Finding a Job
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I work in the employment industry and a large part of my business is devoted to (1) helping people identify job opportunities through consolidating job listings from hundreds of sources, (2) creating new résumés and cover letters for people from scratch and (3) mass mailing résumés to targeted employers that match the interests and the geographical preferences of the applicants. However, I believe one of the best ways for people to get a job is by utilizing their own personal contacts.
The easiest way to procure work through people you know is to simply send an email, or pick up the phone, and (I am not kidding) speak with these people about nothing at all. If the subject of your job search comes up during the conversation, great. If it does not, that’s fine too. I feel this simple tactic may be the easiest way to get a job that I know of.
In sales, one of the things I’ve seen over and over is that salespeople are always the most excited about new leads. Salespeople spend most of their time trying to find new people to buy products and are mostly concerned with people who appear ready to buy right here and now. I see this a lot in automobile sales, for example. Picture an auto dealership where you pull up to find 10+ salespeople standing outdoors waiting to ask if they can help you. Imagine instead, if each time someone came into the dealership, the salesperson asked them for their contact information? What if that salesperson proceeded to call all his compiled contacts periodically to see if they were interested in a new car? Imagine the number of contacts this salesperson would have after 30, 60, 90, or 180 days. Would this make a difference for his sales?
This is, in fact, what the greatest car salesman of all time, Joe Girard, did in his work–he never let a customer out of his grip. According to one website:
After building homes for 13 years, Girard turned to autos. He sold cars from 1963 to 1977, starting at 267 units a year, rising to an all-time record of 1,425 units, and retiring at 855 units to write books. Girard had his own office at the dealership and hired two assistants out of his pocket, one to help recruit and market sales, one to prep new cars, assess trade-ins, and coordinate service requests. He sent out nearly 13,000 greeting cards a month to his customers, celebrating everything from Halloween to Groundhog Day. He paid out thousands to a network of people who referred sales–priests, teachers, plant foremen, students, and mechanics–before the practice was discouraged by the Big Three.
This sort of follow up–making sure that people remember you and staying in touch, is what truly builds relationships, and, in the sales market, is what translates into results. There are lessons here that can be learned regarding the job market in general as well.
Throughout your life and career, chances are you’ve met innumerable individuals who can assist you in your job search. Many of these people have job openings they can help you interview for, or know people who can assist you in finding employment. Look at your life and the people you have known in the past. How many people have you lost track of? How many of those do you wish you would have kept in touch with? Imagine what a difference it would make if you could reactivate just 10 or 15 percent of your old professional contacts to come to your aid in your job search.
You certainly can find jobs by hanging out on a job board or contacting employers directly. You can also find jobs by doing a targeted mass-mailing to employers. And still, one of the best ways to find a job is by networking with people who already know you or you’ve known in the past. Re-establish as many connections as you can while you are conducting your job search. It can only help you.
Once you have identified those who may be able to assist you in your job search, I would recommend you very earnestly and deliberately re-establish contact with them. Send an email or place a call to them and reconnect, then simply update them on what you are doing. You do not need to tell these people you are looking for a job at the start of the conversation–it will come up as the conversation progresses. Most people are inclined to want to help, or at the very least, offer career advice.
Everyone wants acknowledgment and needs to be heard. Part of what you’re doing when you contact people you’ve spoken with in the past is acknowledging them. If it’s your fault you haven’t spoken with them in a long time tell them so, and apologize. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by contacting people from your past and enlisting them in your job search. Very often, you will find you need not even ask for help. Just letting people know you are searching is often enough. Once people realize you are available, you may find referrals come your way without even looking for them.
I am a major proponent of using every means necessary to find a job. Our websites are a valuable tool for many job-seekers. In the end however, what it really comes down to when you want a job is people and relationships. People are the ones who give you jobs–not computers, not letters or email. Your contacts are one of your greatest assets.
Get people in your corner. Enlist everyone you can in your job search. Contact those you know from your past (professionally and personally) to chat about how they are doing. The reward for human interaction and putting yourself out there is you’ll know the market better. And you may just find your dream job–all without the aid of any job search service. This is how people typically found employment in the past; now may be just the time to get back to this way of doing business.
LESSON
In this article Harrison discusses the importance of networking in a job search. While Harrison has advocated and worked on a varied range of job search tools, he is very clear that use of contacts in your job search continues to be your best bet. Once you’ve identified all your past contacts that can help you in your job search, start re-establishing contacts with them. Update them on your career without letting them know of your job search intentions. Once people find out that you are available, referrals come your way without even your asking for them. Connecting with people may get you your dream job without using any job search service.
Read More About The People Who Leave Your Company Are Just as an Important Network as the People Currently at Your Company:
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
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Your ability to help people will determine the extent of your success; the more powerful and effective your help, the greater rewards you will receive. One of the rarest and most profound achievements is to follow through on your goals and create a paradigm-shifting idea. The more revolutionary your work, the more people you will affect and the more memorable of a career you will have.
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Understanding what you do for a living is very important for your career. You should understand the generality of your specific profession. You and your career are a product. You need to know where and how to market yourself in the best way possible. You need to be relevant and understand the skills you are offering. Being a relevant product is essential for your success. It’s easy to be relevant when you understand what you are doing and what purpose you serve. Being relevant is more than just getting a job. Being relevant also relates to serving the employers with the skills they need. You need to understand your market and what your customers want. This is the way to stay employed, and it is also the means to continual improvement.
Things will not always go the way that you want them to go, so you must not be discouraged by adversity in your job hunt. When you persist and consistently put forth your best effort, things are much more likely to go in your favor. Also, you must resist others’ efforts to undermine your efforts and potential; focus instead on doing everything in your power to fight on and complete the task at hand.
Having a goal or vision will propel you towards greater career success and happiness. Without a purpose, you will find yourself depressed and ultimately fail to achieve your goals. Do not subscribe to the unrealistic problem that you should never have problems, but instead regard problems as part of your overall growth strategy.
Don’t ever give up, and make the most of the tools at your disposal. Take chances and invest in your best skills, and persist in the face of unfortunate events. Have faith in your considerable work and capabilities, and use them to create value for others.
In this article Harrison discusses what a good hiring manager should look for. Many people who make hiring decisions really do not know what they are doing. In fact, they often make mistakes when hiring. They put too much emphasis on skills and experience. But the single most important aspect of hiring is evaluating the person’s unique outlook on the world. If the person does not have a positive outlook on the world, he/she will bring down the morale of the other workers. The person will harm the company through the negative outlook. The key to success is having the power to stick it out in jobs and finding happiness wherever you are. Hiring people who do good work and are always able to find happiness should be the number one objective of hiring managers.
To reach the goals to which you aspire, you must compare yourself with people superior to you for motivation. Most people prefer to look at life the way they wish it to be, rather than as it truly is. Move out of your comfort zones and face reality. Don’t seek out or compare yourself with the average people around you, as doing so will only mire you in mediocrity rather than push you forward.
You can better market yourself by taking a stand against something. Peoples’ personal beliefs, including the things with which they do not agree, define who they are as people. Standing against something differentiates you from the crowd; when done in the correct manner, without disrespecting others’ opinions, such a stance can help you land your dream job.
Maintaining a routine in both life and work is important to success. Not only do you need to establish a routine, you must make that routine demanding and push yourself to the limit. Budget a certain amount of time each week for networking, applying to jobs, brushing up your interview skills, and following up with employers. Such consistent effort on a daily basis will make a huge difference to your career success.
A recommendation from a powerful person can make a huge difference in your job search; a reference from an influential person makes a tremendous difference to a prospective employer, and thus can be a major advantage for you. When an important person whom the company trusts recommends you, you instantly qualify for positions that may previously have been unattainable. Make the absolute most of your connections with the powerful people in your life, because doing so can instantaneously change your career and life.
You must plant seeds in the minds of others, so that they will be more likely than otherwise to think of you when a future need arises. In planting seeds, you are making people aware of what you have to offer; you must make sure that you are ever present in the minds of your potential employers. Planting seeds is the most effective way to generate top-of-mind awareness, and ensure that the right people remember you at the appropriate time.
Recent immigrants exemplify the benefits of willpower, passion, and excitement in the way that they work so much harder for their goals than the people who have been here for most or all of their lives. Like most Americans, you need to rekindle the spirit of your immigrant ancestors and become hungry for what you want. The entrepreneurial spirit that brought people to America has often faded over time; adopt the fire and work ethic of new immigrants in order to achieve your goals.
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that’s well said . we as an aspirant job seekers we absuolutly agree that you empathize with us. This blog post is one of the most relevant and reliable ever came across. this would surely help us to find rewarding jobs
Contacting former acquaintances for a possible new job has
NEVER worked for me in 40 years of working. I wanted to move into something totally different and they always wanted to put me back into the same type work I’d been doing for years, but no longer wanted to do. They just didn’t get it, nor do they now. Baffled to say the least.
Like they expect me to stay in the “employment box” I’ve worked in for years, but no longer want to. They don’t have the answer nor do I. Have been unemployed from full-time, permanent wokr for 2 years now. About to go on S.S. disablilty cause I’m all busted up from different things happening to the old bod over the years to the point I honestly can NO LONGER do what I did for 40 years, but yet people still want to keep me in the old employmnent box, even with me busted up. Makes absolutely no sense to me.