I’m often asked to speak at events and conferences, especially those run by professional associations or member organisations. These groups want me to advise their members how they can maximise their career success, especially in industries that are experiencing a lot of change.
I always talk about the LinkedIn outreach program I’ve developed and you may have seen references to this in my previous articles.
I really am passionate about encouraging people to reach out to their employers of choice. LinkedIn makes it so easy to do this and it gets results that I don’t believe you can get any other way.
Here’s a case study from my recent book Uncover the Hidden Job Market which tells how marketing manager Peter landed an exciting new role with his dream employer.
Peter came to my regular Always Stand Out seminar for job seekers. He was deeply frustrated by his job search, having met with numerous recruiters with no result and having applied for many jobs with no success. He describes himself at that time as being “stumped and not sure where to turn”.
During the seminar, Peter heard me urge everyone to find a company that they wanted to work for and then sell themselves to that company.
This piece of advice stuck in his head, and he acted on it.
Peter had read an industry article about a small company whose ambitious goals appealed to him. He could see how his experience could really contribute to this company’s success.
So he picked up the telephone and called the Managing Director.
Peter told the MD about himself and described how his experience could help the company achieve their goals. The MD listened and, at the end of the conversation, asked for Peter’s resume. He said he might be able to offer Peter a temporary consulting role but three weeks after the phone call, Peter had heard nothing further.
In the meantime, Peter had organised to speak at an international conference. He knew that the company would have prospective customers there, so he re-contacted them. He suggested that he could act as a consultant for the company at the conference, saving them from paying thousands in travel expenses for someone else to attend.
Less than a week later, Peter had a signed consultancy agreement. Three months after that, he was offered a fulltime role.
In just one month, Peter went from not knowing where to turn, to having a consulting gig with his employer of choice.
That’s a fantastic result!
Now, at this point, I know a lot of my readers are already giving reasons why they couldn’t follow in Peter’s footsteps.
Many of you are saying “The MD of my dream employer would never take my call.”
Here’s what you need to know.
Every time I have a group of CEOs and senior executives in a room, I always ask them “If a good candidate called you and asked for 5 minutes to tell you why they’d be a great hire, would you take that call?”
Almost without fail, those CEOs say “Yes”.
Then I ask them “How often do you get those calls?”
Almost without fail, they say “Never”.
My point is, you don’t know for sure if your call would be taken or not. And you won’t know, for as long as you don’t make that call.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be a phone call. It could be a connection request on LinkedIn. It could be an email. It could be a letter. It could be a meeting at an industry event.
Companies are always – repeat, always – looking for good talent. Good people are hard to find!
And good people who have the determination, confidence and courage to contact the CEO? They are one in a million. And that’s why the CEO will take your call.
So please, make that call!
My best wishes for your job search success.
Richard Triggs is the Founder and Managing Partner of Arete Executive, one of Australasia’s leading executive recruitment companies. He has championed the practice of helping people to “headhunt their own job” and you can find more advice about this in his book Uncover the Hidden Job Market (available from Amazon or richardtriggs.com). You can also follow Arete Executive on LinkedIn for useful information and resources.
Richard has an organically built network of over 20,000 connections on LinkedIn and you are warmly invited to join his network.
