Community Blog: Corporate Strategy / Business Development Professional

Mark your calendars for Tuesday December 8th at 8PM CST for JobRadioUSA’s Episode 23 “Highly Effective Networking – How to Meet the Right People and Get a Great Job.”

Orville Pierson – career expert, author, and SVP for Lee Hecht Harrison - will discuss:

• The best way to network for a job
• How to create highly effective job search and networking plans
• The components of structured and effective network meetings
• How to set up network meetings with insiders of your targeted companies, establish rapport, and generate referrals to hiring managers
• How to use network meetings with hiring managers to uncover hidden opportunities and transition from networking to interviews and job offers

You can access the show by either dialing 347-838-9326 or visiting http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecareercatalyst

Feel free to share this information with employed, underemployed, and unemployed job seekers.

During the listener Q&A session, Orville will reveal:

• How job seekers can use a small network to reach dozens of insiders and decision makers
• How job seekers can get the right message to the right people, even if they have never met
• How job seekers can talk to hiring managers before job openings are announced
• A network step-by-step strategy job seekers can follow to generate referrals, uncover job leads, and/or generate interviews

This should be a great show. Likewise, I look forward to your live participation Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecareercatalyst and listen to any of the previous 24 career shows you may have missed.

A job seeker should seek opportunities in both the advertised and hidden job market. For the past two weeks, I predominantly discussed how to locate relevant, advertised jobs on Twitter. Next week I will discuss how to use LinkedIn and Twitter to apply to advertised jobs and to locate hidden opportunities. For this post I will discuss how to locate targeted companies and individuals of interest using Twellow.

Visit www.twellow.com and register (if you are new to Twellow) by clicking on the Register for Free link (in the upper right of your screen) and inputting your Twitter screen name, password, and email address. Otherwise, just log in.

In the search field (at the top center of the screen) type the name of a targeted company. Let’s assume that Southwest Airlines is one of my 20 targeted companies. Likewise, I typed Southwest Airlines in the search field.

Next view the results. In my case, there were 44 matches including the official Twitter account for Southwest Airlines, profiles of employees including corporate recruiters, profile of the former CEO, and so on.

Click on the profiles of interest and click the follow button to add these individuals and/or companies to your group of followers on Twitter.

In my case, I clicked on the official Twitter profile of Southwest Airlines and on the Click here to visit this user’s Twitter page link under the profile.

Next I viewed some of the company’s tweets and viewed the Twitter list (located under the Lists area of the company’s profile) created for the company’s employees.

Most importantly, when you conduct a basic search for other companies like Pepsi, there will be thousands of matches or Twitter profiles for both employees and non-employees. Viewing all of these matches to locate company insiders is not efficient.

Likewise, you need to conduct an advanced search on Twellow. To accomplish this: go back to www.twellow.com, click the Search tab in the top center of the page, and view the search tips.

Now let’s assume I wanted to locate Pepsi employees who work in marketing. Likewise, I typed @(bio,extended_bio), Pepsi, marketing in the search field. Afterwards, I located the profiles for a marketing manager, international marketing director, and VP of marketing at Pepsi. These are three individuals I can follow and contact to ultimately generate referrals to other individuals of interest including hiring managers.

Next, I wanted to locate all the marketing and product managers on Twitter located in Dallas Texas. Likewise, I typed (”Dallas”) “marketing manager” | “product manager” in the search field. I retrieved one match.

In conclusion you now know how to locate advertised jobs, targeted companies, and individuals of interest on Twitter. Next week, I will discuss how to use both LinkedIn and Twitter to be introduced to hiring managers for both advertised and potential hidden opportunities.

Last week I created a post that discussed how to source job leads using TwitterJobSearch, locate targeted companies, and create a targeted company list. For this post I will discuss how you can locate job leads using TweetMyJobs and have your resume tweeted every 24 hours (if you choose to do so). Next week I will discuss how to determine if specific companies are on Twitter and to potentially view relevant tweets from company insiders.

Below I will discuss how to create an account on TweetMyJobs, subscribe to the desired job channels (by location and industry), and have openings automatically sent to your cell phone. I will discuss how you can also view these openings under the Job Listings link of TweetMyJobs.

1. Visit www.tweetmyjobs.com, click on Sign Up (if you are new to TweetMyJobs), fill out your profile, click on the link provided in the TweetMyJobs activation email (you’ll receive), and afterwards log in.

2. Click on the Enter your Twitter id/password in Account tab link (under Job Seeker Dashboard on the Home page), input your Twitter username and password, and click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

3. Select the Subscribe to Job Channels link or click the Job Channels link at the top center of the page, select the appropriate location (country, state, or city/state) in the left drop down box, select the appropriate job function (such as energy) in the right drop down box, click Filter list, and click on the green button (with the white plus sign) to subscribe to this channel.

Repeat this process to subscribe to more relevant job channels. Once you have established your channels, click the Job Listings link at the top center of the page, view the number of listings, and make any job channel adjustments. For example, I changed the location filter from Texas to Dallas, Texas to reduce the number of postings.

4. Select the Public Profile link at the top center of the page and create your profile by providing your contact information; links to your website, blog, LinkedIn profile, and/or other social media sites; profile title and objective; employment preferences; and text and MS Word resumes. If you do not want to receive text messages for relevant jobs, do not include your cell phone number in your profile.

If you choose to do so, you can tweet your resume every 24 hours by clicking on the blue Twitter icon located above your public profile under the Public Profile link. You can also submit it by clicking on the Home link, the Tweet or retweet your profile to the twittersphere link (under the Job Seeker Dashboard), and the Click Here to Send It!! link.

5. Click the Job Listings link at the top center of the page, click on a job posting of interest, and click on the Apply to this job button. Afterwards, you will be directed to the company’s website where you can apply. Also after clicking on a job posting, you can click the blue tweet button to view the original tweet and follow the individual who tweeted the job (by clicking on the individual’s twitter name and the follow button).

You can place these individuals in a dedicated list located under your main Twitter account or in the same targeted company list.

If you want to locate jobs on Twitter by a specific city or zip code, you can visit www.twitterjobcast.com. You can either locate all jobs or certain jobs in a specific zip code.

If you have not done so, I recommend you listen to Duncan Mathison’s “How to Conduct an Effective Holiday Job Search,” BTR Show. This show is excellent. Click here: http://tiny.cc/JedZR to listen.

Over the next few weeks I will discuss how to use Twitter and Facebook during the job search. For this post, I will share how to source job leads, locate targeted companies, and create a targeted company list.

1. Visit www.twitterjobsearch.com, sign in to Twitter, and click on the Allow Access button (if this is your first time using TwitterJobSearch).

2. Next complete your TwitterJobSearch profile by providing contact details, your skills, and URLs to your LinkedIn and online resume. You can log in to LinkedIn and click on “View My Profile” to obtain your public profile URL (located above the Summary).

3. To source job leads, click on the Browse button in the upper right of the screen, and type your job function in the search field. For example, I typed “corporate strategy” and retrieved 3500+ results. You can also use the categories and subcategories located under Browse Jobs on TwitterJobSearch’s home page.

4. Next refine your search using the filters on the right of your screen which include: Date, Job Title, Country, City, Salary, Job Type, and so on. For example, I clicked on “United States” under the Country filter and then clicked on “Dallas” under the City filter.

5. After setting up your search, click on the Subscribe button (on the right of your screen above the filters) to automatically have relevant jobs sent to your RSS reader.

6. Next follow individuals of interest who tweeted jobs (by clicking on their twitter name and the follow button) to ultimately network and establish relationships with.

7. To follow targeted companies that are recruiting and posting jobs on Twitter, visit the two links below:

http://tweepml.org/Employers-Recruiting-on-Twitter/

http://tweepml.org/Top-10-Companies-Recruiting-on-Twitter/ 

Then deselect the companies you do not want to follow, click on the Sign in on Twitter button at the bottom of the screen, and click on the Allow Access button. In an upcoming post I will discuss how to determine if specific companies are on Twitter.

8. Next place your targeted companies in a list. To do so log in to your regular Twitter account, click on the Create a new list button in the upper left of your screen, type the name of this list, select the appropriate privacy setting, and click on the Create list button.

Click on your following icon to locate the individuals and companies you are following. For each of the targeted companies (you are following), click on the manage list icon under actions, and select the targeted company list (you just created).

Click on the Home button and under the Lists section on the right of your screen, click on your targeted company list, and you will only see the tweets from these companies.

You have prepared for traditional and behavioral interviews. You have accomplishment stories that demonstrate you are a problem solver who can increase revenue and/or decrease cost. Now let’s imagine that a potential interviewer wants to learn more about your problem solving abilities. Likewise, the interviewer gives you a case interview. Are you prepared to ace it?

A case interview consists of the interviewer presenting a problem and asking the interviewee to come up with a solution. It is typically a real life business situation an interviewer encountered. Most importantly, case interviews are used to measure a candidate’s business acumen, executive presence, and ability to think quickly under pressure. They are also utilized to measure a candidate’s problem solving, analytical, communication, and listening skills.

If you are ever presented with a case interview, below are tactics you can use to maximize your performance.

1. Verify the information you received - you will be given an initial set of facts including the situation and the problem you need to solve. For example, “Our client is a global industrial engineering firm that manufactures wind turbines. Revenue is increasing while profit is declining. Our client wants to improve profit. What do you suggest the company do?” Afterwards, verbally paraphrase this information to ensure you understand the problem you need to solve.

2. Structure your thoughts - next you should take up to 60 seconds to structure your thoughts. This entails breaking down the problem into components and subcomponents. For this case interview, your components could be revenue, cost, and competition. The revenue and cost subcomponents would be price and volume and fixed and variable cost, respectively. The subcomponents for competition could be competitor benchmarks, actions, and so on.

3. Share the path you are going to take - verbally share your structure with the interviewer. To ensure you are going down the right path, state “Unless you suggest otherwise, I am going to start with revenue.” Likewise, the interviewer can point you in the right direction just in case revenue is not the main issue.

4. Next ask probing questions - you should ask thoughtful questions to acquire the information you need to ultimately crack the case. You should also ask questions in a structured fashion. For example, gather all the information you need for revenue before asking questions to acquire cost data. Then obtain all of the facts you need for cost before moving on to competition.

5. Perform calculations out loud - you will be given facts, figures, and/or charts to use to perform calculations. It is vital that you perform these calculations out loud so the interviewer can correct you if you make a mistake. If you perform your calculations silently and the final results are incorrect, the interviewer will have no idea where you made a mistake.

6. Structure your recommendations - once you have all of the information you need, take up to 60 seconds to structure your recommendations. This will also give you time to prioritize the supporting details for your solutions and identify potential risks and implications.

7. Deliver your solutions - finally present your solutions or recommendations with confidence and list the supporting details. Next mention the potential risks and implications and/or discuss potential next steps.

Nonetheless, feel free to listen to Carole Martin’s “Personal Branding During the Interview Process,” which was a good show. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/yekyfgh  to listen to this podcast.

1. Believe in yourself and your abilities - you must believe that you are the ideal employee who can produce great results for your targeted employers. You can accomplish this by minimizing doubt, viewing failure as a temporary setback, and looking for the good in every adverse situation. Also surround yourself with confident people and participate in positive mental attitude activities.

2. Develop or revisit your career plan - next adjust or map out your career path. You must determine where you want to go and the actions you need to take to acquire your career aspirations. This exercise will help you focus on potential opportunities that will keep your career on track – maintaining or growing your confidence in the process.

3. Determine the required skills and capabilities - next identify the technical, soft, and personal skills and capabilities you need to move from the beginning to the end of your career plan. You can acquire this information by conducting external research and interviewing professionals who are where you want to be in your career.

4. Identify your strengths and weaknesses - pinpoint areas of strength and weakness for each of the competencies and qualifications you need to achieve your career goals. For each skill and capability, determine which ones are either your greatest assets or areas for improvement.

5. Develop methodology for previous capability and skill usage - create outlines for the processes you used to produce great results for your previous employers. These outlines will help you produce work that at least meets your future employers’ expectations especially when you encounter unfamiliar territory in your career. For example, you could have identified potential solutions, conducted analyses to prioritize these resolutions, gained stakeholder buy-in throughout the process, and executed the best solution(s) to solve problems.

6. Locate resources and access to help - compile all of the relevant resources you can store on a computer such as training material including eBooks, industry and analyst reports, notes, previous work, and so on. Also bookmark websites that provide relevant online databases and free assistance from subject matter experts for all of your required technical, soft, and/or personal skills. These resources will provide you with assistance whenever you need it.

7. Participate in professional and personal development - consistently engage in professional and personal development activities which can include formal and informal hands-on training to acquire and/or strengthen your required skills and capabilities. You could also participate in pro bono (or volunteer) and/or consulting assignments and work in teams with confident individuals who are strong in your areas of weakness.

I recommend you listen to Ron Nash’s “How to Use Facebook to Revitalize Your Job Search” which was a Featured show or one of BlogTalkRadio (BTR) Today’s Picks. This show supplied several golden nuggets. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/yfftohf to listen to this podcast.

Generating suitable job leads is one of the most difficult and important stages of the job search process. You can be the best interviewee in the world but you will not acquire job offers if you lack appropriate opportunities. Since the job search process is ultimately a numbers game, more suitable job leads in your pipeline will result in more opportunities to interview and to subsequently generate job offers. Below is a 7-step approach to successful job lead generation.

1. Identify Your Target Market
Identify 20 targeted companies in your desired geographical regions and industries that may have a need or problem that can be successfully met by your expertise. To identify these companies, you can use business directories like Dun & Bradstreet, lists such as Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”, company review sites such as Glassdoor.com, and so on.

2. Identify Your Potential Prospects
Determine the senior executives who are in charge of your targeted business unit for your 20 companies; for instance, the CMOs if you are seeking positions in marketing. These are the individuals who can make hiring decisions or at least refer you to the appropriate hiring managers depending on your experience level. The quickest way to acquire this information is to dial the main number for each company and ask “Who is in charge of X (the department you are targeting)?”

3. Prepare Prospecting Scripts
Create call and/or email scripts to use when you contact previous and/or current employees (including hiring managers) of your targeted companies. These scripts should include an introduction, purpose, WIIFT (what’s in it for the individuals you contact), responses to common objections or rebuttals, and/or closing. If you want to gather information about a company from current and previous employees, you could state: “Hello my name is X and I’m a fellow X member who is thinking about pursuing opportunities with your company. The reason I am contacting you is to ask a few questions to determine if I should begin my pursuit. Do you have a few minutes to talk? ”

4. Prequalify Your Potential Prospects
Contact previous and/or current employees of your targeted companies to determine (if possible) which hiring managers are “qualified” based on having a need for your expertise, sufficient monetary resources or budget, and/or the authority to make hiring decisions. You can locate these employees from an advanced search on LinkedIn and other sources. During these discussions (and from external research), also gather information about the company’s stability, culture, work-life balance, employee profile, and so on to determine which targeted companies are ideal for you.

5. Determine Initial Contact Medium
Determine the ideal medium (based off of your comfort level) for contacting hiring managers of your targeted companies about hidden and/or advertised jobs. Ideally you should contact hiring managers by phone and/or email after receiving referrals from trusted sources. However, you could also contact hiring managers via direct mail and/or cold calls.

6. Make Contact with Your Prospects
Contact your targeted hiring managers using your scripts and the information you gathered to locate suitable hidden opportunities and/or to see if there is a fit for suitable job postings. For example, you could state: “Hello X, my name is X and I was referred by X who strongly believe I am the ideal IT manager (or ideal candidate for X job posting) for X, X, and X. The purpose of my call is to discuss this further. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

7. Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
Develop a daily, weekly, and monthly job lead generation plan and reserve the necessary time to efficiently meet the plan’s objectives. Periodically, determine what is working and not working regarding lead generation and make the necessary adjustments.

I strongly suggest you listen to Ford Myer’s “How to Get the Job You Want - Even When No One’s Hiring” which was a Featured show or one of BlogTalkRadio (BTR) Today’s Picks. This show was really good. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/yz98zc2 to listen to this podcast.

Making and achieving desired outcomes from networking calls is a difficult process for several job seekers. Likewise, below is a blueprint that job seekers can use to make networking calls like a superstar salesperson.

1. Determine Your Outcome: when you make a networking call or a call to either a targeted company insider or a hiring manager, the goal is to achieve a desired outcome. This outcome could include generating information, referrals, informational interviews, formal interviews, and so on. Once you know your desired outcome you can develop a call and/or email strategy (which includes the reasons or benefits your request should be granted) to help achieve it.

2. Prepare by Developing a Script: one of the reasons why several job seekers are uncomfortable picking up the phone and networking is that they did not perform these tasks a lot in the past. You may have heard of the old adage: “Practice Makes Perfect!” Well to help you increase the odds of achieving your desired outcome, I recommend you prepare a call and/or email script. The script should include:

3. Practice Your Script: after developing your script you should practice using it by contacting people in your network (family, friends, and etcetera) and then companies you are not interested in. By practicing your script you will be prepared to think quickly on your feet when you encounter individuals who are not eager to go along with your process. Likewise, you will be able to get to the point by focusing on the benefits that are important to them and asking for your desired outcome; instead of rambling shamelessly under pressure.

4. Implement Your Script: since you should have reduced your networking call jitters by preparing and practicing your script; now is the time to consistently reach out to targeted company insiders or hiring managers and ask for your desired outcomes like a superstar salesperson.

5. Adjust Your Strategy: remember to collect feedback and make adjustments to your pitch if you are not generating a favorable response. If you are receiving the same rebuttal or objection from the individuals you contact; incorporate a response to this rebuttal in your pitch or script. For example, when I sent out CEO Speaker Series invites, some of the CEOs responded by stating they did not have time to participate since they receive many interview requests. In my subsequent invites, I incorporated this in my pitch: “I am certain that you receive many worthwhile requests for interviews. However, my request is extremely important and should be accepted for X, X, and X.”

I highly recommend that you listen to Martin Yate’s “How to Jumpstart Your Stalled Job Search” which was a Featured show or one of BlogTalkRadio (BTR) Today’s Picks. This show was outstanding. Click here:  http://tinyurl.com/yzbuvn6 to listen to this podcast.

1. Not Prospecting Consistently: as a job seeker, you must keep your pipeline primed with potential job leads by either networking to create your own job market, applying to job postings, volunteering, working on a contingency basis, and so on.

2. Mentioning Salary Up Front: if possible, you should delay answering the salary question. There are various ways to answer this question if push comes to shove. If you are required to provide salary information while applying to an online job requisition, make sure you also network to have your resume and cover letter delivered directly to the hiring manager.

3. Not Customizing Presentations: you must customize all of your presentations (business discussions, informational interviews, formal interviews, and etcetera) after determining the benefits and/or solutions you offer that are important to targeted employers. You can acquire this information from former and current employees and external research.

4. Not Presenting to All Decision Makers: you must pitch your value propositions to decision makers or the heads of the functional divisions (i.e. marketing, finance, etc) you are interested in. More than likely these are the senior executives of the company or the individuals who can make or approve hiring decisions. You can accomplish this by acquiring referrals from company insiders (with a common connection you established rapport with) to senior executives.

5. Displaying Insufficient Knowledge: you must be an “expert” in your area of expertise and must effectively convey the value you can offer potential employers. In other words, you must be able to conduct intelligent conversations while displaying top notch business acumen. Participating in professional and personal development activities can help with this process.

6. Criticizing the Competition: you should not knock your previous employers and targeted employers’ competitors. Instead state, something similar to this: “Xs are good companies with good products and/or services. However, these are the reasons why I am seeking opportunities with your company.”

7. Not Asking for the Sale: you must always ask for the sale during all contact with potential employers. In other words, you should ask for informational interviews, formal interviews, the job (after concluding your interviews), and so on. To help with this process, determine three benefits or reasons why a potential employer should agree to your requests. Then you can state something like this: “I am the ideal candidate and should be selected for this position for X, X, and X.”

8. Taking Rejection Personally: you must realize that rejection is part of the job search process. Most importantly, you should ask for feedback (whenever feasible) to help adjust or improve your job search strategy and express interest in the position (if you were a top candidate) just in case it becomes available later. Each time you are “rejected” you should contact the employer and ask: “Could you please provide feedback about why I was not considered for this job?”

9. Not Following Up with Prospects: you must consistently follow up with potential employers by offering value to increase your chances of landing a job offer. Instead of following up with potential employers by stating something similar to this: “I am contacting you to check on my status,” you should provide value or demonstrate your expertise. This could entail sending:

To read more of these highly acclaimed blog posts, visit www.jobradiousa.com.

1. Determine Your Worst Case Scenario: In nearly all cases this outcome is not as bad as you initially thought. Afterwards put together a well thought out plan to overcome all potential obstacles to accomplish your desired outcome (landing your next opportunity). Finally determine the rewards of your desired outcome and strive for them by executing your plan through both the ups and downs.

2. Determine Your Opportunities: Winston Churchill once stated: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” As current job seekers, you now have time to identify career-related opportunities. These opportunities can include achieving a higher level of satisfaction with your work, joining a company with values compatible with your own, acquiring your ultimate career aspiration, and so on.

3. Maintain or Develop Confidence: If you’re not excited or confident about your ability to produce great results for potential employers, do not expect them to be excited and confident about potentially hiring you. Employers are looking for problem solvers who can help their firms make and/or save money. Determine how you accomplished this in your previous positions and develop your pitch. For example, “I’m a revenue and profit growth expert who helps solve the problems that keep your senior executives up at night.”

4. Diversify Your Job Search Strategy: In addition to applying to job postings, make sure you are also working to create your own job market. Job Radio USA is loaded with resources that provide steps on how to accomplish this. It’s up to you to use this knowledge and execute it.

5. Get Over Your Fears and Take Action: If you are afraid of blowing the few job leads you may have because you do not know what to say to a potential employer, are not confident in your abilities to generate value, and so on… do not use these fears as reasons to do nothing. First, identify 5-10 companies you would never work for and use them to practice creating your own job market, build up your confidence, “perfect” your resume, cover letter, and value proposition, determine what to say to potential employers, and so on.

6. Make Job Search Strategy Adjustments: If you are not generating favorable results from job postings, informational interview requests, and so on; it’s time to adjust your job search strategy. It’s time to develop an alternative resume and cover letter, use my LinkedIn techniques to apply to job postings instead of applying blindly, adjust your informational interview request pitch, and/or incorporate and test a creative, yet professional, job search technique in the marketplace.

7. Remove the Mystery: How many times have you heard someone state: “I wonder what would have happened if I would have done this?” It’s time for you to leave your comfort zone and do what it takes to make the “impossible” possible by landing your dream job during the Great Recession. Likewise, you will not have to look back with regret wondering how life would have been better if you would have taken decisive and bold actions then. Take decisive and bold actions now!

8. Get Away on Occasions: If you are working efficiently and diligently to land your next opportunity and your productivity is declining due to fatigue and other factors, take a break from your job search. Take advantage of your free time to rest, do what you love to do, and energize yourself. Afterwards, return to your job search.

9. Exercise and Give Back: As we all know the current job search can be daunting for even the most optimistic individuals. Likewise, job seekers should exercise to counter stress, bad moods, low energy levels, and potential depression that can result from the job search. Also look to give back by helping others or volunteering. The benefits of volunteering include a reduction in stress, physical pain, and depression. It also increases the endorphin level which helps people literally feel a rush of joy or great inside.

10. Never Give Up: Whatever you do, do not get discouraged and give up. The only individuals who fail in life are the ones who give up trying. Finally, ask yourself this question: “What are the benefits of halting my job search?”

To increase your chances of generating a response including an interview from a job posting, you should:

• Use LinkedIn to locate a company insider with a common connection (professional association, alum, etcetera)
• Request an informational interview to determine if the job is still available, name of the hiring manager, desired characteristics of the potential employee, and etcetera
• Customize your resume and cover letter using this information
• Ask your company insider to deliver your resume and cover letter to the hiring manager

Next, I am going to provide you with the steps I used to apply for a position last week with a Fortune 100 company.

1. Go to www.linkedin.com

2. Click on the “Advanced” link for the Search People field in the upper right region of your screen

3. Select “Located in or near:” for the Location field

4. Input a zip code for the Postal Code field and select the appropriate entry (such as 50 mi) for the Within field to ensure the location of the company is within this geographical range

5. Input the name of the company in the Company field and select Current in the box below this field

6. Click the Search button

7. If the search generated several results, you can limit the results to your network by checking the “My network only” box for the Filter Results field located under Modify Your Search

8. Next view the profiles to locate current employees who have a common connection with you (professional association, alum, etcetera)

9. Contact these individuals to set up an informational interview. I have discovered that I generate better results by sending an email for the initial contact. The email I sent via LinkedIn listed the name of the position in the subject field and the body of my email included this:

“Hello X,

I hope all is well. I’m a current X association member and want to set up a brief chat this upcoming week to discuss your company. I can be reached at 469-892-5092.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks-Kenrick”

The individual replied the next day listing the time frame we could talk. I replied by stating:

“I prefer to have my resume/cover letter hand delivered to the hiring manager, if there is a match. Tomorrow after 1PM is good. Let me know what you think.

Thanks-Kenrick”

10. We had our 10 minute discussion, I customized my resume and cover letter, and I sent it to my new connection for delivery to the hiring manager.

Whether or not you are invited to interview for the suitable positions you’ll apply for using this process; your response rate should be higher than if you just apply blindly.