Recruiting Animal

Dissection of a Job Hunt

2009-12-02T10:56:32-05:00

Animal Show. Wed Dec 02 - NOON EST

Call To Talk: 646-652-2754. You can hear the show but can't be heard until the host opens your microphone. A landline and handset work best.

Call Online A Click-to-Talk button appears here when the show is live. You need a computer headset & microphone.

Listen Only: A Click-to-Listen button appears here at show time.

Listen To Recorded Shows: Click here. Highlights are here.

The Recruiters Lounge interviewed me after my first show. Short version here.

Job Hunting Tips

2009-12-01T13:24:00-05:00

Tele-Marketing Yourself - How To Find Companies To Call

Intro To LinkedIn - The # 1 Professional Online Network

Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters - Book Review

Coming
Elevator Speech
Interview Organization
The Handy Web Address
Bluffing During Interviews
Help The Recruiter Help You

Tele-Marketing Yourself

2009-11-30T17:45:44-05:00

How do you find companies to call?

Let's say you are a uniform sales person who sold to restaurants and caterers.

Go to a business directory and look up Restaurant Equipment and Supplies. You should find a list of companies that are selling to restaurants. They might need someone with your customer experience no matter what the product or service.

What business directories should you use?

ReferenceUSA

In many cities, you can gain access to ReferenceUSA with a local public library card like the LA City Library Card.

ReferenceUSA includes a wide range of companies. You search them using industry codes that the US government created to categorize companies.

The SIC code - Standard Industry Classification.

NAICS - North American Industry Classification System

The SIC code is the original version which was replaced by NAICS but both are still used in directories.

You look up the industry you are after to get a numeric code under which all of the relevant companies are listed.

Buyers Guides

Every industry has a trade journal and every trade journal puts out a Buyer's Guide that lists companies selling to that business

This is a fantastic place to find companies. Most reference libraries have some. Some are online. I used to buy them from the various publishesr - but, like all directories, they can be expensive.

Best Company lists

Everyone knows the Fortune 500 but there are many others. For instance the Inc 500.

If you search - best companies list - you'll find a lot of them online.

Hoovers

This is a resource recruiters use. It lists larger companies. You can use it for free online. You'll see the company's address, contact info, the senior officers and a limited description of the firm.

To access most of the information you need a subscription which is quite expensive. But this is the kind of thing that some libraries might have access to.

The Library

Every branch of the public library has some good business directories. But a central business reference library usually has the most resources.

The LA Central Library has a Business Section on Lower Level 1. I recently called them on the phone and the fellow I spoke to was very friendly and helpful.

He told me that the library has:
- the Dunn & Bradstreet Regional Business Directory
  in book format.
- the Southern California Business Directory and Buyers Guide
  by Harris Publishing (mostly larger firms)
- other directories by Harris for Manufacturing, Wholesale
  and Service companies in California

The LA Central Library has a list of its electronic databases here.

As you will see, some databases can be accessed from your home using your library card. Others can only be accessed from a branch of the library and still others from Central Library only.

The same is true of the Toronto Public Library.

See also:
Targeted Company Searches, Dawn Bugni
Researching Companies by Quint Careers

Simple Intro To Linkedin

2009-11-22T12:57:29-05:00

What is LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a huge database of professional profiles. Recruiters use it a lot - a lot - so it makes sense to have your profile there.

Complete Your Profile

The recruiter uses the Linkedin search function to hunt for people who match her target profile. That means you have to complete your profile. You know why? Because if there's no content, the search engine won't have anything to work with.

And if the recruiter makes it to your page and it doesn't tell him much, he's going to pass you by.

Attach Your Resume

LinkedIn now allows you to upload your resume as an attachment to your profile. You should upload yours. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't complete your profile.

Use Generic Terms.

LinkedIn has a field under your name that you can use as a quick identifier. Use a job title that makes sense to everyone.

I met a guy who had the title Global Process Owner Inventory and Demand. Anybody else would call him a Director of Logistics and that's the title he should use on Linkedin no matter what they call him in Company XYZ.

You know why? Because no one's going to search a freaky name.

Connect To A Lot of People

LinkedIn is not an ordinary database. It's a database defined by your personal Linkedin network. Here's what I mean.

On Linkedin, you can send invitations to people within the system asking them to become part of your personal network. This is very important because on Linkedin you can only search people who are linked to you -- by a relationship of 1, 2 or 3 degrees.

So if you become part of my personal network, I can find you when I do a search on the LinkedIn search engine - because you're 1 degree (meaning 1 person) away from me. And if you're linked to Tammy, I can find her - because she's 2 degrees away from me. And if she's linked to Douglas, I can find him - because he's 3 degrees away from me.

But if Douglas is linked to Fred, I can't find him on a search because he is 4 degrees away. Me > 1-You > 2-Tammy > 3-Doug > 4-Fred.

So in order to be really findable I have to be within 3 degrees of people who are searching for someone like me. That means that I have to have a lot of LinkedIn connections.

Open Networkers

Now the best way to get these are by linking to people who already have a huge number of connections. Let's say I have 5,000 1st degree connections. If you link to me, they immediately become your 2nd degree connections. And their 1st level contacts become your 3rd degree connections. (So do my 2nd level connections).

Now, you have to be cautious before you ask someone for a connection because if you start getting a lot of outright rejections LinkedIn identifies you as a pest and will suspend your account. So, when you ask someone to link with you it's wise to ask them to simply Archive your request if they have no interest.

But the best thing to do is to send your invitations to open networkers. These are people who automatically accept almost all invitations they receive.

How do you find these open-networkers? Many are listed on TopLinked.com. MNHeadhunter maintains a good list of open networkers on Recruitingblogs.com.

And my own fave is Dave Mendoza. He's been an incredibly generous networker who has helped a lot of people increase their reach on LinkedIn. His email address is ldavemendoza at gmail.com

If you write to Dave or any of the other recruiters you can tell them Recruiting Animal sent you because they are known to be open networkers.

How To Invite People

You need an email address to invite someone to connect with you on Linkedin. Most people don't provide them on their LinkedIn pages but you can often find it by searching the person's name on Google.

LinkedIn also asks you to state the nature of your relationship to this person. Click on Friend. Otherwise, it will ask you for particulars.

Here are a couple How-To's on inviting people to LinkedIn: Video, Article

More Linkedin Info

Linkedin Errors - Meg Guiseppe
Job Hunting on Linkedin - Guy Kawasaki
Linkedin Tips - Guy Kawasaki

Josh Stomel - CEO Resumebucket.com

2009-11-18T09:54:03-05:00

Animal Show. Wed Nov 18 - NOON EST

ResumeBucket
Neohire Blog
Twitter
Total Picture Radio

Listen Here

Call To Talk: 646-652-2754. You can hear the show but can't be heard until the host opens your microphone. A landline and handset work best.

Call Online A Click-to-Talk button appears here when the show is live. You need a computer headset & microphone.

Listen Only: A Click-to-Listen button appears here at show time.

Listen To Recorded Shows: Click here. Highlights are here.

The Recruiters Lounge interviewed me after my first show. Short version here.

Recruiters Doing Splits

2009-11-10T13:13:35-05:00

Animal Show. Wed Nov 11 - NOON ET

GUEST: Open Mic

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after show

On the Couch:
Who knows?

Auditioning Shouter: Eric Nolan Brown

Young People's Soc Net

2009-11-03T22:27:25-05:00

Animal Show. Wed Nov 04 - NOON ET

GUEST: Brazen Careerist

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On the Couch: @Ray_anne Thorn, @CarlChapmanSr, @DavidGraziano, @Karla_Porter, Maureen Sharib, @Jerry_Albright, Andy Gregory

Special Guest Shouter: Jerry Jeff Lipschultz
and Surprise Guest: @PaughGinney takes the Gen Y Quiz