Searching for employment can be a frustrating daily grind. Sending your resume and well-crafted cover letters to multiple job openings that you know you are qualified for, but never even get a phone call. It seems your efforts are not working as you continue to keep sending resume after resume out. You have to stop this madness and change your strategy now! First, start thinking of every job that is posted and you are qualified for, as a job lead. You need to look at the lead as an opportunity to find someone at that company, to send your resume to. LinkedIn is one the best tools for networking your way to find someone who will actually read your resume. Here is how to use LinkedIn to get your resume in front of a Hiring Manager.
Research the company on LinkedIn Find the company on LinkedIn. Follow the company by clicking the yellow follow button in the right corner. The company page on LinkedIn will show all the employees that are on LinkedIn and how you are connected to them. It will sometimes also list all the job postings and who posted the position. The person, who posted the position, would be a great person to connect with. Take a look at their profile and find a way to connect to that person. If you know someone they are connected to, ask for a introduction. If you are not connected, research their profile. See what groups they are in and join a group that they are also in. Once you join the same group, you are allowed to ask to connect to this person. Make sure you write a personal note as to why you would like to be connected. Once they connect to you, thank them for connecting and then tell them of your interest and why you would be an excellent candidate for the position. They might not be the hiring manager but they could lead you to the manager.
- Start Connecting! If the Hiring Manager is not listed on the job posting and you do not have any connections at all with the company, it is time to start connecting. Review the list of the employees one by one. Find someone at the company that might have a job title that is similar to the department that would work. Read the profiles; look for a reason to connect to them. Did they go to the same college as you? Did they work on a similar project? Do you have a common interest as them? Anything for you to make a connection and reach out to them to ask them to connect with you. Again, make sure when you ask to connect to this person, you give them a reason why you are connecting. Once you are connected to one employee of the company, you are most likely going to be a second connection to most of the people in at least their department. This is your chance to network to find the Hiring Manager or someone to hand deliver your resume to.
- Now What? You researched the company and now you are connected to someone at the company. Your goal now must be to get your resume with a compelling reason for them to hire you for the position in their hands. Make sure you ask your connection if they know of who you should send your resume to and their email address. If it is a great connection, ask them if you could send them your resume and have them carry your resume to the hiring manager. If your research only found a name of the Hiring Manager or the name of someone in the department and you don’t have too much of a relationship, why not send them a letter in the mail? Hardly anybody sends letters anymore and especially if the envelope is handwritten! They will definitely open it and if they are not the right person, chances are, they will deliver your information to the right person. This would be setting you apart from the rest.
- Keep Connecting. Even though a company might not have a job opening now, things can change in an instant. Research all the companies that you would like to work for. Check out their LinkedIn Company page and start connecting with their hiring managers, human resources and to those people who you are 2nd connected to that work in the department you want to work in. Make sure after you connect with them, you let them know that you are looking for a position and that if anything opens up, that you would love to work for them.
LinkedIn is a great networking tool when used correctly to start getting your resume into a human’s hands with possibly a referral. It does require a bit of work, but the work that you will put into using LinkedIn will be much better use of time than shot gunning your resume into that deep black hole. How well do you think you know LinkedIn? Here is a way to track your LinkedIn IQ: https://theprofessional.me/linked_in/li_profile/
Early one morning on my way to work the booth for a Job Fair in Chicago, I stepped into a quiet, but crowded elevator with a bunch of suited-up-job seekers. We were on our way up to the 25th floor. Slowly creeping upward (stopping at every floor), the friendly Midwest girl in me soon decides to break the deafening silence, ‘What’s everyone’s elevator speech?’ All eyes hit the floor in the perfect she-couldn’t-be-talking-to-me synchronicity.
‘Seriously’, I continued, ‘let’s rehearse our elevator pitches; after all, we’ll be giving this 1,000 times today.’ I threw my pitch out to the crowd… still nothing but dead air. There were blank stares all around me, people couldn’t wait to get off the elevator; one minute felt like an eternity.
Everyone on the elevator was a job seeker with resumes in hand; yet, no one on the elevator would or could tell me what they were seeking and why I should be interested.
What is an Elevator Pitch? My explanation is that an elevator pitch/speech is a short statement which should be used quickly and simply to define a person, profession, product, service, organization or event and its value proposition. Your pitch should get people interested to learn more about you. Everyone needs an elevator pitch, whether you are employed or unemployed; it is something that can be used on a daily basis.
Your opening pitch should get people interested. It shouldn't be delivered without value nor should you try to shove all your information into 30 seconds. The goal should be to get others as excited as you are about what you do and to start a conversation. You know if your elevator pitch is working if the person you are communicating with is asking you a question. If they don’t ask a question, you don’t have a good pitch.
Here are three things to shoot for when developing your elevator pitch:
Make it Concise An elevator pitch should be brief and to the point. You want to come out of the box with something clear and easy to comprehend that doesn't sound like an advertisement.
Know your Audience Aim your pitch to the person you are talking to at the time. (Yes, not every pitch will be the same.) Gear your pitch to be all about them and how you can help them. Everything you say about your product or service should be directed around how it can help them. You will lose a listener if you start talking about the awards you received or your success – no one cares – it is all about what is in it for them!
Convey your Passion Be passionate and show people that you care. (How is someone going to care about what you do if you don’t care first?) Speak from your heart, not from a manual, as to why you believe in your product or service and why they should care about it. You will stand out from the crowd if you convey passion.
Examples:
Project Manager
Hi, my name is Johnny Torrio, Certified Project Manager and Operations Specialist. I’ve managed successful projects for companies like Kellog’s, IBM and CDW. I help companies in the IT and Management industries keep projects within budget, scope and lead cross functional teams in delivering superior results. I thrive in leadership positions where I can act as a liaison between different project teams, clients and executives to help bring projects to a successful completion.
Network Administrator
Hi, my name is Alisa Thompson and I’m a Network Administrator. I've worked with clients such as Google, Motorola and T-Mobile. I help organize IT service delivery, manage help desk associates, monitor systems, and have experience in Microsoft and Unix Server configuration. I have always been able to adapt to different situations and I find Information Technology to be a special challenge to this natural ability. With new technologies and different issues always emerging, the IT environment is both dynamic and exciting to someone like me.
Help Desk Associate
Hello, my name is Al Harrington and I’m an End User Support Specialist. I’ve worked with companies like McDonald's Corporate, Red Box and Schneider trucking, helping them with various IT needs. While providing superior customer service, I can help diagnose and cure various issues with software, routers, systems, and desktop, and ultimately increase your end user's availability. I’ve always been a great technical problem solver, and IT provides me with the ability to put this skill to use on a daily basis in a way that helps companies grow. I like that.
Need help creating your own Elevator Pitch? Here is a great tool to help you craft your own pitch-perfect Elevator Pitch: Elevator Pitch Generator.
Finally, always be prepared. You never know where you might need your pitch. Practice, Practice, Practice! Rehearse in front of a mirror, in front of friends and family. First impressions happen only ONCE! Don’t wing it; if you wing it, people will know. Arm yourself with answers to the toughest questions that might be thrown at you following your pitch. If you are prepared, you will be confident and ready to wow potential employers.