Guerrilla Marking for Job Hunters 2.0 - Jay Conrad Levinson [33]
Once you have the name of the individual who is one rung up the ladder from the job you want, you need to process the name through Google again. This time you put the first and last name in the first box and the company name in the third box. This will produce a list of press releases and news articles in which that person is mentioned, as well as conferences he or she has attended. Read an article or two and clip something memorable, so that when you send a letter, you will be able to say, “I read your article in . . . about . . . which prompted me to write.” Very powerful.
Figure 3.2 Google target directories.
GUERRILLA TIPS
• If you get too many search results, here are ways to narrow your search.
• If it is outside the geographic area you are interested in, try putting in area codes instead of cities to localize the results. Area codes are a more exact means of honing in on a city.
• New York City consists of several boroughs, so if you do a 212 area code you will not pick them all up: you will need to search on 718, 917, and 347 to cover the whole city. If you were to just do a city search for New York, you would probably miss 75 percent of all the jobs.
If you used Google, your computer screen would look like the one shown here:
■ OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Other sources of information on who can hire you can be obtained by referring to annual reports, 10(K) reports, and proxy statements. You can look up the phone numbers in Standard & Poors or another large general directory, or call toll free information (800-555-1212). Annual reports provide valuable organizational information, division and subsidiary data, locations, names, titles, revenues, numbers of employees, discussions about strategy and growth plans, and sometimes even photos of employees.
10(K) reports are required by law to disclose names and titles of senior management, each executive’s number of years with the company and a career summary, and his or her age. Age is relevant because shareholders have a right to know when key managers might be approaching retirement, which could materially affect the performance of the company. These reports often provide plant locations and define a company’s lines of business. They must also state if anything could adversely affect the company’s performance or stock price, such as a major lawsuit or pending environmental expenses.
Proxy statements are required to disclose the compensation paid to the 4 highest paid executives. Proxies also provide detailed background information on the board of directors. You can obtain hard copy of the annual report, 10(K) report, and proxy statement free by calling the company. Most companies post these reports on their web sites.
➤ How to Have Fresh Leads Delivered to Your Inbox Daily
You can subscribe to a vast number of free services that will bring information straight to your desktop. JustSell.com, for example, delivers a list of newly funded companies complete with the contact numbers for their executives. Nearly every newspaper available on the Web has a News Alert function. Subscribe to as many as you need to cover your interests:
• www.privateequityweek.com
• www.eetimes.com
• www.professional.venturewire.com
GUERRILLA INTELLIGENCE
How to Find the Best Jobs from the Hidden Job Market
Simon Stapleton
The best jobs aren’t advertised in the newspaper or on the Web. Much like real estate, the best of the bunch are snapped up before they ever hit advertisements. If you scour job ad sites or the back pages of a paper, then you’re really looking at the jobs the top people don’t want. You’re not in the domain of mediocrity, are you?
The truth is that the best jobs are created or shaped to capitalize on talent that has emerged from the labor pool, that is, you.