Use the methods described below to develop your list of contacts:
- Start by listing the names of friends, relatives, and contacts in your area (assuming you plan to stay in your present location). Include each person's home phone and address, and, if possible, each one's employer and title.
- Develop an A-list and a 5-list. Your list includes people most likely to hear about the type of opening you're interested in and those who could refer you to other key people. If your parents live in the area, include many of their friends on your list. Perhaps you haven't spoken to them in years, but they will still be glad to help you. These people are likely to be either retired or near the end of their careers. In any case, they are likely to have high-level contacts. Your 5-list consists of people you know who are less likely to hear of job openings in your field. You'll still want to contact them but they won't receive the same priority as your A-list people.
- Mail resumes first to your A-list people with a short, handwritten note indicating the type of work you're seeking and stating that you'll call in a few days to explain the resume more fully. Also send a list of your 70 top employer prospects. If you include a longer list, people won't pay as much attention to it. The resume is important because most of your friends probably don't know much about your background or qualifications.
- When you call or visit one of your contacts, explain how they can help. Indicate that you're not asking for a job, but simply asking them to keep their eyes and ears open for leads, either within their own organization or other organizations. Also explain that you don't expect them to set up any appointments for you, but do ask them to pass leads on to you so you can follow them up on your own. Indicate that you would like to use their name whenever it is appropriate. Ask for any advice they might have for you. Get them involved in your search. After people have given advice, they feel they have a stake in your success.
- Get referrals. Ask your contacts if they know anyone at all who works for any of the organizations on your list. Emphasize anyone. It's great if they know a key person in a particular organization, but the name of anyone in the organization can be useful. Don't rule out people such as secretaries, bookkeepers, janitors, and truck drivers. They will know others within the organization, and they may have in sights to share with you.
Establishing rapport with these new contacts is crucial. Initially, the only thing you have in common is a mutual friend. Although that will help a great deal in the first minute, in order to get the information you really want, you will need to build your own rapport. This per son may be open to listening to you, and may have some desire to help because of the mutual friend, but you will need to take it a step further.
Begin by introducing yourself and then give the name of your mutual friend. Describe the reason for your call. Explain exactly what you want from this person. In explaining the purpose of the call, indicate that you are considering working for this company. Very briefly, describe your background, taking less than a minute to do so. Then briefly describe what you know about the organization and indicate which department you think is the best fit for you. You should have already gained the name of the person with power to hire-give that name, asking for confirmation that he or she is indeed the right per son.
Feel free to spend some time talking about your mutual friend if this person asks a question about your friend. If, in fact, you barely know the person (perhaps the person is a business associate of your father's you've never met) indicate that and then move on to your re quest. An up-front response works best: "Actually I barely know her. But when I was speaking to her a couple days ago she suggested I call you."
Occasionally, the person will not want to be mentioned by name. It may be that the two barely know each other, but more likely it will be because they don't get along. The contact is really saying that he or she would not be a useful reference. In such a case, of course, you would not use the contact's name.
The best way to illustrate the difference between giving a name and not giving one is to use some figures based on one's experience. A person who is getting appointments with 75% of the hiring authorities when a reference name is given will probably still succeed in getting appointments with 60% of the hiring authorities when no reference is given.
As you can imagine, the process of contacting all of these people takes time. It takes time to call all of your target organizations to determine who the person with power to hire is. It takes time to call friends, relatives, and associates and ask for assistance. It takes time to call people within your target organizations or those people who know about your target organizations. Then it takes still more time to call the employers and ask for appointments. Just remember: the results you get will make it more than worthwhile.
You've been presented with a systematic way to learn about openings and to get appointments with employers. This method is far more effective than the methods the average person uses. Even using haphazard and inconsistent techniques, 26% of all people get their jobs through the help of friends, relatives, and contacts.
Follow-up with Contacts
It is extremely important to follow-up with your contacts. For the first two or three weeks after you initially contact them, they will think a lot about you. After about six weeks, those people you contacted who do not know you well will have almost totally forgotten you. If they happen to see a job posting, they will probably still think of you, but they will not be actively pursuing leads on your behalf.
Following up with your contacts will keep them interested and thinking about you. They need to hear from you. Your initial call usually requires the most time since you will be explaining your plans and answering any questions the person may have. It's also very likely that you will get into a conversation about old times; especially if this is a person you don't see or speak to frequently. Or the person may ask what you know about some mutual friends. Your initial call, therefore, can easily take 15-20 minutes. Your follow-up calls, however, can usually be kept to under five minutes.
In those follow-up calls, quickly bring the person up-to-date on your activities and progress. If the person gave you any referrals or ideas, you should mention what you did in response. The main thing you're doing is simply reminding the person that you are still actively and systematically conducting your job search. It's important to let people know you are both active and systematic. If people believe you are not doing all that you can, they will feel less responsibility for helping you.
In this initial follow-up, you could also ask about some additional organizations. If you have a list of 100 target companies, but on the list you sent you included only 70, you could verbally mention another 20-25 organizations and ask if the person knows anyone who works for any of those organizations.
The telephone call completes your first follow-up. About six weeks later, follow-up through the mail. Write a letter describing what you've been up to. Include an interesting story about an experience you had or someone you met. Photocopy the letter and personalize it by handwriting the person's name and perhaps add a personal paragraph. These letters will cost you postage plus the reproduction costs, but they will save time and long-distance telephone costs. Letters are an excellent way to maintain contact with your resources.
Six to eight weeks later, and every six to eight weeks thereafter, you should follow up again with a brief, three-minute phone call. Not only will your resources appreciate it, it will make them much more aware and helpful.
Many people fail to make contact with friends, relatives, and associates because they really don't want people to know that they are job hunting. Job hunting is not a sin and unemployment is not a disease. These people want to help you. Remember, you are not asking them for any great favors. They will spend next to no time on your behalf; you are merely asking them to keep their eyes and ears open to opportunities.
You will quickly find yourself getting a lot of leads. Like a detective or salesperson, you'll need to prioritize your leads. If you start get-ting more that you can follow up on, prioritize them according to the likelihood that the lead will get you closer to your goal.
A few days after your calls to friends, relatives, and associates, send a thank-you letter to each one. It can be handwritten and does not need to be more than three sentences long. Even if the person was not able to help you at the time, a quality lead may still come from that person. In any case, the person gave some of his or her valuable time, and common courtesy says the person should be thanked. Furthermore, this thoughtful gesture will also cause the person to be even' more impressed with you than before. As a result, the person will be more likely to pass future leads to you.
After you obtain a position you should once again send thank-you notes to all those who helped you. This one could be a form letter describing your new job, with perhaps a sentence or two at the bottom which personalizes the letter. It could be a special thank you concerning a particularly useful lead or piece of advice.
