3 Sure-fire Ways to get the Job Interviews you Really Want

An excellent post taken in it's entirety from:

http://www.steamfeed.com/3-sure-fire-ways-to-get-the-job-interviews-you-really-want/

I just came off a 6-month job hunt in October, when I got employed by InNetwork Inc. as an Influencer Relationship Manager. After a lot of researching, networking, and sending out tons of job applications over the summer, I finally landed my dream job. It wasn’t an easy task, but the hard work definitely paid off.

photo credit: lumaxart via photopin cc

It was also a great learning experience in the process. Some tactics brought in more interviews than others did though. I’ll share with you some of the tactics that worked best for me.

1. Get Email Access to the Hiring Manager

I quickly learned that sending in a job application through a job bank site simply doesn’t work. Your application ends up in a general jobs@company.com email, along with hundreds or thousands of similar applications. Recruiters scan quickly, and only pick the ones that really stand out. But what if you had access to the hiring manager? – You could completely skip the recruiters, and go straight to the person that makes the final decisions.
I decided to invest in LinkedIn Premium for Job Seekers so I could have that access to hiring managers. I did a quick search on the companies I wanted to work for, and found out who the manager was in the department I wanted to work in. I then proceeded to send an InMail to them, knowing it would go directly in their LinkedIn inbox. What’s nice with this approach – they can click on your LinkedIn profile, and pretty much get your résumé right there and then.
Another way you can get access to their email, without having to pay for a premium LinkedIn subscription, is to do a little Google search on what the company’s email structure looks like. Do some research on LinkedIn or the company’s website to find out who’s the manager you want to contact. Write down their name. Then do a Google search for “Their name @company.com email”. If they ever published a press release, their contact information will most likely appear in a Google search. If they haven’t, no worries, you can still figure it out. Do a Google search, and try to find an email address from someone at the company. Take a look at the structure of the email – it might be firstname.lastname@company.com or firstname@company.com. Just plug in the name of the hiring manager you want to contact in the same format, and chances are that’s their email address.

2. Get a Recruiter’s Attention from a Creative Campaign

In a busy world, where there are thousands of people searching for jobs, you need to stand out. I had a success story with getting the attention of recruiters at Radian6 back in February. The position didn’t work out because of timing, but I definitely left an impression on them.
Just remember a few simple rules before doing a creative job hunt campaign:

• DO YOUR RESEARCH! Find out everything that you can about the company you’re trying to reach before you start the campaign. This will help you guide your message, and even the channel you chose to use. If the company you’re contacting is not very active on Social Media, there’s no point in doing a social media campaign – they’re not listening! If the company you’re contacting is on social media, don’t send them something in the mail. Know your audience.
• Do a search on what has already been done – you don’t want to be viewed as a copycat. You can look at previously successful campaigns for inspiration, but don’t copy it! Be yourself.
• Fully plan your campaign before you launch – this includes which channels you will use, who will be involved, who you’re trying to get attention from, timing, etc. When you hit the go button on your campaign, you should have an idea how everything is going to map out. Be ready.
• Get other people involved. The more people who are promoting you message (both internally and external from the company), the more chances your message will be seen by recruiters.

3. Use a Combination of Online and Offline

The tactic that worked best for me was using a combination of online and offline. This strategy got me the most interviews, and ultimately landed me my dream job.

• Get a bunch of personal business cards. Make them as visually impressive as possible. I used MOO.com – they’re a bit more expensive, but the quality of the card is remarkable. Everyone I give a business card to tell me how great my cards look – and excellent conversation starter for sure.
• Do some research on who you want to contact. Get their name, mailing address at the company, and email (using the tactics in point #1). Write them a small, hand written note, wrap it around one of your business cards, and send it to them in an envelope (addressed by hand, not type-written). They’ll remember this later on.
• Follow up a couple days later with an email. Explain who you are, and why you’re contacting them. Tell them a bit about what you can offer them, but keep it short (no need to attach a résumé, they can look you up on LinkedIn, or ask you questions during the interview). At the end of the email, say you will follow up and call them in a couple days. They won’t view any of this as spam, because they remember your name from that hand written note and business card you sent them.
• Call them a couple days later, and ask them if they received your email. If they haven’t, tell them you’ll resend it, and call back. They’ll read it. When you call back, try to set up a meeting with them outside the office – they won’t be in interview mode if you’re having coffee at Starbucks (makes for a much more casual, friendly conversation).
• At the meeting, try to get a sense of when they’re hiring, and what their hiring budget is like. Get as much information as you want from them – remember, you have to make sure they’re a good fit for YOU as well, not just the other way around.
• At the end of the meeting, if they’re not interested in hiring, always ask for two things: 1. Ask if they know anyone that’s looking for someone with your skills, and 2. Ask if you can keep in touch through LinkedIn. This way, the meeting wasn’t a waste even if you’re not getting a job at the company. You’ll be expanding your network, and always have another meeting setup with someone else, until you find your dream job.

Well there you have it! It’s a bit of a long post, but I would have LOVED to get all of this information before I started job hunting – it might have saved some time. Remember, job hunting is like a full time job, and treat it like so! You need to be spending 8 hours a day researching and networking. If you’re working a part-time job, you won’t find your dream job – you always need to be ready for meetings and interviews.