Job Search Strategies (Part II)
In our previous article , we spoke about the need for a new way of pursuing jobs, developing a strategy that will get you noticed and get you hired. We also spoke about the fact that most people, apart from their cover letter and résumé, have no marketing tools or strategies at all.
Their lack of marketing materials is a great advantage for you, if you develop materials and a strategy. The purpose of additional marketing tools and your marketing strategy is to get people in a position to say yes to notice you and invite you in for an interview.
To recap, the first three steps are: discover your strengths, analyze your history of successes, and begin targeting who you want to work for. (For more information our article on employer targeting.
Let’s assume that there is a mid-size company that you really want to work for. You have heard about their excellent management, the great products/services they provide, and their excellent benefits package. Besides that you know little about them. What do you do next?
You could contact them and ask them what they do? But that would be tacky (or would it?).
You could find out what they do by contacting the Chamber of Commerce, by looking in Thomas’ Regional Directory, doing an Internet Search, going into their waiting room and stealing a copy of their industry journal. There are lots of ways to find out about nearly any company in today’s infomated world. But, you get the general idea. Asking employees about their company, asking users of their services or their products how they like them, and calling competitors for their opinion about them are not unheard of ways to research a company you want to work for.
One of the best things you can do is to read their industry journal or newsletter and see if there are articles about them in it.
When you check out their website, check for press releases, new product releases, and other cogent information about what’s happening, and what’s not.
Look for problems, challenges, and opportunities that are not being addressed and see how your strengths and successes have addressed problems or opportunities such as these in the past.
Make a list of all their problems or challenges and begin working on ways you would approach or resolve their problems.
Make another list of opportunities that they may be missing because the majority of their people are spending time solving problems.
When next we meet , we’ll talk about dollarization for success.
