Prospecting
Prospecting in the visible market is a little easier than in the hidden market. The resources you'll use are more accessible. You'll need the newspaper, lots of stationery and postage, the telephone directory, good soles on your shoes and persistence.
Human resources offices. Human resources departments are now involved in hiring all but the very top executives in major companies, and in many small- to mid-size corporations. Telephone calls and visits to the offices of companies you'd like to work for can be productive. And conceivably, you might get the jump on a new position by your persistence. Jobs are often requisitioned several weeks or even months before they open. Then they're announced internally for two or three weeks before being advertised in the newspaper. You visit an office, complete an application and ask for an interview. Because the interviewer is aware that the job opening is going to be available, you will be interviewed for a position that's essentially still "hidden." Human resources people from different companies also talk to each other. You might obtain a lead on jobs they know are available in another company.
Answering Newspaper Advertisements. Newspaper ads are not always valid leads to jobs. Some companies put ads in the newspapers because they have someone they're unhappy with, and want to shake the trees to see what they can find. But the majority of ads are for legitimate jobs. You shouldn't ignore them as a source of leads.
Some organizations spend big bucks on display ads in the business section of the newspapers; others put little bitty one-inch ads in the classifieds for jobs that pay as well and are every bit as good as those in the display ads. Companies may also place ads in trade and association journals and magazines and in local area newspapers. Regardless of the way they look, ad copy is written in a number of different ways:
- Ads that are completely unintelligible. You read the ad and you still don't have any idea what it's for. If it has the job title that you're looking for, it's worth a telephone call to find out what the job is that they're really advertising, but it isn't worth spending a whole lot of time on. You could be doing something more immediately productive with your time.
- Ads that are intentionally misleading. These are often for the so-called "glamour" industries, for positions that sound as though they are high-level management, marketing or human resources positions, or they may be designed for the greatest possible response. Sometimes, the ad is misleading because the interviewer who wrote it didn't realize that the ad was ambiguous-or may have had a hidden agenda. You may never get a response to your letter and resume, but you could still take a chance and send them. This type of ad, though, really belongs in the "caveat emptor" ("buyer beware") ranks. If you should be asked to come for an interview, play it cool and cautious.
- Ads that don't say enough. They don't list essential duties, or they use current buzz words as a substitute for substance. You have to study these ads carefully, and "read between the lines" to see what the ad is really about. The ad may have a theme. Use it in your response.
- Ads that say exactly what they mean. They include job duties and responsibilities and list the minimum requirements for hiring. They may include enough information about the hiring organization that you would know whether or not you'd be interested. To even get an interview on this kind of ad, you'd have to meet or exceed every criteria. But these employers know what they want, and their jobs are worth pursuing.
- Ads that don't say who the employer will be. These ads may or may not describe the job accurately. But they definitely don't describe themselves. You are asked to respond to initials, to a blind box address at the newspaper, to a box number or a street address. Why don't these employers identify themselves? They may be looking to replace an employee but don't want to signal their intention in advance; they may have marginal jobs, but want them to sound big; or they may simply want to get the resumes without having to respond to the ones that don't interest them or having people show up in person to respond to an ad.
- Ads in which the employer says very little about the available job, other than the job title, and devotes almost all of the ad space to selling the company as a desirable employer.
- Ads placed by executive recruiters. The ads list the position(s) for which the company is recruiting, a very brief explanation of the job, and often a salary range. Sometimes the ads list only job titles and salary range. These are almost invariably valid jobs, although sometimes firms may simply be looking to replenish their stock of resumes.
