Wall Street Journal- Land jobs at companies that are not hiring






June 30, 2009

To Land a Job, Contact Companies that Aren’t Hiring

Alina Dizik of the Wall Street Journal asks Nick D'Ambrosio his thoughts on how to approach companies that may not be hiring.


Posted by Alina Dizi

"With so many other applicants, going through human resources or a recruiter to land a position isn’t always the best way to get hired." says Nick D’Ambrosio, founder of California-based search and career coaching firm First Round Search. Instead, Mr. D’Ambrosio tells job seekers that “the goal is not to land a job — it is to get a dialogue started and to beat the competition by getting in touch with their potential managers directly to start a relationship."

You’re both a recruiter and career coach, have you noticed a shift in the ways some job seekers land new positions?

"Over the last couple of years it’s been difficult to reach certain clients — many are saying they have openings but are not using recruiters right now. With that said we teach our candidates how to locate these companies and how to properly secure interview with them. I have coaching clients who are increasing the number of interviews they are securing by 5x using our methods. Even if companies are not currently hiring, they still will look at top talent for the future. As a job seeker you need to always plant seeds for future openings."

How can someone find more open positions?

"Identify at least 100 potential companies who would recognize your market value. The mistake we often see made is people think 20-30 companies is a sufficient enough number of companies to approach. In this market it is not. So if you’re working for Cisco Systems, you would build a list of companies that are in and around the same ’space’ and approach them. You would want to include smaller networking companies, storage companies and startups. The key is finding companies that are somewhat off the radar and not being inundated with hundreds of resumes."

Once you’ve identified the companies, what can you do next?

"Know who you would work for, such as a VP of Sales, and send them a short, email that quickly lets them know you are someone they should talk to. Most people take the wrong approach and their resume never gets read. Submitting your resume to posted jobs is a tough way to get an interview. Remember that a good hiring manager is always recruiting even when there aren’t jobs. Statistically speaking we find a properly written email sent to the appropriate person is ten times more likely to generate a response."

What should you say in your phone call or email, and is it a good idea to attach a resume?

"Don’t attach your resume. And what you say depends on your background. If I went to Yale and Wharton I would mention it, because you have to quickly convey some value to this person. In the subject line write whatever gets their attention, but obviously you can’t misrepresent yourself. I like to mention a competitor; if I’m contacting someone at Goldman Sachs, the subject line could say ‘top talent at Morgan Stanley.’ Or if you are at IBM and you mention Oracle, the email gets opened. Sometimes, it’s not necessarily the company you’re coming from; it’s what you’ve done there. The email has to be a short paragraph and somewhat conversational, you definitely don’t want it to look too formal or too stock. "

Will going the less traditional route hurt your chances with some managers who say you should go through human resources?

"That’s a touchy subject, if you go around the HR person you can alienate yourself as a potential hire. But if you do go through traditional methods of HR you are probably not going to get in anyway. As long as you’re not over-the-top aggressive you stand very little to lose."

Why are so many companies reluctant to list jobs, especially with recruiters?

"Part of it is the cost, it’s typically 25% of the base salary and most of these people are earning $150,000-$200,000 so fees can add up. They think we’ll just post an ad and we’ll do it ourselves. As far as creating new jobs that aren’t posted, companies won’t necessarily get approval for an opening but if the right person approaches them they are likely to respond. "

Finding Jobs Through VC's

One often overlooked source for finding potential job openings is VC sites. Below are the top technology VC’s. Visit these sites and view the companies they have funded (client portfolio). Many will actually have internal job boards with job openings not found anywhere else.
Before posting your resume for a particular opening, read our blog: How to approach hiring managers.

http://firstroundcareeradvisoryservices.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-approach-hiring-managers.html  

Try our  approach and watch your response rate increase dramatically. Our coaching clients see up to a 10x increase in the number of interviews they secure by following this advice. Keep us posted on your progress.
Good luck!

Nick


1.    Draper Fisher Jurvetson
2.    Matrix Partners
3.    Accel Partners
4.    Sequoia Capital
5.    Kleiner Perkins
6.    Benchmark Capital
7.    Atlas Venture
8.    Greylock
9.    Charles River
10.  Polaris Venture Partners
11.  Austin Venture
12.  Hummer Windblad
13.  Menlo Ventures
14.  Interwest Ventures
15.  New Enterprise Associates
16.  Intel Capital
17.  Bay Partners
18.  Foundation Capital
19.  Goldman Sachs Capital
20.  Bessemer Venture Partners
21.  U.S. Venture Partners

How to Approach Hiring Managers

By Nick D'Ambrosio

With so much conflicting information regarding how to find more quality job openings it is very difficult to know exactly what works and what doesn’t. For over a decade we have been fine tuning our methods and are confident we have a proven method for securing more interviews.

For this approach to be truly effective you must begin with a large list of potential companies. These companies also must be in an area where your skills and experience are valued. No approach will get good results if your targeting the wrong audience. Assuming you have done your homework and have identified the right types of companies to approach, its time to start communicating.

Who do I approach?

Blindly sending cover letters and resumes to job postings or search firms is not a good use of your time. In this market, you need to use a better approach if you expect to create quality career opportunities.

Once  you have your list (we recommend 100 companies) you need to find the person you should be approaching. Who would you report to? While finding this persons name can be difficult when targeting large organizations, it is not difficult if you focus on smaller ones.  Assume the VP of Sales is the person doing the hiring. You can typically find their name by visiting the company website or by using one of the many business networking sites like LinkIn, Plaxo etc. You can also try calling the main office and asking for the persons name. Again, this can be tough if you are targeting large organizations but works well when calling on smaller companies.

Once you have the persons name, you need to find their email address. It will typically be one of five possible formats. If you know the company uses "@abccompany.com" and the VP of Sales is Robert Smith try the following:

rsmith@abccompany.com, robertsmith@abccompany.com, r_smith@abccompany.com, Robert.smith@abccompany.com

While this approach may not seem refined, it works.

How do I approach this person?

Our experience has proven the best way to get a hiring manager to respond to you is to use email. In fact over 90% of hiring managers we polled said they prefer a short e-mail over a phone call. No one wants to listen to a long voice mail, write down a number and play phone tag with a stranger.

The subject line will determine if your email gets read or deleted. Be creative and ask yourself what would prompt you to open an email if you were looking for talent. If you were the hiring manager for a startup storage company, would you open an email with this subject line?

Subject: Top EMC Talent  

MOST HIRING MANAGERS DO!


The body of the email must quickly convey why this person should respond to you. You are not the only person who is trying to get their attention. To achieve this you need to quickly let them know you have relevant experience that can  help them achieve their goals. Your goal is to simply start dialogue with this person, not get an job offer. Too many people write long winded cover letters and emails that never get read. Your email should look like this.

Subject line: Top EMC Talent
Jim,
I am beginning a career search and wanted to make a brief introduction. For the past 10years I have successfully sold storage solutions in the  NY/NJ area. I have consistently  averaged 150% of my sales quota and am ranked in the top 5% of our national sales team at EMC. I would like to discuss your hiring plans. Do you have 15 minutes for a discussion?

Regards,

Tim Jones
212.555.1212
This email clearly gives the person reading it a reason to respond. Smart hiring managers will respond even if they do not currently have an opening. One other major factor in getting a good response is always ending your dialogue with a  question. People feel compelled to respond.
If you do have a solid background, have targeted the correct person and are following the guidelines above, you will see the number of interviews you land increase dramatically.

Let us know how it works, good luck on your search.

Take advantage of our complimentary, job market evaluation call. One minor flaw in your search approach is enough to keep even the best talent from reaching their career goals. Contact an expert today at: 949.675.0000 ext 101