Start with 25 Companies

Start your job search

• Identify 25 companies that you would like to work for and develop a plan on how you will penetrate these companies to uncover opportunities.
  
• Identify a minimum of 5 jobs per week that you are interested in and apply for them. The more creative you get in the application process the better. Your goal here is to get your resume and cover letter handed to the decision maker versus in a pile with the rest of the competition.
  
• The telephone is an excellent resource for this stage of your search. You can call, express your interest, and offer to send a resume. Or, if you are in the geographic area of a contact, you can try to arrange for a face-to-face meeting, perhaps by offering to buy lunch!
  

Additional tips:

• Always be polite.
  
• When making cold calls, always ask if it's a good time to talk.
  
• Explain your situation, what you are looking for, and ask for help. If it is someone you have talked with before, you can remind the person of your previous conversation.
  
• Make everything as easy as you can for the other person. You want to come across as a helpful person; after all, that is why someone will want to hire you. Hence, expect to do your own legwork. Your contact can point you in the right direction, but the rest is up to you. Ask relatively easy questions, so that you are not asking your contact to do too much work on your behalf.
  
• An interactive medium, such as the phone, is a great way to get people's attention. E-mail or regular mail may be more convenient (you can dump lots of information to many different people with very little effort), but how do you know that your contact did not just throw your information in the trash or hit the delete key? If your contact says that he or she would rather be contacted by e-mail, then by all means, do so. Otherwise, try calling your contact, scheduling a phone appointment, or setting up a face-to-face meeting.
  
• Before contacting someone in a particular organization, attempt to do some research about the organization and the positions that may be available within it. It is always helpful to know something about the organization: its vision, mission, products and/or services, and other relevant information. Not only will it help you decide whether that organization is consistent with your values and missions, but your knowledge will also be viewed favorably by the person you are talking with!
  
• Make sure your contact enjoys the conversation. Be sure to thank him or her for the help, make him or her feel good about helping and be a good listener when he or she is talking.
  
• Try not to hang up without getting an answer to at least one of the following questions: Do you know of anyone else I should talk with about this?, Can I send you my resume? or When can I contact you again?
  
• Make sure to send your contact a hand written thank you note!