I regularly advise my clients to use this
job search tactic. There are ten reasons to do so. It has the highest
probability of landing the job.
1-
NEEDS
DISCOVERY: A job description does not necessarily reflect the hiring manger’s highest priority needs. These can only be found out by speaking to the hiring manager
and having the chance respond with examples about how you can resolve the needs.
2-
DIFFERENTIATION:
Perhaps
the most important reason is by using this tactic you will differentiate
yourself from your competition! Few people take the trouble to learn how
to find out who the hiring manager is and speak to him/her. Differentiation is the
foundation of a marketing yourself and creating a robust search!
3-
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE: By having direct knowledge of the hiring manager’s hot buttons and
responding to them, you have the advantage over your competition.
4-
RESUME
AND COVER LETTER: By learning the hot buttons you can tune your resume and cover letter to
be responsive to the critical need before you submit.
5-
COVER
LETTERS: It makes the writing a cover letter simple. You have a name, a position,
a reason for writing, and the ability to reiterate the points you made during
your conversation.
6-
OMBUDSMAN:
It
offers you the chance to get your resume into the hiring manager's hand without
going through the company hiring process and protocols, giving you the
opportunity to have the most important person in the process to be your
ombudsman.
7-
MOTIVATION / INITIATIVE: It
demonstrates that you are motivated, that you take the initiative. You take
matters into your own hands demonstrating that you are independent,
action-oriented, creative, motivated and you take the initiative in managing
your search.
8-
HIDDEN
JOBS: Sometimes the hiring manager may not have a position that fits you
but but after speaking to you, likes what you say and decides to make
adjustments in the organization and create a new position just for
you. It happens!
9-
FUTURE
JOBS: Sometimes it opens up other opportunities at a later
date. Sure, you may have found these out later in your search, or never
found out about them at all!
10- CONTROL: It gives you the greatest control over your
destiny, making it the most effective approach to job searching.
This tactic requires considerable practice. It
involves learning how to identify who the hiring manager is and how to get past
the gate keepers to make direct voice contact. I offer coaching on this and many
other tactics.
If you are fearful. here is a very worthwhile link with some
“how-to-overcome-fear” guidelines:
Here is another link to some good advice on cold-calling, one of the many
approaches. I only disagree with the point about leaving messages. Messages are
too easy to delete.
Karl has been reviewing resumes for
people at no cost since 1999. He has been counseling job seekers since that
time as well. If you would like his help, email him at kl@hoochresumes.com. And visit his
website, http://ow.ly/dgg2J.