Job Search Unplugged: Nab that Informational Interview (Part 2 of 4)
According to most sources, the best way to get a job is to be hired from within. The second best way is to come through a company's employee referral program. The worst way? If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know the answer (applying to online job postings).
If you could only distribute 20 resumes during a job search, would you be so quick to click "apply" on every job posting you see? You'd use those 20 resumes up in an hour and you probably wouldn't be contacted by any companies. But if you treated each resume like a hundred dollar bill, you'd make sure it got to the right place each and every time. That's what I am going to teach you in this post: how to ensure you meet people at your target companies. You MUST do this. Otherwise you're just wasting your time.
Step 1: You don't go to the grocery store without a shopping list and you can't find a job if you don't know what you're looking for. Identify the industry you want to work in and research companies in that space. Don't worry about finding contacts yet, just create a target list of 30-40 companies in an Excel sheet. I recommend the following column headers left to right: Company, Web site, Last Name, First Name, Email, Phone, Twitter, Last Contacted.
Step 2: You need to find contacts at your target companies. First, send your Excel sheet to friends and family and ask if anyone has contacts at your target companies. Second, look for fellow college alumni through your alma mater's Career Center or via LinkedIn. Third, if you can't find anyone, search for employees who have blogs or are quoted in articles frequently (Google News and Google Reader are great for this).
Step 3. By now you should have contacts at several of your target companies. Now you need to perform outreach. Send a simple email requesting a few minutes of their time. A sample is below:
Subject: Referral from Joe Smith; Seeking Your Advice on Marketing Careers
(or if it is a college alum: Fellow USC Grad; Seeking Your Advice on Marketing Careers)
Dear Mr. Jones-
The purpose of this note is to ask for your insight and guidance about the marketing field. I recently spoke with Joe Smith and he highly recommended I reach out to you.
I have spent the past five years doing XYZ... [no more than two sentences highlighting your career path].
I'm very interested in learning more about [your company], particularly due to X, Y and Z... [mention two or three interesting facts you found while researching the company].
I would welcome the opportunity to schedule a brief meeting with you to gain your insight. I will follow-up with you via phone in a couple days to see if we can arrange a time. However, if it is more convenient for you to reach out to me, my email is XYZ and cell phone is XYZ.
Thank you,
Brian Batchelder
DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR RESUME IN THIS EMAIL. DON'T SEND IT TO THEM UNLESS THEY ASK FOR IT!
(Another great resource is this post by one of my favorite bloggers, Tim Ferriss, about sending emails to busy people. Read it here.)
Step 4. If the contact replies to your email or calls you, great! Set up a meeting. In-person meetings are always best. You get to build better rapport with the contact and get a feel for the company and atmosphere. If you don't get a reply in two days, pick up the phone and call the contact. I suggest before 9:00 AM or after 5:00 PM. Write a brief script referencing your email and speak with a smile. Most people will pencil you in.
Congrats, you have just secured yourself some informational interviews!
If you could only distribute 20 resumes during a job search, would you be so quick to click "apply" on every job posting you see? You'd use those 20 resumes up in an hour and you probably wouldn't be contacted by any companies. But if you treated each resume like a hundred dollar bill, you'd make sure it got to the right place each and every time. That's what I am going to teach you in this post: how to ensure you meet people at your target companies. You MUST do this. Otherwise you're just wasting your time.
Step 1: You don't go to the grocery store without a shopping list and you can't find a job if you don't know what you're looking for. Identify the industry you want to work in and research companies in that space. Don't worry about finding contacts yet, just create a target list of 30-40 companies in an Excel sheet. I recommend the following column headers left to right: Company, Web site, Last Name, First Name, Email, Phone, Twitter, Last Contacted.
Step 2: You need to find contacts at your target companies. First, send your Excel sheet to friends and family and ask if anyone has contacts at your target companies. Second, look for fellow college alumni through your alma mater's Career Center or via LinkedIn. Third, if you can't find anyone, search for employees who have blogs or are quoted in articles frequently (Google News and Google Reader are great for this).
Step 3. By now you should have contacts at several of your target companies. Now you need to perform outreach. Send a simple email requesting a few minutes of their time. A sample is below:
Subject: Referral from Joe Smith; Seeking Your Advice on Marketing Careers
(or if it is a college alum: Fellow USC Grad; Seeking Your Advice on Marketing Careers)
Dear Mr. Jones-
The purpose of this note is to ask for your insight and guidance about the marketing field. I recently spoke with Joe Smith and he highly recommended I reach out to you.
I have spent the past five years doing XYZ... [no more than two sentences highlighting your career path].
I'm very interested in learning more about [your company], particularly due to X, Y and Z... [mention two or three interesting facts you found while researching the company].
I would welcome the opportunity to schedule a brief meeting with you to gain your insight. I will follow-up with you via phone in a couple days to see if we can arrange a time. However, if it is more convenient for you to reach out to me, my email is XYZ and cell phone is XYZ.
Thank you,
Brian Batchelder
DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR RESUME IN THIS EMAIL. DON'T SEND IT TO THEM UNLESS THEY ASK FOR IT!
(Another great resource is this post by one of my favorite bloggers, Tim Ferriss, about sending emails to busy people. Read it here.)
Step 4. If the contact replies to your email or calls you, great! Set up a meeting. In-person meetings are always best. You get to build better rapport with the contact and get a feel for the company and atmosphere. If you don't get a reply in two days, pick up the phone and call the contact. I suggest before 9:00 AM or after 5:00 PM. Write a brief script referencing your email and speak with a smile. Most people will pencil you in.
Congrats, you have just secured yourself some informational interviews!
INformational interviews are great, they use the power of small. Every person you meet, and talk to could be a future employer. Even if they arent currently hiring. Building your network one person at a time is a critical step in the job search.