Find the 87% of Jobs Never Advertised!

3. Answering ads in trade journals — leads to jobs for 7 out of 100. (Too much time delay, etc.)

4. Mailing out resumes by the bushel — leads to jobs for 8 out of 100.

The major difference between successful and unsuccessful job-hunters is not skill, education, age, or ability, but the way they go about their job-hunt.

Two-thirds of all job-hunters spend 5 hours or less on their job-hunt each week, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. If you are serious about seeking a new position, you cannot afford this rate of progress. My advice, based on seeing successful job-hunters, is to spend 35 hours per week in the search. This will dramatically cut down the time in weeks and months to conduct a successful search.

Small companies, those with fewer than 100 employees, have been creating 2/3 of all new positions since 1970. Don’t just go after the big companies. In the Nashville MSA, typical of many metropolitan areas, 58.2% of the companies have 1-4 employees. Only 2.6% of the companies have 100 or more employees and yet that is where most people look.

Finding the 87% of the jobs that are never advertised!

This in an intensive 48 day process (If you are investing 35 hours/week.) And don’t think that you can’t work this process while you are working. You can. Everything but the interviews themselves can be done without interfering with a normal work day. You simply need to see it as a short burst of intensive energy to lead you to the future you want.

1. Identify 30-40 target companies. Do you want a place with 20- 85 employees? A profit or non-profit organization? A manufacturing or service company? A new company or an old established one? Do you want to travel or be home every evening? An organization in health, retail, finances, entertaining, printing, etc. Use the (Your City) BUSINESS DIRECTORY, or the Thomas Register to help you create this target list. (The City BUSINESS DIRECTORY is available at the most libraries, or you can find a major library that has American Businesses on CD-ROM. You are in the driver’s seat to choose the companies you would like to work with. You don’t have to wait until they advertise a position or you heard someone say they are hiring. Those usual methods typically put you up against 70-80 people for most any desirable position, whereas in this method you may have 2-3 competitors. Also, this is the method for finding the 87% of the jobs that are never advertised. In a rapidly changing workplace, everyone is looking for good people. Be proactive in your search.

2. Send a letter of introduction to each company. (No more than 15 at a time so you can do the appropriate follow up.) The letter of introduction is just to build name recognition.

3. Send cover letter and resume — one week after letter of introduction. Address cover letter to a specific person. You can get this name from the Business Directory or call the company if you need to. Receptionists are wonderful about giving useful information if you ask nicely. Don’t bother sending to Personnel Dept., or Human Resources, or To Whom It May Concern.

4. Phone call to follow up. Very important. My experience is that only about 1-2% of job-hunters do this. It is very easy to bring your name to the top of the list if you just do a follow up call. Don’t be afraid of being persistent! Call 4-5 days after sending resume. In the phone call say, “This is Bill Smith, I’m following up on a recent letter and resume. I know what your company does and really think I could add to your success. When can we get together and talk?” You’ll be surprised how frequently people will say, “Why don’t you come by tomorrow at 2:00”.

Keep in mind that if you just send cover letters and resumes (#3), you need to send out 254 to have a statistical chance of getting a job offer. If you combine that with a phone call, the number drops to 1 out of 15, a dramatic difference. Adding to that and introduction letter and the results will amaze you. This is a SELLING process. We use a 3 time repetitive process because of understanding marketing principles. If you are selling recliners, having someone see or hear about them 3 times will increase their response. In this process you are selling a product, and that product is YOU! Just commit to the process and a time line.

This process, if followed precisely, does get results. People who sent out over 1000 resumes with no results, have been able to get 5 interviews with 3 offers in a 45 day period using this method. A gentleman who had gone 6 months with no interviews received 4 offers in 10 days with this system. Remember, no one is going to come looking for you. You must do an active, aggressive search.

An irony in low unemployment times is that we tend to think that if a company advertises a position, I am probably the only person who responded and they will call and ask me to start work on Monday. That is absolutely false. Even in low unemployment, they will receive those 70-80 responses. That tells us that although most people are working, there are still many of those same people who are in the job market. They know there are many new opportunities, so they are looking as well.

Time spent on a good job search is time invested in your future. Don’t view it casually. The average job in America now lasts 3.7 years. The average American worker will therefore have 14-16 different jobs in his/her working lifetime. Learn how to do this process well. You will have to do it again. Knowing this process will serve you well in the inevitable future changes. Recognize, you must take responsibility for the success of the process. No one can do it for you; not the government, the state, the church, or any agency. All of these are attempts to avoid your own responsibility. Be prepared to deal with rejection and then continue being persistent, confident that real success is just a few more contacts away!

If you understand and follow this procedure, you can dramatically transform your results, bypassing other applicants with more degrees, credentials, and experience!

Excerpt from 48 Days To The Work You Love, pages 108-112.