Direct Mail

Believe it or not most of the jobs that are available are not through recruiters, online postings, or newspaper ads. In other words, the jobs are not advertised. So how do you find those jobs? One way is through networking, you can see my other post for tips on that.

How to do direct mail: Unfortunately you cannot just mail you cover letter and resume to the companies you are targeting. You can do this however, you will not stand out from the crowd. Here are the steps that I have used to do direct mail marketing, whether is it email or snail mail.

1. Identify the companies that you are interested in.
2. Determine who the hiring managers are, whether they are VP of sales, President of the company or a supervisor. It really depends on what type of job you are looking for.
3. There are several ways to find out who the hiring managers are. a) Call the company and sometimes they will tell you. b) Network with other people about that company c) obtain a list of industry contacts such as a list of members to a proffessional association in you area. This is probably the best way to really find out fast who the management are at each company in your specific area or industry.
4. Send your information to the selected people.
5. Call them in 5 days to confirm that they received your information. If you have the name of the person most of the time the receptionist will put you through to the person. If they have a administrative assistant they will want to take a message. If you can't get through that way try calling after hours and use the company directory to leave a message directly for the person on voice mail.
6. They might not be hiring right now, however, they might need someone at a latter time.
7. Additionally once you have made contact with them if they are not hiring you can also network with them on who they know is hiring. If you have someone on the phone explain what you are looking for, confirm that they have received your information, and if they are hiring this type of person. If not wrap up the call quickly, as them if they know of other companies that are hiring for this type of position. Finally, ask them if it would be ok for you to followup with them in 1 month.

Networking

You need to find a new job or you are currently out of a job. Your most powerful method to find a new one is your network. The classic rule of six degrees of separation applies to finding a job. First of all dig out all you old contacts and get organized then follow the following steps in networking

1. Number one rule in networking is don't as the person you are talking to if they have openings at there company. This may sound silly but you don't want to pressure your contacts.
2. Simply inform you contacts of the situation and describe what you are looking for. Ask them if they know of any companies that are looking for this type of employee. If they happen to be looking for this type of employee great you now have a good lead. Write it down in your contact log as a followup item.
3. Let you family members and friends know you are looking for a job.
4. Talk to your current customers if you can trust them. You don't want to inform them you are leaving if they won't understand and keep it confidential.
5. Call previous co-workers and bosses and quiz them on who is hiring.
6. Network with your neighbors again everyone knows a lot of people you don't know and it could be good lead for you.

The key on networking is continuing to make contacts everyday. You cannot stop. If you are currently working I would suggest making 2 new contacts or followup contacts per day. If you are not working I would suggest 10 a day. 10 contacts a day is a big challenge because after 2 weeks you may run out of initial contacts however if you are digging hard for leads you will find many new people to call.