in only 7 weeks.
If Guerrilla job search methods can work in Michigan, where the unemployment rate tops 15%, they can work where you live.
The only thing stopping you from thinking and acting like a Guerrilla Job Hunter - is you.
First, find a company for whom you would like to work. Write a compelling covering letter describing why you are good for them, pointing the receiver to the enclosed CV for further information. Don’t seal the A4 envelope and don’t enclose a CV. They’ll think the CV fell out in the mail. Wait for the phone to ring, speak to the hiring manager personally, engage them in a conversation, and sell yourself shamelessly.
Compliments of Matt Foster, Managing Director, CVO Group
use high quality stationary
Make sure the letter fits very snugly in the envelope so it doesn’t really fall out.
Make sure your phone number is on the covering letter.
It's Friday Guerrilla and Friday is the best day to do two things:
book interviews for next week
fill your opportunity pipeline
It's also a great day to examine your job hunt progress.
What progress have you made this week? [Which employers are you going to speak with next week?] How where your interviews? Did you send thank you notes to everyone you talked to? Even the ones where you where not successful.... that's an often over looked source of leads. Just because you didn't get the job or even the interview shouldn't stop you from saying thank you.
Stop and think about this for a minute. Have you ever gotten a thank you card from someone whom you didn't hire? What would you think? Crazy *&%#* Let me tell you how I would react - yes I know CEOs and hiring managers in general will react this way – remember I do this for a living.
One of your best sources for leads to fill your pipeline are the people who turn you down. That’s right – and it doesn’t matter at what level in the company they’re at. They know who else is hiring … they also know which companies may have a problem you can solve BECAUSE they’ve just spent more than a few hours interviewing a ton of people. Talk about competitive intelligence!
Now you just need to follow up with a thank you note for the interview – expressing your sincere gratitude for their time and your interest in staying in touch. And 5 days AFTER you mail the note you call them and ask who else among their colleagues has plans to:
Increase their sales this quarter
Take market share from competitors
Open new markets
Or what ever it is you specialize in....
PS. THEY ALSO KNOW WHERE THE PERSON THEY JUST HIRED IS COMING FROM. Think about that …
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job serach tactics go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
Grant Turck takes time out to talk to me about how he launched a targeted Facebook campaign at the Public relations firms he wanted to work at. Grant explains how he did it. What it costs and the results. He also has advice for others considering doing the same thing.
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT of the VIDEO
David Perry: How do I find you on Facebook, because that is what we’re here to talk about today?
Grant Turck: On Facebook you can search for me in the Search box under Grant Turck and I should pop right up.
David: I wanted to talk to you today, Grant, about what you did specifically on Facebook because you just graduated from Pepperdine University in Public Relations, right?
Grant: Correct.
David: You’re looking for a PR job in Hollywood, here in Los Angeles. Tell me, why did you use Facebook, how did this come about, what have the results been?
Grant: The first thing I did is I picked up a copy of your book, which I found out about one day when I was watching NBC News and they had some recruitment guy {The Recruiting Animal} on there talking about what you should do and he said, “The number one thing you should do is pick up this book-“
David: I’ll have to find that tape! [Laughter]
Grant: “-by David Perry and Jay Conrad Levinson called Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0.” I picked that book up and read through it and was looking for good ideas and one of the ideas in there was talking about Facebook advertising. It talked about how despite our recommendation to do Facebook advertising and how powerful it is at making one stand out, the percentage of people that will actually take us up on what we say is very, very, very, very miniscule. I said, “What the heck. I’ll try this. They say it’s not going to cost much and it’s very easy.” So I did. I took you guys up on what you said in your book and it’s turned out great.
David: How did it work out? Did you get interviews out of it?
Grant: The greatest thing I got out of it was exposure and publicity for myself, which is the number one thing, and not just in Los Angeles or Hollywood but in this world at large in this job market is to make myself stand out from the crowd, so with Facebook advertising, if you target your ads specifically to those people that you want to reach directly in a very, kind of creative manner that not many people seem to take advantage of.
David: Everybody wants to know what are the results? Did you actually get any interviews?
Grant: Yeah, I’ve actually had, in the past four or five weeks, about one interview a week.
David: Okay. Have you gotten any offers, or are they ongoing conversations?
Grant: Several ongoing conversations and I’ve had one offer.
David: Obviously you didn’t take it because we’re sitting here talking, right?
Grant: Yes.
David: That’s an assumption. So with the Facebook targeting, is there anything else you’re doing in conjunction, or is there anything else you think you should be doing, or somebody else that is watching should be doing in conjunction with Facebook?
Grant: Yeah, definitely. There is always more one can do in the self promotion game. I think that is the key to getting a job these days. You have to self-promote yourself because if you’re not self-promoting yourself nobody else is going to.
I’m finally getting my blog started, so I just have my blog up and it’s going to be TurckishDelights.com.
David: Turckish Delights?
Grant: Yes, playing off of my last name and the unique branding of Turckish Delights.
David: That’s cool.
Grant: I’m going to start doing a blog. I do Twitter. I do LinkedIn.
David: Where do you get the most amounts of hits? I know you’re on LinkedIn. Where are you getting the biggest bang for your buck? Is it with Facebook? With Twitter? Is it with LinkedIn?
Grant: I think with Facebook, I think it really has all come about the entire nexus. I’ve recommended people to be on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, I would say those are the top three to invest time into doing each one of those in conjunction with one another as being the most important.
David: How much time is that typically taking out of your day?
Grant: To maintain it I would say anywhere from two to three hours.
David: Okay, that’s just two to three hours casually, or two to three hours working at pushing it to the next level?
Grant: I would say two to three hours casually, maybe like one hour hardcore direct focus.
David: The Facebook interviews that you got, they were target companies?
Grant: Yeah.
David: And how did they come about? I mean, who did you target? How did they find you? What unfolded?
Grant: I’ve done several different types of ads on Facebook. I’ve done ones that have just been focused on the keyword “public relations” in Canada and the United States. I put focused on specific companies within public relations, sometimes I was running maybe 20 different ads with all basically the same relative body copy within the ad but the headline was different. So it would say “I want to work at Bite.” “I want to work at GH” for Golin Harris, or “I want to work at _____” and then just target those specific company names within the targeting. With Facebook advertising you don’t have to worry that somebody from Golin Harris is going to see your ad that you’re running the same time for Bite Communications because-
David: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Grant: -if you don’t have that you worked at Bite Communications in your résumé and you’re now working at the other company, you’re never going to see the ad.
David: So what these people, Bite is one that you talked about, what happened at Bite? Who did you connect with and how did that interview come about?
Grant: That interview came about from a senior account executive at the company who saw the ad and wrote me an e-mail directly and actually said to me that he had never responded to an Internet ad ever before but saw my ad, was kind of uniquely intrigued by it and wanted to reach out to me and that it seemed like I had some great qualifications that could be a great fit for Bite and I should look at their Web site. If I was interested I should e-mail their HR person, and they gave me the HR person’s e-mail address and he said I could then say that he had referred me to the HR person. I took a look at their Web site, it seemed like a great place to work, it was in San Francisco, so I emailed the HR person who then scheduled a phone interview which took place about a week, week-and-a-half later, and then about two weeks later I went out for a physical in-person interview where I interviewed with four different people within the company.
David: Then you got an offer that you ended up not taking.
Grant: Right.
David: So you went in at the HR level and the senior executive level, and we talk in the book specifically about entering, going in at the level of your boss’s boss. Is that the level you went in at?
Grant: With Bite Communications I would say probably so because I went in, the senior guy was the person who reached out to me and directed me to the HR person, and the interviews I landed I interviewed with the account manager with the team I would be working on, the senior account executive, the account executive, and then the HR person again, so I think I did go in at that higher level.
David: Okay. Now, do you have a top ten list as we talk about this in the book? Do you have a top ten list?
Grant: I don’t know if I have a top ten, like a full top ten list? I would say I have a top five list.
David: Are they all here in LA?
Grant: Yes.
David: Looking at the camera, who do you want to work for?
Grant: I want to work for Golin Harris; Rogers & Cowan; Bragman, Nyman, Cafarelli; Solters & Digney; or Warner Brothers.
David: Why those companies because you’re involved in other things. I mean you graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in Public Relations, but you have other things that you work on that are really interesting. How can those programs you’re working on, the movies you’re working on, the books you’ve optioned…what was that one, The Secrets of…that you optioned for $20?
Grant: How to Succeed with Women Without Really Trying by Sheperd Mead, which is a book written in 1957. I’m pursuing that as a movie right now and we’ve just attached some great comedy writers, Dax Shelby and Robert Stevens. They’re a writing team so we’re currently going out next week to actors and talk with some people, Robert Downey, Jr., Matthew McConaughey, and folks like that to attach one of those names with the pitch that these guys come up with because the book is non-narrative, non-fiction and the plan is to take that pitch with the actor and take back to the studios for financing to have it written and developed and turned into a motion picture.
David: What is your involvement once it becomes an actual, what is it called, a product or…?
Grant: Once it gets put into active development and pre-production, which is basically my involvement, I’m a producer, I’ll be credited as a producer on the project, but when it comes down to the physical production that will be basically left up to another producer that does the physical line producing and on the set type stuff.
David: Once that happens, your involvement, other than getting paid for it, is gone?
Grant: Yeah, it’s minimal.
David: Tell me then, how these companies that you mentioned before, would benefit from hiring you given what else you’re doing. Is there a crossover? Is that an eco-system in itself that cross pollinates?
Grant: One of the things to look at from what I’ve done in the entertainment business is the ability that I’ve had to uniquely position myself and get things done that basically very few to no one else has been able to do. For example, one of the other projects that I’m working on, which is John Grisham’s The Partner, which I’m producing with Lynn Hende and Robert Chartoff, and people might know Robert’s name because he won an Oscar for Rocky, is I brought the money to the table to get it done but I had never produced a movie ever before. I knew one of the key things is that John Grisham - there are a lot of people in this city and Hollywood that want to make a John Grisham movie – is that because I never produced a movie before that John Grisham would never give me the rights to take his book and make it into a movie, so I knew that it would take somebody bringing somebody else on to the team with producing credibility to get that done so I went and brought Robert Chartoff on board and we pursued it together.
David: This is a family friend? How did you get Robert-?
Grant: I met Robert Chartoff through Lynn Hende who is the president of his company, and I met Lynn Hende through a client of mine, a science fiction author I was working with introduced me to Lynn Hende and said that if there is anybody in this business you can trust its Lynn. I went to Lynn and said, “I have the money to get this project up and running but I don't have the producing credibility. Can we pursue the co-production together?” Luckily it turned out and she said yes and so we did pursue that together. It’s very fortunate because a lot of times, especially in Hollywood, if you approach somebody and say, “There is this great book that would make a great movie,” they say, “Awesome, yeah, we’ll work together,” and you never hear back from that person again and they take that book and make it into a movie and you’re left on the sidewalk. I was very fortunate.
David: Where did you learn to do all of this? You’re not from here, right?
Grant: No, I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio, and I pride myself on the fact that I have no entertainment familial connection at all.
David: Where did you learn to do all the connections?
Grant: Just by doing. I learn best by doing and learning from mistakes and going with the flow. You learn so much more on the field than you do in the classroom.
David: Interesting. Facebook aside and LinkedIn aside, let’s go back to job hunters. I can see the value in hiring someone like you because you’ll just make connections until the deal is done, and that is the way things happen, right? Most people don’t realize that. What kind of advice would you offer job hunters now that may be struggling? For example, how do you keep yourself motivated? You’re here in Hollywood, you’re family is not here, right?
Grant: Right, they’re back in Ohio.
David: They’re back in Ohio. You supported yourself through Pepperdine, you graduated, you’re now looking for a job, you have all these different projects on the go, and you’re looking for a full-time gig as an account manager for one of these firms, how do you keep yourself motivated? How do you keep yourself going every day?
Grant: I exercise. That’s very helpful, but very basic, too. It releases endorphins, but beside that I do a lot of reading and ultimately, it may sound kind of dumb but you just have to tell yourself that in the long run it’s all going to work out and it’s all going to be okay. Think positive. You just do it.
Become recognized and branded as an "industry expert" by writing and producing a newsletter. All you really need to do is summarize best practices – add your experience or comments – print and mail it. When you send a newsletter with topical information that’s actually useful, employers may recognize your name when you telephone, making them more likely to take your call. When they in turn are looking to hire someone with your expertise you’re likely to be one of their first calls.
Newsletters should be 1-4 pages but no longer.
Summarize lengthy pieces and refer the reader to your web site for the full text version.
You can dress up the newsletter without breaking the bank by using pre-printed paper from companies like Paper Direct, http://paperdirect.com/
Make an electronic version and put it on your website.
Skeptical? Don't be. Everyone takes the "experts" phone call.
Tomorrow July 8th at 6 p.m. Eastern Time is the deadline to express your "genuine" interest.
It’s going to be an unforgettable summer for those fortunate enough to join he and I for the upcoming 10 week Guerrilla Job Seekers Boot Camp.
Why?
Because in this highly structured Guerrilla Job Seekers program, we are going to teach you unconventional tips, tricks and tactics that you WILL NOT find; even in the best-selling “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters” series of books !
Naturally the course will include countless strategies that we NEVER blog about herein or anywhere else for that matter.
Best of all---you will be getting your weekly lesson plans, our exclusive Guerrilla Job Seekers software not available to anyone who is not in our class ---at any price, you’ll be joining us for small group sessions as well as “one-on-one” time with us (both) throughout the program.
Participation is LIMITED in order to give those who enroll in our program the individual attention you will not only need--- but deserve, in this unprecedented lackluster job seeker market.
After some discussion, we came to the decision to extend enrollment until Friday, July 8th at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
We cannot accept any further applicants for the upcoming 10 week session after this firm date and time because Day 0 of the course is Saturday July 9th and you don’t want to fall behind !
For questions and more information you can call me (Mark Haluska) directly at my office at 724-495-2733. Should your reach my voice mail, simply leave me a message and I will return your call as quickly as possible.
Mark J. Haluska
Senior Certified Guerrilla Job Search Coach for North America
p.s. If after the 10 week course, and provided you perform all of your Guerrilla assignments, if you not working by then, we will stick with you FREE of charge until you are working !!!
Rejection - it's a fact of life for most job hunters. After a while it starts to grind on you. I know it's hard not to take it personally because every rejection pushes validates your worthlessness - at least that's how one woman described here feelings to me last week. "The silence from hiring mangers when you apply on-line is deafening," she said. I know exactly what she means. The lack of acknowledgment that you even exist eventually gets to most people.
As a head-hunter who's done quite well over the last 25 years, I've had a front row seat as friends and family had their "buttons pushed” — not once — but sometimes dozens of times each day.
BUT the cold hard truth is ... it doesn't have to be that way.
If you want to find a job faster than the national average of 39 weeks, you need to do four things average people don't do - starting with taking responsibility for developing empowering yourself.
Action Step 1: Take Charge of Your Job-Hunt
Only you know your strengths and weaknesses. Only you know what you really enjoy doing. Only you know where you want to work and why. Only you know how you can help a prospective employer. Only you can articulate your interests and strengths in a cover letter and resume. Don’t let anyone else do your resume or your cover letter. You need to do it yourself. You can ask people to review it but it must come from you—even if you are receiving outplacement counseling. Come interview time, you need to mirror the person you have portrayed on paper or you will strike out. You will represent yourself better when you own every word on the page. You can look at at example resumes for inspiration but yours must be unique.
Action Step 2: Adopt a Tough Mind-Set
Surround yourself with positive people. Get rid of anyone who sympathizes with your plight and is eager to commiserate. You do not need sympathy. You need support, and there is a huge difference. Supportive, helpful, optimistic family, friends, and reputable professionals remind you of your strengths and give needed encouragement and feedback. Sympathizers zap your energy and self-esteem. Staying inspired requires the input of inspiring people, so find a trusted confidante who can help you polish your presentation, provide moral support, and strategize.
Action Step 3: Stay Focused
You need to feed your opportunity funnel in the same way that sales people feed their sales funnel: so many leads, so many calls, and so many interviews. Like a good salesperson, you need to track and record your efforts. You must keep a record to show yourself that you are making progress. If you can visually see progress, you will have an extra incentive to keep at it. If you’ve completed 10 calls today, then record it. If you have sent out a batch of networking letters, note that, too. I encourage my friends to chart their accomplishments on the wall as I do, because “seeing is believing.” Note how many interviews you’ve scheduled, calls you’ve made, call-backs you’ve noted, and research you’ve completed. It is critical to be able to view your “job-hunting funnel” to ensure you have adequate leads to provide a steady supply of interviews. AND make certain your LinkedIn profile is working hard for you.
Action Step 4: Think Positive
As Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” It is important for you to believe you’ll succeed. You must convince yourself through your own self-talk, that you are successful. Write out positive affirmations about your job-hunting skills such as the following:
- “I interview well.”
- “I come across with confidence in interviews.”
- “I find the perfect positions that use and grow all my talents.”
Keep your statements in the present not the future tense. Read your list every day. Post it at eye level as a subliminal motivator. You can be your own worst enemy or your biggest fan. Give yourself credit for what you’ve completed and don’t beat yourself up over what you haven’t yet accomplished. Work at a steady pace with your end goal in mind. Your new job, and the burst of self-esteem that comes with it, will be worth all the effort.
Now you may be thinking that all of this sounds a little too simple to work. And you would be 1/2 right. It is simple BUT it also does work. There is very powerful psychology behind it. Imagine for a second how you would feel if you just won the lotto. See how your body and mind just shifted? How positive you suddenly felt? Your brain is that powerful. Use it to your advantage by dwelling on the positive.
The best news you may read all day...
is that on average - throughout the recession - 4 million Americans are hired every month and many millions of jobs go unfilled.
You read that right!
How many jobs went unfilled in America last month? Click this link to see how many jobs went unfilled last month and this link to see how many people were hired. Surprised? The biggest untold story in America is that the way employers hire has dramatically changed and if you're relying on job boards, newspapers and "traditional networking" you're missing out on 99% of the action. That's the New Reality.
If you would like ideas on how to penetrate the hidden job market effectively today, grab a copy of this audio CD Job search Secrets Revealed. It's free you can thank me later.
Then act like an MVP. The more you appear to be instrumental to a company’s success [with out the mind numbing ego part] the more bargaining power you have. Steve Nash for example is a great guy - easy going, very pleasant, with a good sense of humour - which just adds to his presence.
Be forth coming with the details of your success which are relevant to the potential employer. Remain calm when they drill you for the details. Credit your team where warranted – it makes you look twice as good - AND they're going to find out any way when they check your references.
Want more ideas like these?
You can listen in on an hour’s worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.
I have seen it a million times. People that are the perfect match for a job fold under the pressure of a job interview. The job market has changed, and no longer can you tell an employer about the tasks you did at your previous companies.
With so many skilled, educated and creative candidates to pick from, hiring managers are looking for the best of the best. They want to know if you fit into the company culture, what your Emotional Quotient is, who you are, and what you can do for them.
The only way to win the interview is to handle like a sales meeting where you present yourself in the best possible light about what you can do for them. Let’s be honest. You are selling your services to them in exchange for pay and benefits.
If you want the job, you better be able to make a living selling vacuums.
In one of the chapters he tells us that the 3-R’s have changed since we all went to school. No longer are they Reading, ‘Riting and “Rithmatic. He stresses that if you want to get an A+ and land your job you better focus Research, Relevancy, and Resiliency.
Without stealing his thunder, he is spot on. Unless you research a company from top to bottom you will never understand them. In doing your Research you must find a way to ensure that you are the Relevant solution to the needs the company has. You must also be Resilient. You have to learn how to handle all the no’s in life.
Those three R’s are the very tools that a good vacuum salesperson needs when going door to door. The ones who have mastered those skills get paid well. Those who have not... well, you know.
Do you remember the show Taxi? It was one of my favorites. In one particular episode called “One The Job – Part 1” the gang meets at Mario’s to discuss what they have been doing since the Sunshine Taxi Company went bankrupt.
Reverend Jim Ignatowski took up a new job selling vacuums door to door. I want you to watch his use of David Perry’s 3-R’s here - http://bit.ly/fjOgLW
Will you fold under the pressure?
Or can you sell vacuums and master the job interview?
Wayne Eells is the Founder and CEO of Eells Consulting which specializes in helping Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses achieve strong long term growth. Wayne’s 5-Star Backcast Method has earned him the label of Business Accelerator. His experiences include working as a pastry chef, a firefighter/EMS provider, and working with NASCAR and the race teams.
Does your resume excite and motivated people like lingerie from Victoria’s Secrets or keep them guessing like flannel?
Make it easy for an employer to see what they’re after. And what exactly is sexy to an employer? Quantifiable results and accomplishments!
Prepare a 1 page resume and dress it up with the names and logos of the major clients you’ve sold. Employers want to know about your wins first not your responsibilities.
Boring black and white resumes are like flannel nighties - they're comfortable but may not get you the attention you're looking for.
Be Hunted. Like Google, if you don’t rank among the first 3 people a recruiter thinks of when they’re starting a project… you won’t get “clicked” for the opportunity.
Increase your visibility and expand your network by presenting at conferences, seminars – even usergroups. Ask to be your company’s designated speaker. You can have someone else write the material if need be. Public speaking is an effective job hunting technique. Recruiters will beat a path to your door.
It's a million times easier for yoiu to answer the phone than to try and get an employer to talk to yoiu if you're looking for one - right!
For more great Guerrilla ideas, grab your copy of our Free Audio.
David Perry and Kevin Donlin Co-Creators, "The Guerrilla Job Search System"
Every minute you’re looking for a job you’re under a spot light. It’s like you’re delivering a PowerPoint. Your presentation has to immediately explain what the benefit will be to them or their organization.
You need to start by describing the results first, and then tell them how you'll get them there. If you're just hoping the product will be a benefit for them once you explain its features, you haven't done your homework. And you’ll be road kill.
Understand this now - You don't need to impress them with your credentials... you need to communicate with them—and that means talking the way they talk, about the things they talk about. Their issues – their problems – THEN - your solution - you!
Cindy "X", is a former HR executive responsible for hiring who agreed to be interviewed by Kevin Donlin and myseld today so long as we did not user her last name.
Cindy discusses several touchy HR issues including the ramifications of going around HR. Her insights will surprise and I say - encourage you! I was suprised by her answers.
So, if you're looking for job and not gettng the results you want then you might benefit form watching this webinar.
We've heard the arguments ad nauseam, and they can be said
to be true of almost any age. I'm sure you've heard time and again, that
because of the precarious economy, competition is extremely stiff and the only
way that anyone is going to make it is to "stand out from the rest."
This is certainly a valid argument, but in an economic climate in which
everyone is trying to one-up one another, standing out isn't simply about being
flashy. Creativity as distinguished from ostentation (or flashiness) is the
most essential element in searching for a job, but it's absolutely necessary
once you get your job, too. In fact, creativity is perhaps the most
sought-after quality in the job market today.
Consider this—economist and social scientist Richard Florida
speculates that what he calls the "creativity
class" has and will become the driving force in America's economic
development in the twenty-first century. Although Florida defines the creative
class in a number of ways, he identifies two groups of creative types—the
Super-Creative core, whose work "along with problem solving, may entail
problem finding," and Creative Professionals, who "draw upon complex
bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems."
Now what does this all mean in terms of your job search? For
one, if the creative class is indeed a highly-sought after group of people,
then the process of successfully finding employment will be, by definition, a
whole other ball game. Instead of simply come up with cute, new
"tricks" to make yourself stand out, the best course of action is to
demonstrate—every step of the way, through your resume, your interview, even
approaching the initial job search in the first place—how you fit this mold of
a creative individual.
One very small example of demonstrating creativity that
Richard Florida mentions in a Creative Class blog
article is Facebook and Twitter status updates. Although the article
initially explains how portraying a bad image on social networking sites can
cost you your job (as we all know by now), he suggests that the opposite also
holds true. Florida posits that posting interesting, clever status updates with
relevant articles and other resources will demonstrate to potential employers
your enthusiasm for living a creative life—something that many
recruiters are increasingly looking for in job candidates.
Above all, being creative in your job search is not just a
way to help you get noticed among the legions of potential job candidates.
Rather, creative job search techniques—something that Guerilla Job Hunting is
all about—are important for their own sake. They are a window into the world of
the Creative You, someone whom employers are desperately seeking out.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Angela Martin, who writes on the topics
of Career Salaries.She welcomes your comments at her email
Id:[email protected].
“Age Bias,” has become somewhat of a buzz word associated with job seekers over a given age, but let’s call it for what it is…Age Discrimination. There I feel better now.
When does it begin?
It’s been my experience that age discrimination starts rearing its ugly head when one is over 40 years of age and not 50 as is widely believed.
Does age discrimination exist ?I know it does, at least to some degree.
In fact, as an Executive Search Professional, I once had a new client (a household corporate name you would know) who screamed obscenities into my phone and further threatened to fire my search firm; if in the future we sent them anyone 40 or older.
What was their (twisted) rationale ?
“People over 40 simply do not have enough (runway) left in their career to advance far in this company,” they were quoted as saying to me.By the way, this was the belief and a rigid mandate set forth by the company’s Regional President who ironically enough was closing in on 60 !
Did my firm get fired ?
No, I fired the client because it is both wrong and illegal.Now before anyone asks, when we took on this new client, they neglected to mention that they discriminated based on age. I can only assume that they were accustomed to working with recruiters who would look the other way; they must have assumed that my firm would do likewise.
Did I try to “educate” this Regional President as to the consequences of being convicted of Age Discrimination ?
Yes I did, and to no avail.His response was short and sweet, “That’s what our lawyers are for and that is the end of this discussion.”Oh well, that just goes to show that not “everyone” in a position of authority will modify their moral compass even if at their own peril.
So, how do the “more experienced” workers over 40 gain meaningful employment ?
First and foremost, even though you “feel” you may have been a victim of age discrimination it does not mean you in fact were. Let’s face it; on a national basis, this is likely the most competitive job market we have seen in our times.You may have been a casualty due to the sheer numbers of unemployed people you are competing with.Then again you may have been competing with a Guerrilla !
If you are a job seeker over 40 or over 50 for that matter, here are seven rock-solid proven points to seriously consider while looking for your next gig:
Your resume and cover letter must quickly and clearly articulate your value in that it addresses an employers primary pain points; no great revelation here except for the fact that very few people can skillfully do it.
Approach your search with an absolute goal in mind that goes above and beyond just getting “another” job.
Remember that what YOU want is of no significance to a potential employer.
Humanizing your job search is a cradle to grave undertaking, you must do so throughout the ENTIRE process.
It is of the essence that you’re talking and meeting with “yes” people.
Don’t be a nuisance, but be “imaginatively” persistent with potential new employers.
Networking, be it direct or indirect is still the number one proven way to land a new job. Learning to socially engineer your way into a new position will pay off.
If I were to describe a “typical” Guerrilla Job Boot Camper,” they would be over 40 (or 50) and of course unemployed when they joined us; as a best guess I would have to say that less than 1% of our boot campers have been under 40 years of age.
Go here to WATCH several short videos and see what these people did to overcome (either) real or imaged Age Discrimination. You’ll note that not one of them is under 40 !
You can actually “meet” Steve momentarily on a couple of short video interviews that Steve (along with my Guerrilla colleague Kevin Donlinand I) at a Holiday Inn just outside of the city last Tuesday.
When Steve was first laid off and as part of a severance package, his employer paid $ 5,600 for him to attend a short employment outplacement program with one of the well known “big boys” in the outplacement consulting industry.
The end result for Steve was that by using their recommended methods for finding a new job; he ended up submitting literally hundreds of resumes to prospective employers with nothing to show for his time and efforts. Before Steve knew it, he surpassed the one year mark of unemployment. By Steve’s own admission, he was losing confidence in himself and enough even some of his own identity.
Has this happened to any job seekers you know ?
Steve has been a financial service’s professional for nearly 30 years. Before joining us at the Guerrilla Boot Camp, the very few employers who actually did talk with him quickly dismissed his candidacy telling him that he was “overqualified.”
Do you know of any job seekers who have heard that line before ?
A brief history - Steve had been out of the workforce for 14 months and felt he was running out of options. As it turns out and unknown to me at the time, he had been following my blog postings for a time and decided he had nothing to lose by contacting us. Steve did so in January 2010 to ask about our 10 week Guerrilla Job Seekers Boot Camp.
Now the bizarre part:
While Steve was enrolled in our Guerrilla Job Seeker consulting program, (he was) all along sharing his experience regarding our unconventional tips, tricks and tactics with his immediate family members as well as a “job search buddy” we require all Guerrilla Job Seekers to enlist.
His “job search buddy “embraced our methods and was intrigued, but one Steve’s highly successful family members was quoted as saying, “Those things you are being advised to do in that boot camp are simply too bizarre ! “
I’ll let you as the reader be the judge.
I say that because what is truly “bizarre” is the fact that while Steve was enrolled in our job seeker boot camp, his first offer was delivered in a mere 4 weeks and 3 days after joining us. Furthermore, Steve was asked to entertain a total of six (6) offers after talking with eight (8) potential employers within that very short timeframe.
Oh, did I mention he only sent out a total of 10 resumes while working with us ?
In this day and age, that kind of job search success is staggering !
On a closing note and as I type this, Steve is savoring his hard earned job search victory with a start date of March 15th. He is a newly appointed Senior Vice President at a most prestigious organization here in Pittsburgh.
This new Guerrilla Boot Camp graduate is now positioned to earn nearly 4 times more in guaranteed base and potential bonus than he was “originally willing to settle for” because of 14 months of rejection by employers and resigning himself to the fact that; even if he did find a job, he may be forced to join the ranks of the grossly under-employed.
To watch Steve’s story…………..
Simply go to: http://www.psychoape.com and click on the button titled,” What Do Job Seekers Say about Us”
Once you have clicked on that button, near the top of the page there will be two side-by-side video’s featuring Steve. The videos are titled:
• “80% Interview Success Rate for Guerrilla Resume!”
• “Guerrilla Job Search Coaching: Shock and Awe!”
Have a Great Guerrilla Day !
In closing, if you or someone you know are looking for a new job, get one faster and would to like to learn more, don’t be bashful, visit me at http://www.psychoape.com
Mark J. Haluska
One of only 4 certified Guerrilla Job Search Instructors in North America
Publications:
·A Contributing Co-Author of the highly acclaimed"Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0,"1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing your Dream Job. Released June 2009
·A Contributing Co-Author of the best selling book “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters,” 400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing your Dream Job. Released September 2005
The Guerrilla Marketing series of books has sold over 20 million copies in 62 languages worldwide !
·Recommended reading for Corporate Hiring Authorities: “Executive Recruiting for Leaders,” Insider Secrets for Locating, Evaluating and Retaining Top Talent by David Perry and Mark J. Haluska, Released July 2008
If you read Part 1 of this posting, you might be thinking, Mark you implied in Part 1 that more or less a high number of companies would want to interview me if I do a “Best Resume.”
Is that right ?
I would have to say, “Yes, that would be correct.”
As I stated in Part 1 of this article, your cover letter and resume “should “realistically net a 30% to 75% success rate in terms of being contacted by your targeted employers. Those percentages are based on the ranges that our Guerrilla Job Seeker clients have enjoyed to date, even in this recession !
As a practicing Executive Search Professional (aka Head Hunter), a Certified Guerrilla Job Search Coach and a contributing co-author of two best selling books on the subject both (published by Wiley) within the last 5 years, what I will say is that your cover letter and resume must pass the 15 – 20 second smell test or you’re toast.
Your cover letter must be concise and articulate your value to the point of making that potential employer slam on the on the breaks, come to a complete stop and really pay attention.
Likewise, your resume has to deliver a quick and hard one-two knockout punch. Your message has to hit them right between the eyes; because the clock will still be ticking on that 20 – 30 second smell test.
So, how would I define “the BASICS” of a “Best Resume” ?
Here are just 12 basic ideas to get you started.
As I stated in Part 1 of this article, your newly updated resume ought to be your 5th (fifth) priority when it comes to finding a new job. Now, aside from the usual punctuation, spelling and layout errors resumes are prone to have, here are some “BASIC and simple” Guerrilla rules: (Well they are not entirely trouble-free because it requires people to in fact think followed up by the execution of a well thought out game plan. )
1. Your cover letter must be aimed at the one person in the company who genuinely cares about filling the position. I say that because it just stands to reason that the job would not be open if the company did not have a dilemma on their hands in need of resolution.
2. The first thing the recipient at your target employer is going to read, if done properly, is your cover letter. If done as I suggested earlier in this article, this will at least get you on first base. Don’t believe all that blather that recruiters and employers “never” read cover letters. Many people WILL but only if the cover letter is personalized, intriguing, to the point, and begs for more.
3. Sign your cleverly created cover letter in light blue ink.
4. Add a post script at the end of the cover letter using a presumptive sales technique to close it out.
5. Your resume doesn’t necessarily have to be on top grade paper in most cases. Paper in the medium price range will do just fine as will the color of white.
6. Don’t use an ASCII (Plain Text) resume format unless you are expressly instructed to do so. ASCII resumes are first read by computers. To the human eye however appear and most often read like a Microsoft instruction manual.
Due to time constrains I have to run for now. Let’s hook up in a day or two at the same place. I’ll outline the next 6 (six) additional points to consider relative to what constitutes a “Best Resume” and also share with you an absolutley astonishing resume success story by a client of ours who did the exact things I am talking about and with astounding results.
I hope you join me for Part 3 of this articleand in the meantime, have a Great Guerrilla Day !
In closing, if you or someone you know are looking for a new job, get one faster and would to like to learn more about authentic "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters" training; don't be bashful, visit me at http://www.psychoape.com
To quote Bill Clinton, “it depends what you mean by "The Best.”
Ok- that is not EXACTLY what Bill said, but you get the idea. :)
If you gave your resume to 10 different resume writers, (or wannabe writers) I’d venture to guess you’d likely get 8 to 10 diverse opinions as to “what” your resume really needs to be considered “The Best” and land you an interview invitation.
Did I mention that if you lost your job today, that scrambling to write / update your résumé should NOT be the FIRST thing that you do to find a new job?
Other than breaking the bad news to the family and filing for unemployment compensation of course, Guerrilla Job Seekers know that putting your “best” resume together should be the 5th (fifth) thing you would do as a matter of setting priorities in obtaining a new position. .
You read it right; the FIFTH chore you should carry out!
One thing that “most” resume writers will not disagree with is that your résumé is a very important part of your personal branding. Your resume AND cover letter should sell both the steak AND the sizzle at the same time!
Yes, despite what you may have read elsewhere, cover letters will be read IF you give the recipient a reason to do so !
More often than you would imagine, the most qualified person does not always get the position. I know this to be fact because I was a senior decision maker for years and (I) knowingly did not always make an offer to the “best qualified” applicant for a variety of reasons. Moreover, our Guerrilla Job Seeker Boot Campers have reported back to us scores of times where they were told after being hired that they were not “the most” qualified.
According to these new employers, it was their unique approach that put them over the top.
Why?
Because the best qualified individual was never viewed in quite the same light as the person who branded and marketed themselves as the ultimate commodity. In this highly competitive job market, these people discovered how to get, and then keep the attention of the prospective employer.
In fact, the best qualified candidate may never have been interviewed because of a poorly prepared resume, cover letter and then failure to follow-up. Then again, their resume may have just fallen into the HR Black Hole as a result of a poorly trained HR screener.
What is an ill-prepared resume?
Aside from the usual punctuation, spelling and layout errors resumes may have, an inadequate résumé is one that fails to compel of AT LEAST 3 of 10 carefully targeted hiring authorities to want to immediately talk with you. In fact, if you were to contact 20 targeted employers and batted a .750 (or a 75% call back rate) I would not at all be that surprised. It would not be the first time!!!!!!!
So, what I am saying is that “The Best” resumes can only be measured by the results you achieve in terms of invites for an interview.
Wow, in light of the competitive job market we’re facing today, that’s a bold statement isn’t it Mark ?
Due to time limitations today, I have to close for now. Catch me in the next business day or two and I’ll continue this thread, going over “the basics” of a “Best Resume.”
In closing, if you ever thought about being a Guerrilla Job Seeker, don’t to be bashful. Visit us at www.psychoape.com
There’s a FREE audio CD valued at $ 50 in it for you!
On the 12th day of Christmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 revealed to me
12 Ways to Renew Your Job Search
1.Begin 2010 with clarity-- know your target job and the top 10-20
employers you want to work for (you will start seeing opportunities where
before you saw none, just like buying a new car and seeing it all over the road)
2.Network
with former employees -- find them on Google, LinkedIn, or your own network
3.Be
easy to find -- create your free profile on ZoomInfo.com, America’s
largest database of working professionals (used by thousands of recruiters
every day). Download fresh contacts from FreshContacts.com
4.Stop
sending cover letters -- send sales letters instead (you can’t bore anyone into
hiring you, which is what most cover letters attempt; you must sell employers)
5.Stop
sending resumes -- send resume lingerieinstead (your
goal is a phone call from the hiring manager; hit their hot buttons with one
page and you can make the phone ring)
6.Let
others sell you -- use testimonials in your resume and cover letter (because
one testimonial from another person is worth 10 claims made by you)
7.Do
the thinking for the employer -- figure out the specific value of your past
achievements, in numbers, dollars, percentages (never, ever assume that busy
readers will figure out your value)
8.Get
on LinkedIn -- it’s America’s
largest social networking site for job hunters (if you’re not there, you simply
do not exist to most recruiters and savvy employers)
9.Sell
money at a discount -- tell employers how you can make or save more money than
you’re asking for in salary
10.Remember
“No” simply means “Not today” -- it does not mean “Never call us again”
11.Target
employers precisely -- when reading your cover letter, employers should think,
“Hey! This is all about me!”
12.When
in doubt, do the
opposite-- be suspicious of what “everybody” else is doing: “everybody”
waits for jobs to be advertised before contacting employers, “everybody” emails
their resume, “everybody” knows you don’t have to mail a paper thank-you note
after an interview … so, how’s that working for everybody?
Now go enjoy the Holidays! America is slowly dragging it self out of this economic mess and 2010 looks to be a banner year for hiring!
