How to Find a Job via Efficient “Guerilla” Methods

To my experience in Israel.

This article was inspired by a good friend of mine, who was desperately looking for a job. A “salt of the earth” kind of guy – good and talented, but lacking the necessary tools. To find a job, you’ll need a good deal of interpersonal relations mixed with a handful of assertiveness and creativity. The shy and the ordinary will have to change their habits or just wait for an opportunity. While in this article I try to avoid stating the obvious, it should be nevertheless noted that looking for a job is a full-time job in itself.

Let’s start with a proven fact: sending your resume, as a preferable and exclusive method of finding a job, is a sure way to not find a job. It always surprises me when I hear people say, “I sent a resume, but no one called back”. No wonder! Most chances are that thousands of CVs were submitted before yours, and in such case – you are nothing more than a candidate lost in a stack of papers.

My apologies to those who are convinced that their resume can serve as a tool that will lead to a job interview, but it does not work that way. Your resume has one main purpose: to present you and your skills after you have contacted and established an initial relationship with a potential employer. This will probably sound familiar: you see a job ad, send your CV and wait for a miracle to happen. This can only harm your chances to find a job. Why so? If your resume is sent to various destinations without a clear goal – your value goes down, along with the chances to be taken seriously.

Therefore, without further delay, I would like to introduce a proven and efficient method that can double the chances of finding a job. You don’t have to believe me. Try it and see for yourself – you will enjoy the results. The method is as follows.

Looking for a Job vs. Finding a Job

The difference between looking for a job and finding a job seems obvious, but might not be fully understood.

There are several approaches to finding a job – here are two interesting ones:

1.     Checking job posts – a commonly accepted method

2.     Selecting the workplace where you would like to work

Both methods require preliminary actions, but for now, I’d like to elaborate on to the first method of checking job posts. This can be an efficient way to find a job, provided that you will take some preliminary actions that will skyrocket your chances to stand out among other candidates.

First, you need to know the steps that you should take towards finding a job:

1. Intelligence gathering
2. Contacting the potential employer
3. Monitoring the process and keeping in touch

1. Intelligence gathering – “For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war”

So, you saw a job post that looked appealing, you have a very well written resume at hand and you want to click “Send” immediately. Stop!

Prior to your interaction with the desired company, you must learn about the company and its field of activity, its size and status, and also check information on recent recruitments (if any) and employees working for the company. This will allow you to get a better picture and be confident that your expectations reflect the reality. One of the most important aspects of intelligence gathering is to find out about company leaders and relevant decision-makers, such as the corporate HR Manager, VP, etc. In fact, this is one of the most important tasks to achieve our goal – to understand who we need to contact and review their profile, background and previous positions, education and mutual contacts, if any. This information will help us during the following steps, when we will contact these decision makers and try to initiate a conversation with them. LinkedIn proves to be a very powerful tool to boost your career. It allows you to reach almost anyone in the world and I strongly recommend to create a LinkedIn profile, join discussion groups and play an active role. You will be amazed by the amount of contacts, information and opportunities on LinkedIn, which will significantly improve your chances of finding a job. Quite often, job posts are published by placement companies. In such case, try to collect all details possible from the published job description and skip to the next section.

2. Contacting the potential employer

Whether the job post was published by a placement company or direct employer, the first task is to make personal contact with the ad publisher. Do not be tempted to send your resume online! Trust me, this tip will prove invaluable! Contacting the decision-maker personally is an important preliminary action, and if you do it wisely, your stock will go up and surpass other candidates. Usually, it is quite simple, since LinkedIn allows you to find information easily, about almost anyone. However, there might be some challenges and obstacles that you will have to overcome. For example:

1.     You cannot find a certain person, neither on LinkedIn nor anywhere else.

2.     You found the person you were looking for, but cannot find a way to contact him/her directly.

The goal is not just to contact via email or send a message on LinkedIn (most often, you will not get a reply), but to have an actual conversation over the phone.

Start by dialing the company’s main telephone number and talk to the secretary. At this point, you should be very focused and courteous. The secretary is the most important person you want to talk to. Trust me, if you find a common language with the secretary, you're on the right path.

Upon contacting the administration and talking to the secretary, ask for the HR Manager (whose name you already know). For example, the HR Manager’s name is Shelly Cohen and your name is Jessica Goodman. 

Following is a possible scenario:

Secretary: “Hello, Elizabeth is speaking.”

You: “Good morning, Elizabeth. This is Jessica Goodman, I’m looking for Shelly, but cannot reach her. Is she available?”

At this point, assuming that you are talking to a secretary who knows how to do her job and asks how she can help, simply say that you called regarding the job posting and it is very important for you to talk to Shelly to clarify a few details. If instead of redirecting your call, the secretary tells you that you should just send your resume – here’s a trick that can help: say that you are currently employed and maintaining confidentiality is important for you and therefore, you would really appreciate if you could talk to Shelly. Most times it works. Conversation with a telephone representative should be serious and to the point, otherwise you will be rejected immediately. Still no success? No worries. Ask for Shelly’s direct email and write her a letter (without attaching your resume), in which you can present yourself and ask if the posted job is still relevant. This letter should be short and to the point, while its purpose is to make a first contact with the person you are looking for. From my experience, such determination (if done tastefully), is usually appreciated.

Great! Whether you had to talk to the secretary first or dialed the direct number – you have reached an important goal: conversation with a recruitment officer. So, what should you do now?

At this point, you have a few seconds worth of gold to get their attention, otherwise you will be perceived as annoying or even rude. Therefore, it is very important to prepare a few key phrases in advance, in order to arouse the curiosity of the other party, which will lead to the desired job interview. The more you know about the company and the person you are talking to, the better will be your chances of being summoned for a job interview (much better compared to those who send their CVs to [email protected]).

You have one goal: to talk concisely and to the point, while striving to get a job interview. Do not be tempted to tell everything by phone. Consider that for the other person this might not be the perfect time to talk, and in any case, remember that you need to arouse curiosity.

First, introduce yourself in brief and be polite, because the person you are talking to may be in the middle of work or a meeting. Here’s an example of an opening line: “Good morning, Shelly. This is Jessica Goodman. Can I have a minute of your time?”

Let’s assume you get a positive reply. Excellent! Stay focused – now it’s time to apply your prior preparations. “Thank you, I imagine you’re probably busy, so I’ll try to keep it short. I saw your job post regarding the Sales Manager position and I wanted to make sure that the job is still relevant, and that I’m sending my CV to the right person. After reviewing the job description, I can confidently say that I have the skills and experience to generate a significant increase in sales. I also have some ideas on how to improve your profitability. I am highly motivated to succeed and I believe we should meet. Will it be possible to set up an interview, so I could elaborate on my experience and skills face-to-face?”

So, what did we achieve? First of all, we showed determination and creativity that allowed us to talk to the decision-maker. Second, we established a relationship via a telephone conversation, which definitely raises the chances to be summoned for a job interview. Third, we respected the decision-maker’s time, aroused his/her curiosity and expressed our motivation to contribute to the organization. Finally, we created an action item and strived to get a job interview.

By the way, if the HR Manager is busy – no worries. Ask politely when it will be convenient to talk and move on to the last tip.

3. Monitoring the process and keeping in touch

Tip number three sounds like a hassle, but the results will prove its value.

It is very important to keep track of every contact that you make with the company itself or with a placement company. I recommend using a spreadsheet (such as Excel or any other tool).

It is very important to write down every company/person you contact and the date on which you call, as well as the details of the person you talk to, along with a summary of your conversation and the action item. Don’t forget to mark the date for your next call. For example, if during the telephone conversation you were asked to send your resume – write it down and mark a date on your calendar to either call again or send an email to make sure that your resume has reached its destination and is being reviewed.

Now, with your hand on your heart, think what are the chances of finding a desired job just by sending a CV like everyone else and waiting, as opposed to conducting a preliminary research, while striving to find a job assertively and proactively!

Best of luck in finding your desired job!