With all the applications I’ve completed online and all the resumes I’ve submitted over the past couple of years, I’ve had two interviews. But when I put my suite on and went knocking on doors I had much better responses. I had a good number of people who were visibly impressed that I showed up in person and I had multiple interviews on the spot even for places that had not advertised they were looking for someone. The job I took didn’t pay much but I got my foot in the door and I made a good impression on the management team. Less than three months with the company I was promoted to a management position.
Here are a few of the details of how I implemented my strategy for those interested.
1. I continually maintained a positive attitude. On days when I didn’t have it I didn’t go knocking on doors. This is pretty difficult at times when you’re being rejected but it’s an absolute necessity. If I’m not confident in myself why would anyone hire me? You won’t have someone cheering you on every day, or most days, so you have to do it yourself. Whatever it takes to keep yourself upbeat and positive.
When I did go out door knocking I used MS Streets and Trips to plan my route to make the most efficient use of my time and gas money. I also took note of other businesses in the area and researched them.
2. I did as much research as I could before knocking. The Internet is huge here of course and I really don’t know how people did serious job hunting before it. I signed up on about fifteen job boards and had daily emails coming to me from all over with possibilities. I used LinkedIn to get information on companies through employees and I scoured company websites for anything that could give me an edge.
But the Internet will only take you so far. I’ve seen statistics that only 2% of people are hired through the Internet job boards. That seems incredible considering how much money is spent on job boards but I don’t know of anyone who was hired that way. Another consideration is that most job boards use computer programs to weed out and narrow down the number of applications. The worst part about this is that you may be perfect for the job but a computer program rejected you for something as simple as an extra period or space it didn’t like. It’s bad enough being rejected without ever even being told you were rejected but being rejected by an inanimate object is just brutal.
One trick I learned was to copy the ad and remove stuff like the company name, misspellings etc. Reduce it to a 1 point font and make the color white. Then copy and paste the ad at the very top of your resume. When the computer scans your resume it will see all the stuff it’s looking for in a candidate because it was in their own advertisement. This wont’ work if you paste your resume into a form normally but if you attach your resume it will. Worth a shot if nothing else.
3. I created a personalized cover letter for EVERY resume package I handed out and ALWAYS addressed it a specific person with a title. Sometimes you just have to call and ask who you need to talk to. (Incidentally, the job I took was a place I didn’t find in my research. I had to call a Convention and Visitors Bureau to get a person to address my cover letter to (I was applying at the CVB). When I visited the CVB I was told they would love a staff but didn’t have the money. The director then gave me a list of about five places to try. She gave me the GM’s name and said he was a great guy. You’re more likely to get further in the door with “I’m here to meet with John Thompson, the HR Director.” than “May I speak with your HR Director please?” LinkedIn is great for this but be sure you get the right person. I found a couple of companies where I wasn’t sure of who to talk to so I created a cover letter and package for each person and winged it when I got there.
4. I spent time driving around different locations and making notes on my voice recorder about possible companies to research. One day I had over one hundred places to research just driving through a few business parks. I then researched the companies on the Internet to see just what they did and if there was a way for me to fit in. LinkedIn, company website and a Google search will yield some great information.
5. I Googled every term I could think of in the industry I was looking in. This is an obvious thing to do of course but as I did this I found that I was looking at companies and industries I hadn’t thought of before. I’d spent 5 years as an exhibit manager in the education industry but the skills and experience I gained in that position aren’t exclusive to it. I decided to sit down and list every skill I had and then Google the skills and found myself looking at the hospitality industry among others. If you’ve programmed for American Airlines and looking for work, you may find that some sports apparel company is looking to rebuild their inventory system or whatever. Even if your skills are more specialized like maybe a chef you can look at places like resorts, being a private chef or whatever. The point being to think outside your box and consider working in someone else’s.
6. I setup my laptop and printer in my car when I went knocking on doors. I created cover letters and assembled packages for at least 20 places on the spot. There were several times when I sat in the parking lot and used the company’s wifi to research them and create a cover letter. I also had several times when, after talking to the receptionist, I found that I had the wrong person. I went out to the car and printed up a fresh cover letter and was back in the door in a few minutes. That will get you some looks.
I also wrote my thank you notes on the spot before I left the parking lot. I have terrible handwriting so I used my cover letter as a template and typed my thank you notes in a script style font. Hand written is more personal but if they can’t read it then it does you no good. I had my return address labels already printed and printed an address label for the person in the car. More than once I dropped the thank you note in the mail box in front of the company I’d just visited. (Side note: Print directly on the envelope if possible. My old printer wouldn’t do this but my new one does and it’s a huge difference.
7. Each time I created a new cover letter or thank you note, I saved it on my computer with the city, company and name and title of the person it was addressed to. More than once I had to reprint letters to make a small change or correct a mistake. I also used previous letters as a starting template for new ones. Not having to start from scratch every time you create a new cover letter or note saves a lot of time.
8. Speaking of cover letters, I found a template for something totally unrelated and modified it into a cover letter. I then made my resume match the cover letter in font and both have a red accent line. Of course I printed everything on resume paper which I bought in bulk at Office Max. When I had business cards made at Office Max, I used the same font and found a template with a red line. Had I thought of it, I would have had Office Max print up envelopes too. The point being that everything matched and without going overboard I included a little color to help things stand out. I included a business card with every resume package I gave out and also in each thank you note. My email and phone were on everything including every page of my resume.
9. As part of my resume package I included my professional references (which matched the resume in all respects) and I had several letters of reference that were on the respective company letterheads. My thinking here was that, even if I get an on the spot interview, the employer isn’t going to make an on the spot decision. By including these items, the employer has everything they may need to consider me further. They don’t have to ask for information and then wait for me to follow up with it before they can contact references. If they see the references and letters and decide not to contact me then I haven’t had my hopes excited only to not hear back from them.
10. I took the approach that every place I walked into needed to hire me to improve their situation. They just didn’t know it yet. It was my job to introduce myself and inform them, in as polite a way as possible, that they were losing out because they didn’t yet have me as an employee. I wasn’t rude or arrogant but I didn’t allow myself to be intimidated either. I was straight forward and honest about who I am and what I was looking for. It was more of an attitude to keep myself upbeat than anything else. I also reminded myself that, regardless of what they thought or how the interview went, I couldn’t hurt my chances by walking in. They didn’t know I existed until I walked in so they couldn’t hire me and the worst possible result is that they still didn’t hire me.
This strategy may not work for everyone and it can always be improved upon, but it worked for me. I learned a lot in my last round of job hunting and I’ll make changes the next time I go looking. I was down on myself a lot over the past two years and it’s hard to look for a job when you’re not sure you’d hire yourself. But whatever the reasons for a person not having a job right now, that person knows better than anyone else what they are capable of and what their value is. Both jobs I had in 2009 were in areas I’d had no experience in except that my skills are in service. They knew that and my service oriented attitude is what they hired. I can learn the rest.
Life gives no guarantees aside from death. Security in work or any other aspect of life is relevant and a myth in my opinion. The president of General Motors made a huge salary and ended up being fired by the President of the United States. Michael Jackson was worth hundreds of millions and died at fifty. I worked for some great people at a fantastic company for twelve years and loved it. The company sold, management changed and I was let go. Things change. It’s not a matter of “if” things will change. They will. The trick is to move beyond the change.
Posted by Tom Poalinelli 
