Think about your least favorite meal. Maybe there is a dinner you grew up with that turned your stomach. For me it is “boiled food” and one example is corned beef and cabbage and in Atlantic Canada we call it “boiled dinner.”
But what if this was the only item on the menu? Isn’t this like how most of us landed jobs? We happened to come across a job that perhaps no one else wanted (bland like the boiled food) or we applied for a job from a board job thinking it was what we wanted because it was the only item on the menu.
You would be much closer to finding your dream job if you can identify that company.
Create a better menu by constructing a list of criteria important to you. Perhaps you want to work for a family-owned organization or on the other end of the spectrum, a large corporate conglomerate. Understanding the type of organization you want to work for is critical to finding the right fit for you.
Identify your ideal company profile
- Industry
- Market Position
- Revenues
- # of Employees
- # of Customers
- Geography
- Private
- Public
- Family-owned
- Values
- Philosophy
- Add your criteria here
Free and Paid corporate information no one will tell you about
- Reference librarians at your public library are a valuable source of information not found on Google and they are paid by your taxes.
- You can purchase corporate data to help you identify these organizations. One client recently purchased data for his city that yielded 8700 decision-makers that met his criteria.
- Databases that charge a fee for use are also a good way to uncover corporate nuggets if you want to do this research on your own. Ask your librarian.
Employee Referral Programs
Once you have identified your organizations, see if they have an employee referral program.
Companies will hire people they trust and when you are referred into an organization by a current employee, this adds credibility to your candidacy. According to the Society of Human Resource Management, “Depending upon the position, anywhere from 9% to 47% of respondents indicated that employee referral programs were effective or extremely effective for filling vacancies” (Survey of Fortune 500 companies 2001).
Using LinkedIn, you can determine whether you have a contact at that organization. Using email, telephone and regular old-fashioned letter campaigns. Yes they still work, the research proves it.
According to the Chief Marketing Officer Council World Wide’s website “Traditional offline marketing,” which includes direct mailers, was a $93.6 billion industry in 2012. Four-fifths (79%) of consumers will act on direct mail immediately compared to only 45% who say they deal with email straightaway. Substitute “consumers” with “decision-makers.”
Identify your ideal company profile then go for it! The magic in this approach is that you don’t compete with anyone because there is no competition and you get to control the process.
