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On the second day of Christmas – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 revealed to me – "Two strategies to crack the hidden job market.."
Click HERE for FREE DVD that gets you hired – “New Job Search Secrets"
You know, most people put more time into writing down a shopping list for the grocery store than a list of employers they want to work for. Totally illogical, isn’t it? I mean, why be happy working just anywhere? Why not work for a company that excites you?
Instead of blindly sending out résumés to companies you’ve never heard of before, it’s far better to first select potential employers that meet YOUR criteria and then contact them with an offer to help.
Which is what you’re going to learn to do today. And one of the ways to do that is with Google.
To get the best results focus all your time and effort on the companies you’ve identified as being the Tier 1 buyers of your product – you. Anything else is a waste of your time, energy and money. Target your campaign at those companies where you know you can help solve a problem. Nothing beats a direct approach for speed and accuracy.
Because of the current recession caused by the sub-prime meltdown, employers have different hiring expectations. The direct approach has replaced networking as the best way to break into the hidden job market.
The hidden job-market isn’t really hidden. It’s just not in plain sight. It’s referred to as the hidden job-market because of the way jobs are created and filled. Most jobs are created in a company in one of three ways.
1. The company is growing;
2. Someone quits, leaving a vacancy; or
3. Someone is being replaced and the employer doesn’t want the employees to know about it.
When the company is growing, the owner, president, or someone else may know they need to hire but haven’t initiated the process. They may not have had the time. They may not quite have the budget. They may not want to go through the hassle of advertising and interviewing. So while the need is real, the job itself remains hidden inside the hiring manager’s head.
When someone quits, managers will first decide if they can eliminate the job, or combine it with another position. Needing a new person, they will look inside their organization to see whom they can promote into the role. If they can’t find anyone they’ll likely ask their co-workers for referrals. If that doesn’t work, depending on the size of the company they may opt to run an ad through HR, or hire a head-hunter.
Companies will contact a head-hunter when secrecy is required because “loose-lips-sink-ships” and the recruiter can conduct a search without anyone ever knowing.
In all of these cases, the job remains hidden to the outside world for weeks if not months. Hence the term “hidden” job-market.
And TODAY the ability for job hunters to “click and apply” for every job they see on the internet has given employers good reason to NOT let it be known n they have an opening. The onslaught of emails, phone calls and resumes that result from an advertised position is enough to CRUSH an HR department.
The only way for you to access the hidden job-market successfully is to reach out to the hiring managers directly before they opt to go the advertising or HR route OR ask their buddies for referrals. The hidden job-market is your private laboratory to test out the best methods for finding your dream job. Now let’s look at two of the Top 10 Strategies Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters use to access the hidden job market.
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
Click Here To Download the complete “12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting with LinkedIn
Day 12
On the 12th Day of Christmas – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
12 Happy Success Stories
The following job search Success Stories are but a sample of the thousands upon thousands of job hunters who have created their own LUCK by embracing the guerrilla challenge to be bold and present their unique capabilities in interesting ways.
Gail Neal
I took a commission-only sales job at cemetery. I thought it was the ultimate recession-proof job. I was wrong – almost a year later I was actually “broker” than when I started. It was time to find something else to do. Easier said than done. The June 2009 unemployment rate in Detroit, Michigan was 25-30%. I considered myself a savvy job seeker. I attended every free or nearly free (because, of course, I had no money) networking event I could find. I followed up on every lead. I did my research and sent resumes to the owners, presidents, or department heads of my target companies. Results? Through the entire summer of 2009 I had a grand total of zero interviews. READ GAIL’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Mary Berman
I had gotten laid off from my job of eleven years in advertising. When the big three took a dive here in Detroit, so did the automotive print business. I knew the job market was going to be tough, but thought with my advertising/marketing background, I would be able to brand myself in some way and land a job without any problems. I made cards to pass out, attended networking groups, and even developed my own website. I worked hard networking and put numerous hours in on the computer sending out resumes. I did more than most and thought I would have some success, but this job market turned out to be a tough one, they were getting 800-1000 resumes every job I applied for. Here I was, seven months later I had not had one interview! READ MARY’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Grant Turck
I needed a job in 2009, but like getting a movie made in Hollywood I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, especially in California where the unemployment rate was already over 11%! I would need to stand out, but how? Armed with the knowledge from Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 I crossed my fingers and chose my secret weapon: Facebook Advertising.” READ GRANT’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Kenrich Chatman
I was one of 700K+ professionals who lost their jobs. I was fairly confident that I would land a comparable or better position quickly; like I did previously in my career. Three months later, I quickly realized that this job market was the worst many Americans and I have faced in our lifetimes. Likewise, I knew I needed to really distinguish myself from the competition READ KENRICK’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Jade
“I was a soon-to-be college graduate in the USA on an international student visa. I was looking to relocate to a different state with minimum industry experience. Oh and this story takes place in the middle of the financial meltdown of 2008. Additionally, I had to find a job within three months which is when my student visa expires. Was I crazy? Just a tad but I knew what I wanted and one way or another I will get it.” READ JADE’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Tom McAlister
I was in a challenging spot, professionally. But a combination of guerrilla tactics, personal branding and fortuitous timing got me back in the game. Several events conspired to create Brand Man, my fictional alter ego. The first was the economic crisis of 2008-2009 and the subsequent implosion of the job market. I knew there would be lots of qualified candidates applying for the same positions I was targeting. Plus, I was at a disadvantage because I had been doing contract and freelance work for the previous year and a half. I knew I would need to do something interesting in order to stand out among a crowded field, in other words, and that’s how Brand Man came to be. READ TOM’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Erica C.
Having been a self-employed business owner for the past eight years, it hasn’t been necessary for me to undertake a “job search” for quite some time, and I quickly realized the task of landing a job (that I wanted), was going to be the biggest challenge I’ve faced to date. After three months of my search consisting solely of submitting my resume to job listings on job boards and no interviews to result from that strategy, I realized I needed to change my tactics — I found your book on Amazon and I immediately started implementing many of the suggestions (a LinkedIn profile, using Hoovers to research companies), and most effectively, I started networking. READ ERICA’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Darryl Praill
It’s interesting how life works out sometimes. While I began my professional life as a computer programmer, I’d slowly evolved my career from creating bits and bytes to instead marketing bits and bytes. And I was good at it. I’d won numerous awards and accolades including raising over $75 million in funding across multiple companies. I was part of an executive team that raised the most ever money for a software company in Canada. The only job I’d ever had to look for was my first one after graduating college. Even then I’d had multiple offers. Life had been good to me and I felt that I had accomplished a level of success for which very few ever achieve. READ DARRYL’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Chad Lemke
I was a first career executive and had spent all or most of the previous twelve years expanding my responsibility and furthering the careers of those around me. Sometime after the third ownership change, I found myself negotiating the terms of my release from the VP role that had been my pinnacle accomplishment. It was the end of an amazing run. READ CHAD’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Kevin Watson
… The high-tech meltdown resulted in an unprecedented increase in probability of experiencing a permanent layoff, the likes of which had never been seen in the sector or the rest of the economy. High-tech workings in Ottawa-Gatineau, a major technology cluster, were hit particularly hard. Those laid off saw a steep decline in their earnings – well above that experienced by any other group, even during the jobless recovery of the 1990s. Among laid-off high-tech workers overall, about 4 in 5 (80%) did not find jobs in the sector and about 1 in 3 moved to another city. In Ottawa-Gatineau, about 2 in 5 left the city. (Source Statistics Canada 2007). READ KEVIN’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Greg Quirk
There were two different ways I was able to achieve interviews that ended up with a job. As they used different tactics, I wanted to share both with you. Company #1: I was able to secure multiple rounds of interviews with a company by following many of the tactics outlined in the Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters book. To start with, I prepared a Coffee Cup Caper, which included a copy of my Guerrilla Resume, a Guerrilla Cover Letter and a StarBuck’s coffee cup. I sent this via FedEx and called the CEO shortly after he received it. While they did not have a specific requirement, he was intrigued and set up an interview for when he returned from his holidays. READ GREG’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Jeff Kruzich
I became part of the great American Layoff trend in September of 2009. Having been in sales for over 20 years, I was confident I would be able to find another Sales Manager job. 5 years earlier I had been laid off and had another position within 3 months so I wasn’t worried. I had interviews with 3 companies within the first 2 months and made it to the final two for two of those companies. One, the job got put on indefinite hold, the other they hired someone who had industry experience. Now it was December 2009 and everything came to a screeching halt. There were no new postings on the internet and every lead I had vaporized. READ JEFF’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
Bill McCausland
During the financial crisis, my well-paying Sales & Marketing position within the automotive industry in Southeast Michigan was eliminated. Living in one of the worst job markets, how does one beat the odds by finding, not only employment, but advance my career? Fortunately, I had taken many steps of a Guerrilla Job Hunter. READ BILL’S SUCCESS STORY HERE
I look forward to hearing your success story soon!
David Perry
Click Here To Download the complete “12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting with LinkedIn
Day 11
On the 11th Day of Xmas – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
11 Ways to be Synergistic
The successful job search all boils down to one word — synergy.
Synergy is defined as “the interaction of two or more agents so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” LinkedIn is your job search “Be Found” platform – now you’ve got to step it up. Let me explain.
Synergy is the difference between John, Paul, George and Ringo (individual musicians) and The Beatles (a magical combination).
You want to be like the Beatles.
Most job seekers apply for positions haphazardly — sending out an email resume for this opening, a printed resume for that one, sometimes following up and most often not.
But you’ll get far better results — and create synergy — if you first write out a job search calendar, to schedule your efforts over the next 60-90 days. Then, follow your plan and systematically use as many tactics as possible for each job you apply for. Organizing your efforts this way will focus your job search, like sunlight through a magnifying glass.
Here’s how to create synergy and job search magic, in 5 easy steps.
Step 1 — Choose your target job
You can do so by picking a job title (example: Sales Manager) or skill set to shoot for (example: sales, marketing, management). No target job = no results in your job search. Because you can’t score if you don’t have a goal.
Step 2 — Choose your tactics
There are many. Among the most effective is networking with your personal and professional contacts. Let people know you’re in the job market and tell them what you’re looking for. Then ask this question: “Who do you know that I should be talking to?” This one question can double or triple the size of your network. Other job hunting tactics include submitting your resume to online job postings, the newspaper classifieds, recruiters and temp agencies. But try to spend 80% of your time networking.
Step 3 — Plan your work.
Create a job search calendar. This time of year, you can get free wall calendars from many stores and businesses. Any calendar will do, so long as there’s room to write brief notes for each day. Map out the next 30-90 days with specific goals for every day, such as visiting 5 Web sites, calling 10 networking contacts and mailing 7 resumes. Post your job search calendar prominently. Then …
Step 4 — Work your plan.
Devote at least 3-5 hours a day to your job search if you’re currently employed, and 5-8 hours a day if you’re unemployed. Recognize that your job search is a job in itself, the most important one you have right now. And that means you look for work EVERY day, Monday through Friday. Because just one day skipped per week equals a 20% loss in output. You can’t afford that.
Step 5 — Fail your way to a new job.
As you follow your job search plan and contact all those people every day, you’re going to hear one word more than any other: “No.”
Learn to embrace failure like Thomas Edison, who “failed” 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb. He said: “Every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.” Every “no” you hear in your job search is another step closer to the one “yes” you need to get that position you really want. There are only two words you need to listen for in a successful job search – Yes and No. No simply means “Not Today”. “No” means you failed to articulate your value – so you repackage and re-pitch. Don’t slow down and wait double your efforts on new prospects for every maybe.
By following this five-step formula, you can create synergy, magic and the job offer you’re dreaming about. Here are eleven tactics to pair with your LinkedIn efforts. These aren’t just my favorites- they’re the favorites of thousands of guerrilla job hunters even when it’s not Christmas.
Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper
Trojan Cover letter
Send ½ your resume
Write a prospecting letter
Send a letter stating you’re over qualified.
Do a Competitive Analysis
Call Human Resources
Get a job-search buddy
Use personal letterhead and envelopes
Recruit your Tribe
Become “The Expert”
In the end it’s your life… and you’re unique, so don’t do exactly what others have done.
Click Here To Download the complete “12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting with LinkedIn eBook“.
Day 10
On the 10th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
10 Super Motivators
As you can probably tell I’m pretty practical. A block & tackle kind of just-get-at-it guy.
I know you know that looking for job is a sales and marketing activity. I also know that the loneliness of prospecting whether for a job or new business will eventually get even the toughest battle hardened war horse down. No. No. No. Is not Yes-Yes-Yes!!! So you have to have a reliable way to beat the stinking thinking.
Here are the best people I think you should connect with or follow in order to keep your spirits up and focus on your objective of landing your dream job..
Doug Smith
A new friend of mine who proves daily, that mind over matter happens. You can’t listen to Doug for 5 minutes without feeling upbeat. Drafted 2nd overall into the NHL at age 18 years 2 weeks and was the youngest player to ever play for the Los Angeles Kings at the time. Also played for the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins for Roger Neilson, Pat Quinn, Scotty Bowman, Glen Sather. A broken neck and spinal cord injury in Europe ended the professional sports career at age 29. That tragic accident on the ice, that crushed his 5th cervical vertebrae ended a bright future in the NHL, but opened a whole new world of opportunity for him. Doug’s life is inspiring. Little wonder Doug recently received the Queens Silver Jubilee Medal.
Chris Russell
Is the “voice” of job hunting as the Online Job Search Guy at Secrets of The Job Hunt and Jobs in Pods. This should become your premier source for a daily dose of job hunting insight and intelligence. Not only does Chris podcast interviews from some of the world’s finest job hunting experts but he also interviews the employers so you can understand what employers are looking for in new hires and how they think. Download to your iPod or listen from your computer. I can’t believe this is free!
Guy Kawasaki
– Guy launched the first Mac computer and hasn’t stopped innovating. His views on capturing a prospects interest [that’s an employer for you] are always ‘fresh” poignant and logical. His “How to Change the World” blog is billed as the “practical blog for impractical people. It’s certainly is.
As CEO of Garage Technology Ventures he’s got a better grip on what investors are interested in… including people.
Jeffrey Gitomer – a fast track to success. Jeffrey’s site and his books in general are a treasure-trove of sales, service and success information. Get his free sales Caffeine Newsletter delivered to your email inbox FREE every Tuesday and you’ll get a jolt of inspiration and rational thought unlike anything else you’ve ever read.
Tony Robbins 
Has made a made a science out of thinking big and outside the box AND then actually doing something about it! His personal story is an uncommon rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches compendium of everything you can do when you’re motivated, to not stay stuck. The tactics learned here will get you focused and pumped up faster than anything else you can do.
Brian Tracy
Is a prolific writer on human potential and sales. A major source of stress job hunting is the “fear of rejection” and Brian’s weekly “sales tips” will not only teach yo how to blow past the negatives but also how to turn a no into a maybe and a maybe into a yes. I’ve been receiving Brain’s free “sales Success” newsletter for more years than I can count. In every issue you’ll learn selling techniques you can apply immediately to your job hunt.
Tory Johnson
CEO and Founder of Women For Hire CEO which is the leading global online AND offline network for women in business. Upbeat and personable she not only writes to inspire she conducts informative and powerfully uplifting events on networking with plenty of tips for job hunters. She’s also the founder of Spark & Hustle
Jay Levinson
- revolutionized the way marketers do business by defying the conventional wisdom that effective marketing means spending big bucks. He devised highly successful marketing strategies that rely on creativity, imagination and energy—instead of money—to get the job done. In Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, Jay and I show you exactly how to apply the power of guerrilla marketing with little-known strategies from top recruiters to dramatically increase your job hunting success. Competition to get noticed and chosen for the very best professional opportunities is stiff. No matter how talented you may be, there are many others also vying for that top spot.
Bill Vick
The saying goes some people make things happen – some people watch things happen and some wonder what happened! Bill Vick is one of America’s oldest and most accomplished recruiters, an accomplished speaker and author AND a very generous man. Generous with his knowledge in particular on the inner working of the $197 billion dollar recruitment industry in America – insight you as a job hunter should devour!
Mark Haluska
Is the guerrilla job search ‘super coach’ who runs the best Job Search Boot Camp in America bar none! While Mark has been a friend and colleague for more that 15 years and read every word I wrote in all three editions of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters before I filed it with my publisher – it’s the passion and dedication he shows job hunters on his boot camp that puts him over the top. His PsychoApe.com web site is loud and proud!
And if that isn’t enough then LinkedIn has added a new feature on the site for members to follow over 100 of the world’s most influential people, through their blogs without ever leaving LinkedIn. You can now get insights from the likes of Tim O’Reilly, Deepak Chopra, Richard Branson and the oh-so-creative Arianna Huffington. They are writing long blog posts covering everything from happiness to entrepreneurship. The service is free and available directly on your LinkedIn home page
Click Here To Download the complete “12 Days for Christmas Job Hunting with LinkedIn“.
Day 9
On the 9th Day of Xmas – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
Nine Tools for Researching Leads
There are a vast number of free services you can subscribe to that will bring information on hot new companies straight to your desktop every morning. JustSell.com for example delivers a list of all the companies in America that were newly funded. They are categorized by state or province, complete with the contact numbers for their executives. Nearly every news paper that’s available on the web has a News Alert function and you should subscribe to as many as you need to cover your interests. As well, SimplyHired.com and Indeed.com will deliver daily leads so you can focus your time and efforts on your Top 10 and the opportunities you find on LinkedIn.
Are you willing to compete to win? Then you have to research what your competition is doing. By competition I mean every other job hunter who is working overtime to position their profile to be FOUND on LinkedIn by recruiters and employers.
Emulate best practices for SEO
Sure you can use LinkedIn’s Search Tab to look at what your competition is doing but there’s an easier way that avoids the pitfalls of not having a large network. To find everyone you’re competing with you For LinkedIn SEO dominance, need to go outside LinkedIn and use Google.
Yes Google. Because, Google indexes everything. Including everything inside LinkedIn – PLEASE NOT: Google does not index Facebook which is why LinkedIn still rules for job hunters who want to be found.. I will save you the “Boolean Search String” lesson and show you exactly what you have to do instead.
Site Search on Google
For our example we will go to Google and do a Site Search of LinkedIn.com Take a look at the example. You need to use the command “site:LinkedIn.com” with the key words you are looking for.
For this example I placed the key words I was searching for in the example between quotation marks like this “program manager”. You will replace the key words program manager with ones that are appropriate to your search.
Of course we don’t want to view them all – we just want to see the top 3-5 and assess
them lookingfor how they structured their key words so that we can emulate them in your profile and hopefully appear ahead of them in the rankings. To continue this experiment you will select the result from your search that says [key words] profiles | LinkedIn. From the example above we would click on Program manager profiles | LinkedIn
Search Engine Optimize Your Profile
Select the top result. In this case it’s Dwight David. Mirror the words he used to describe himself and then test test test while making changes to your profile and see how your ranking increases.
Experiment with your “Title Tag”. Those are the words just below your picture. Also experiment with where you place the words you want to be “Found For” – in this case “Program Manager”. Dwight has done something right to come up first on the screen… it is likely his use of the key word “Program Manager” at the beginning of his Tag line.
You should also take note of the individual LinkedIn Profiles Google delivered and visit their profiles because if a profile ranks highly in Google – by itself – then it’s definitely worth your looking at to dissect and emulate.
LinkedIn Answers
LinkedIn’s “Answers” feature is probably best for national brands as opposed to a small, local business. You can search questions being asked by LinkedIn users and filter them by category and keyword to drill down to relevant questions you may be able to answer. You never know, one of these professionals may be looking for help that your company can provide.
LinkedIn Groups
Use LinkedIn Groups to identify experts and influencers in various industries as well as answer questions that may be relevant to them to be found! {see Day 7}
Company Page Insight into the Industry
You can drill down through a Company Page to get the latest news stories and understand and who’s in your network and their association with company. Do they work there? Did they? Are they a supplier? All good information to know in order to understand the inside of your Top 10 List of employers
Example of a company Page on LinkedIn
You can see more than just who you know but also what jobs they’re posting for.
You also have info on
- key decision makers;
- key employees at the company and how you’re connected;
- products; AND open positions.
People also Viewed
That box will tell you what similar brands that are considered to be alternatives to your brand. And then -all you have to do is search around those companies that are listed.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn ads are not expensive. You could run a targeted ad campaign aimed at only those people on your Top 10 List. Just like Grant Turk did with Facebook. Pay for Click is your best option. Profile your ideal employer or hone in more tightly on your Top 10 Employers.
Competitive Intelligence
You can search the “Question and Answer” categories for your industry keywords to see what people have been discussing. It’s a great way to stay in the know and ahead of the curve. There are many more research features that you can explore within LinkedIn and getting a list of people to talk to is a good start. Now you have to make those online connections in to real life connections. Start by picking up the phone and saying “Hi, my name is… and we’re connected on LinkedIn…” LinkedIn is a ‘brotherhood ‘ and you’re in it so you’re really not going to be treated like a complete stranger.
Hey! Santa has been keeping a naughty and nice list for decades — seems like a good idea to me!
Year in Review
A great feature in LinkedIn that you may not know about or may not know what to do with is “Year In review”. Do you keep up with the moves people make in your network on LinkedIn? If you do you can ask people for leads when they’ve landed.
LinkedIn Year in Review
Up to 70-80% of your success in finding a job hinges on your ability to build and use a network of contacts — people who can alert you to new job openings and help you get hired.
When you are referred to a hiring manager by one of their employees, you benefit from the trust that exists between them. And it gives you an almost unfair advantage over other job seekers who come in via the classified ads or the Internet. It’s like cutting to the front of the checkout line.
Contact 10 people a day for the next 25 days and say these words when you call or write: “I’m looking for a position where I can help a ___ company with my expertise in ____. Who do you know that I could talk to?” Try to get at least 3 names from each person.
Be sure to THANK your contacts for every name they give you. Then, ask each contact to please pass your name and phone number on to anyone they think of later whom you might be able to help.
(Notice, you’re not begging for a job here. You’re offering to help a company with your expertise. Big difference. And it gives you the enthusiasm that encourages others to respond