Once you have passed the conversational preliminaries, your objective is to continue or confirm your previous research on your career options and objectives. Specific questions you might ask include:
- What types of jobs or career fields can the individual suggest that might make use of your Special Ingredient?
- What is the general level of demand for those jobs or career fields?
- What is the general range of starting salaries, or what are average salaries for your level of experience?
- What is the typical career path up from those jobs?
- What are the general requirements for entry or further advancement in that career field?
- What is a typical profile (experience, education, personality, salary, goals) of a successful person in that career field?
- What advice can the individual offer to best capitalize on your Special Ingredient in order to achieve your short-term objective and your Grand Goal?
Important Question #1: "On the basis of what I have told you about myself, do you know of any one individual or any one company that I should contact regarding a job along the lines that we have discussed".
You have asked the person for a job lead. The individual may claim ignorance, at which time you explain that any information at all would be very much appreciated and rephrase the question. The individual May probably suggest the name of another person within the company or may mention a different company entirely. Every time a name or company is mentioned, ask "Who else?" until your contact runs out of ideas. If you are referred to a specific individual, call that person next, saying "John Doe at XYZ Company suggested I call you and introduce myself". The use of John Doe's name is to help make you less a stranger to your next contact.
Occasionally, the individual will volunteer that he or she has a job opening that might interest you. Eureka! You have struck gold. Now you move to the role of salesperson.
At this point, you have aggressively set an interview for yourself versus meekly asking for an interview. You have given the individual a decision over only the choice of times and not a choice of whether or not to see you. You have made it harder for him or her to say no. This is a subtle but very important distinction that will improve greatly your effectiveness in getting interviews.
If the individual has not volunteered that a suitable job opening exists, proceed to Important Question #2b if you feel that you have developed good rapport and that you have verified that the individual indeed does supervise a general area that interests you.
Important Question #2b: May I come in and talk with you about the possibility of future employment with your company? Should something appropriate open up.
You have used the term "future employment" to keep the pressure off the target individual. You have not backed that person into a comer. No commitments are made by either party; however, by arranging the interview you are trying to solidify a contact for the long term who may provide future referrals and put you at the head of the line when an appropriate position does become vacant for which he or she does the hiring. Moreover, if the interview goes well, the individual may arrange for something to happen in the short term.
If you cannot arrange an interview, always leave your name and number with the supervisor. I never fail to leave my name and telephone number at the end of every telephone call, and I occasion ally have been called back after a person changed his or her mind or a company environment changed. It may be a couple of hours later or a couple of months later but things do change, and when they do, someone may call you back, but only if he or she has recorded your name and telephone number.
This process for arranging interviews, also works for out-of-town job hunting. Although it is more difficult to obtain that first interview because of the obligation incurred by the company to pay for your travel expenses, once you successfully arrange that first interview, others will quickly fall in line. As soon as the other companies learn that you will be in town at someone else's expense, the appropriate supervisors will make room for you in their schedules.
The relatively small amount of expense money saved Moves Mountains on your behalf. On the other hand, a very effective demonstration of aggressive enthusiasm is to offer to pay your own travel expenses in a case where you have an abiding interest in a particular company or city. Then, hope that at some later point the company offers to reimburse you. If they don't, politely suggest the idea.
Underline this next statement. Do not ever be afraid of wasting time on an interview. Remember, good jobs often are created for good people because, no matter how high the unemployment rate, talented, reliable, and enthusiastic workers with initiative are always in short supply. Also, turnover at most companies runs anywhere from 10-25 percent per year. Therefore, any time you talk to a supervisor in any company, even if there is no opening now, the situation is likely to change in the near future.
For example, if the individual is supervising 100 positions, 10-25 of those jobs will be open at some time in the next year. When those jobs do become available, you want to be at the head of the line. So, interview as often as you can, no matter what the circumstances. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, whether it be simply solidifying a potentially valuable contact or getting an unrefusable offer.
Your objective in job hunting is to arrange at least 10-15 face-to-face interviews with decision makers for known job openings and to obtain 3-5 firm job offers. The number of notes and follow-up telephone calls required to satisfy these objectives will vary depending on your target career field, desired job level, preferred geographical area, and aggressiveness. Rest assured, however, that the job offers are out there, and they are the inevitable result of the interviews that result from your telephone calls that follow up your notes.
