Recently, I wrote a blog about how to create a promotion for those looking for new opportunities inside the organization.  The same can be done externally to create your own job opportunity.  It is possible to generate interest from a company by beginning outside of the process. 

The Attention Grabber: The success of this method lies in the ability to effectively showcase a service that you can provide; that benefits them in a way they cannot refuse.  Some examples might help to illustrate my point.  If you are a marketing specialist do some research regarding what types of marketing campaigns the company engages in.  Identify one marketing campaign that the company has conducted and recreate a piece of the marketing campaign that captures your skills and abilities (e.g. a brochure with even better copy than they created themselves).  Another example would be an editor.  You could either send in an edited piece of the companies work or you could write your own piece on a topic important to the company.  Remember, your showcase must be directly tied to the job you are trying to land; not just to the company of interest.  Don’t make it a gimmick; gimmicks get ignored. If you cannot find anything that directly relates to the company, you can also send in a previous piece of work that expresses the message you want to get across.

Identify the Key Contact:  Very rarely will you ever hear me suggest working around the HR system.  But in this case you need to make contact with the right person.  An HR manager will not be impressed with your ability to create stellar copy for a marketing campaign if there is no open position.  You need to grab the attention of the hiring manager and let that person do the work with HR. 

Follow Up:  Once you have sent in your masterpiece, you now have a reason to follow up.  Do not follow up more than three times.  If you are getting no response then it is time to move on to the next company.  This is not a method that will work with all companies, but it is definitely another road that could land you a great new opportunity.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 11:02 pm and is filed under job search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 Comment on this post