David E. Perry's Blog, page 19
August 18, 2011
Starbucks Helping Job Hunters Find Jobs 65% Faster
Job 65% FasterMary Berman, from Farmington Hills, Michigan, had been looking for work for 5 months before starting a "Guerrilla" job search.
Up to that point, 20 weeks of job hunting had produced zero job interviews.
Just 7 weeks later, she accepted a job on as a marketing executive assistant.
How did she use Guerrilla job hunting tactics to find work 65% faster?
"I saw a job advertised online and applied by mail. I sent a box with a paper Starbucks coffee cup, my cover letter, and resume inside. On the side of the cup, where it has boxes for the type of coffee, I made my own box that said, 'Hire Mary' and checked it with a black marker. I heard back a couple days later to get my first interview," says Berman.
After her first job interview, which went well, Berman followed up with panache. "It was Halloween time, so I decided to send them a chocolate covered apple with my hand-written thank-you note in a bag. I had a friend of mine, who was off work that day, take it over and deliver it to [the employer]. That was a big hit — they were thrilled — and I got the second interview out of it."
Berman's second job interview was with the executive vice president. Afterwards, she followed up diligently. "When I came home, I wrote a 30-60-90 day plan. I had taken copious notes during the interview and used that information to create suggestions for what I would do in my first 30, 60, and 90 days. I sent that to them via FedEx with another thank-you note. And I got a job offer."
Now. Let's break this successful Guerrilla Job Search down …
1. Start smart. The Coffee Cup Caper — a paper Starbucks cup, full-color Guerrilla Resume, and a cover letter (asking to meet for coffee), shipped in a box — gets extraordinary results. By contrast, ordinary resumes and cover letters, sent by email, get ordinary results.
2. Follow up with style. Delivering a Halloween treat with her thank-you note was correct seasonally, if not politically. Use good judgment before sending items that might be perceived as bribes by employers sensitive to such things, such as universities or public-sector organizations.
In Berman's case, however, it worked like a (chocolate-covered) charm.
And, leaving out the gift, think of the impact a hand-delivered thank-you note can have on an employer, versus standard U.S. Mail or email. Could you arrange to have your thank-you note delivered by a courier, or a friend acting as one? Of course.
3. Give employers another reason to hire you. Mary did this in spades after her second interview, when she sent a written plan of action that outlined her first three months on the job.
A 30-60-90 day plan is a way of proving you can do the work — before you're even on the payroll — by describing how you would learn the job, build rapport with employees/customers, and contribute to the bottom line.
Mary's plan was 8 pages long and took the better part of a Friday night to prepare. (Before you balk at spending an entire evening at home researching and writing a 30-60-90 day plan, ask yourself if you wouldn't trade a night out for getting a steady paycheck again.)
4. Score style points with your delivery. Mary's first follow-up, the chocolate-apple-thank-you note, was delivered by a courier, not by email. Her 30-60-90 day plan was delivered by FedEx, not by email.
Do you not see a pattern?
Email should NOT be the delivery method for your career documents. Because you can't delete a courier, and a FedEx envelope can't get caught in a spam filter.
Bottom line: This smart Guerrilla had failed to get even one job interview in 20 weeks of job hunting with conventional tactics.
After adopting unconventional Guerrilla tactics, she found work in only 7 weeks.
If Guerrilla job search methods can work in Michigan, where the unemployment rate tops 15%, they can work where you live.
The only thing stopping you from thinking and acting like a Guerrilla Job Hunter - is you.
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Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters blog {www.GM4JH.com] and download the free audio CD.
McCrabby Rants...: Dear Hiring Mgr: I'm Overqualified? Is that code for...
NOTE: Will E. Wurkornot got a job!!! Congrats, Will E. So, this is it -- Will's last attempt at making sense to a hiring manager. This is Number 10, in a series of ten letters (all are listed at the end of this post.
You'll love the is piece by a fellow Guerrilla Resume Writer - I promise.
August 17, 2011
Rules for email correspondence:
Using email to job hunt is a crapshoot on the best of days. Most job hunters don't know how to give good email. Here are a few hard and fast Perry Rules to insure your message AND resume get through AND get read:
Make sure your Subject line gives me a reason to read the message. "George Smith's cover letter and resume" won't cut it! It's not a good enough reason for me to open it and read it.
You're cover email should get my attention within the first three sentences. Remember you only have seconds to make an impression. So do not waste it telling me you're "Hard working and enthusiastic".
Address the email to a specific person
Tell me why I should read your resume in the first short paragraph.
Here's an example of an email that got through to me. Got opened. Got read and Got a phone call back. What made the difference?
I can't cut and paste the note into the body of this blog but let me begin by telling you that it was actually addressed to me, David Perry – and not occupant or the email equivalent "hr@anycompany.com"
The subject line got my attention because they creatively told me something about themselves: Energetic, Executive, Venture Experience.
Then their opening paragraph really grabbed me:
"Marketing savvy executive experienced in business development. Action oriented manager will bring sale closing strength and team building expertise to launch a new product or developes a new territory. My goal is to move to the N Carolina/Florida coast in summer 2011. I want to be financially rewarded for superior results".
This one is direct and to the point. If I had a Job Order I'd read it immediately. If I did business in Southern USA I'd read it. If I did business with start-ups I read it, I did read it and I liked what I saw. Successful candidate with real skills and accomplishment who's motivated to accelerate their career AND they know were they want to work.
Doesn't get a whole lot better than this for a "bulk" email.
Now, make sure you cut and paste - in plain text - your resume into the body of the email message below your note, BECAUSE most recruiters will not open attachments for fear of catching a virus....
August 14, 2011
Send 1/2 your resume: # 3 of 47 Ways to Find a Job
First, find a company for whom you would like to work. Write a compelling covering letter describing why you are good for them, pointing the receiver to the enclosed CV for further information. Don't seal the A4 envelope and don't enclose a CV. They'll think the CV fell out in the mail. Wait for the phone to ring, speak to the hiring manager personally, engage them in a conversation, and sell yourself shamelessly.
Compliments of Matt Foster, Managing Director, CVO Group
use high quality stationary
Make sure the letter fits very snugly in the envelope so it doesn't really fall out.
Make sure your phone number is on the covering letter.
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
#1 Rule for Job Hunters in 2011 and beyond– Be found: 5 Free ways to ensure you're on every employers' radar
Despite signs of a strengthening economy, the tried-and-true methods of finding a job will no longer suffice.
Becoming a guerrilla job-hunter and making yourself easy-to-find is the best way to consistently move your career forward. The market is geared toward those who effectively brand and market themselves as the ultimate commodity across multiple distribution channels. AND it won't cost you a cent. As Charles Darwin said, "It's not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it's the one most responsive to change."
Serious job hunters should make the following 5 resolutions for 2011. I will:
Package my experience to astound employers [FREE]
Quantify my accomplishments in $$$ and ### and %%% on my resume [FREE]
Become easy to find and manage my on-line profile through ZoomInfo.com [FREE]
Supersize my network using LinkedIn the leading social networking software [FREE]
Build an eResume that is Google friendly so recruiters can find me [FREE]
The average "career book" looks at life from the job-hunters point of view - which of course is wrong. If you want to get a rewarding job you need to look at the process from the employer's perspective. Why should they hire you? What's in it for them? What can you bring to the table as an employee that will improve shareholder value? Give this serious thought.
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
#1 Rule for Job Hunters in 2011 and beyond– Be found :5 Free ways to ensure you're on every employers' radar
Despite signs of a strengthening economy, the tried-and-true methods of finding a job will no longer suffice.
Becoming a guerrilla job-hunter and making yourself easy-to-find is the best way to consistently move your career forward. The market is geared toward those who effectively brand and market themselves as the ultimate commodity across multiple distribution channels. AND it won't cost you a cent. As Charles Darwin said, "It's not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it's the one most responsive to change."
Serious job hunters should make the following 5 resolutions for 2011. I will:
Package my experience to astound employers [FREE]
Quantify my accomplishments in $$$ and ### and %%% on my resume [FREE]
Become easy to find and manage my on-line profile through ZoomInfo.com [FREE]
Supersize my network using LinkedIn the leading social networking software [FREE]
Build an eResume that is Google friendly so recruiters can find me [FREE]
The average "career book" looks at life from the job-hunters point of view - which of course is wrong. If you want to get a rewarding job you need to look at the process from the employer's perspective. Why should they hire you? What's in it for them? What can you bring to the table as an employee that will improve shareholder value? Give this serious thought.
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
August 13, 2011
48 ways to overcome your fears - 48Days.NET
If I do it on my own, what if I fail?
via www.48days.net
In this article Kathleen Jaffe addresses 48 of the fears i fear from job hunters on a regular basis. It's worth your while to print and hang this somewhere you can read it when you need it.
Thanks for responding to Jerry's original post so creatively.
David Perry
August 9, 2011
Are you too easy? Job Hunters
Where you one of those guys in high school that always seemed desperate for a date?If so it was probably because you were a real pleaser, An eager beaver?
Did it annoy you that the guys who seemed indifferent where the ones the girls where most interested in? You know the Captain of the football team couldn't brush them off fast enough AND the more he brushed the more they swarmed.
Have you ever noticed that passive candidates, those who seem to be the least interested in a particular job - often because they're already employed - are the most sought after? Is there a lesson to be learned here?
Yes. If you're consistently getting the interview but not the offer it's probably because you're too nice. Too easy. Too ready to please.
Its kind of like going fishing and the fish jumps in the boat - not much challenge in that. Employers want to be drilled by candidates just as much as they want to drill the candidate themselves. So the next time you go in for an interview prepare questions about the business NOT the job.
Be prepared to talk about the future of their industry and what keeps them up at night. Don't ask them what keeps them up at night – research it through their association ahead of time and be prepared to talk about the issues and ideas as it applies to the interviewer's firm.
The passive candidate gets the offer BECAUSE they'll take the time to assess the opportunity being presented against their current one. They have detached interest which forces/encourages the employer to sell more than they would to a job hunter who's desperate for a date - any date.
Guerrilla - set yourself up for success by setting yourself apart from ALL the other job hunters. Do your home work.
The New America
In the 1800s, our forefathers witnessed the beginning of a colossal economic transformation with the onset of the industrial revolution. Within a single generation, it became necessary to start clearing out old city neighborhoods and rich farmlands to make way for steel mills, railway yards, warehouses, and office buildings.
To fuel this economic behemoth, people left the far reaches of rural America to take jobs that most of them would hold for the rest of their working lives.
Today in places like China and India old city neighborhoods, entire towns, and rich farmlands are still being cleared to make way for trade and industry.
The tidal wave of economic change—pressure to increase shareholder value quarterly instead of yearly, outsourcing, and rightsizing —all have greatly affected the domestic job market that we once knew. Competition to get noticed and chosen for the best professional opportunities is stiff. No matter how talented you may be, many others also are vying for that top spot.
See which jobs have a future in this "New America" download the 3 complimentary chapters.
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
August 8, 2011
Invite your tribe: # 46 of 47 Ways to Find a Job
Recruit your entire tribe: doctor, dentist, lawyer, mechanic, hairdresser, butcher, banker, and real estate agent to help in your job-hunting. Ask everyone who's connected to the community you want to work in. Commercial real-estate brokers are usually plugged in better than anyone else. They know who's growing and who's going… out of business that is. They're among the first to know when a new business is coming to town or when a company is growing or downsizing. Brokers usually belong to local business or service clubs.
Brokers live and die on referrals so they understand your need for leads.
Bribe them with regular breakfasts.
Reciprocate when you hear about leads for them, but don't ask for a referral fee yourself.
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
August 4, 2011
Rules for email correspondence:
Using email to job hunt is a crapshoot on the best of days. Most job hunters don't know how to give good email. Here are a few hard and fast Perry Rules to insure your message AND resume get through AND get read:
Make sure your Subject line gives me a reason to read the message. "George Smith's cover letter and resume" won't cut it! It's not a good enough reason for me to open it and read it.
You're cover email should get my attention within the first three sentences. Remember you only have seconds to make an impression. So do not waste it telling me you're "Hard working and enthusiastic".
Address the email to a specific person
Tell me why I should read your resume in hte first short paragraph.
Here's an example of an email that got through to me. Got opened. Got read and Got a phone call back. What made the difference?
I can't cut and paste the note into the body of this blog but let me begin by telling you that it was actually addressed to me, David Perry – and not occupant or the email equivalent "hr@anycompany.com"
The subject line got my attention because they creatively told me something about themselves: Energetic, Executive, Venture Experience.
Then their opening paragraph really grabbed me:
"Marketing savvy executive experienced in business development. Action oriented manager will bring sale closing strength and team building expertise to launch a new product or developes a new territory. My goal is to move to the N Carolina/Florida coast in summer 2011. I want to be financially rewarded for superior results".
This one is direct and to the point. If I had a Job Order I'd read it immediately. If I did business in Southern USA I'd read it. If I did business with start-ups I read it, I did read it and I liked what I saw. Successful candidate with real skills and accomplishment who's motivated to accelerate their career AND they know were they want to work.
Doesn't get a whole lot better than this for a "bulk" email.
Now, make sure you cut and paste - in plain text - your resume into the body of the email message below your note, BECAUSE most recruiters will not open attachments for fear of catching a virus....
