The Leading Guerilla Job Search Tips
If you’re having a hard time getting noticed by employers, why not try something different?
After all, if your job search were 100% effective, you’d be hired by now, right? So there’s always room for improvement.
To help you get hired faster, I interviewed David Perry, co-author of the book, “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters” and “My New Job Hunt.”
Here are three of David’s unconventional — and proven — ways to find a job …
- Do a Competitive Analysis for Prospective Employers
If you want to impress employers, try analyzing their competition and sharing your findings in the form of a competitive analysis white paper.
“People assume that all companies keep up to date on their competitors, but this is rarely the case. Most companies don’t have the budget or the ability internally to keep on top of innovations and best practices, so your piece will likely be most welcome,” says Perry.
To speed your research, call the local library and ask for help from the reference librarian. These people are paid to find information and “they are lonely now because of Google and the Internet,” according to Perry.
Tips to make your competitive analysis effective:
* Focus on companies that are direct competitors with those you want to work for.
* Potential employers must get something useful from reading your report.
* Use graphs and charts wherever possible, because people like visuals.
* Make it only as long as it needs to be.
* Important: Ask for an opportunity to discuss your findings with a hiring authority.
- Use Thank-You Note Envelopes
Instinctively, everyone’s face brightens when the mail brings one of those little 4×4 envelopes that are peculiar to thank-you note cards – we expect good news inside.
Why not use this to your advantage and make employers feel good even before they’ve read your resume?
Perry suggests you fold your resume and cover letter carefully until they fit inside a thank-you note envelope, then mail them that way.
“Your cover letter should say, ‘Thank you for opening this letter — here’s what I can do for your company … can we meet for coffee? Etc.’” suggests Perry.
To make your “thank you” approach effective, keep these points in mind:
* Address each envelope by hand — don’t use a printer.
* To get noticed, use a colorful commemorative stamp.
* To REALLY get noticed, use a stamp with your picture on it! In the US, you can do this at www.photo.stamps.com. In, Canada, use the Picture Postage program at www.canadapost.ca.
- Send an Email Chain Letter
No matter what job you seek, you ought to have at least 20 companies in mind where you’d like to work. After that, all you need to do is meet someone at each company, and interviews should follow.
An email chain letter can help you make live contact with your list of target companies.
“Send an email to everyone you know asking them to please read the list and see if they know anyone who works at any of your 20 target companies. Ask them to contact you if they know anyone, so you can ask for a referral. Lastly, ask them to forward your email message to 10 more people,” says Perry.
Here’s how to make an email chain letter work:
* Don’t ask people to email more than 10 others. In Perry’s experience, beyond 10 seems like a burden and people won’t forward your email at all.
* Include your email address in the body of your message, so people can easily find your coordinates and email you directly with a contact.
* Include your phone number, but only if you don’t mind having people call you.
* Don’t put anything in your email letter you wouldn’t want a stranger to know.
Here’s the best part: If you email your list to 10 people and they email it to 10 people, within four cycles you will reach 10,000 people.
“This is truly click-and-go, and it’s not even spam,” says Perry.
Photo by Dan Smedley on Unsplash