After you have developed a list of potential employers from your efforts using your Personal Network and other research, you must contact the potential employer to begin the employment process.
Many people are not confident in contacting potential employers. A normally talkative person may turn shy when they think their career is on the line. Even telephone operators would probably rather mail resumes than phone for interviews.
Mastering the use of the telephone is one of the essential elements to success in your Search. This is an issue you must face squarely and realistically. Are you willing to make the calls necessary to be successful in your Search? No one can tell in advance how many you will be required to make. Be prepared to make a great deal to acquire a sense of the variety of the opportunities that are available. There is no maximum. You will have to set your own standards and reach for your own goals and targets.
Contacting potential employers is one of the keys that will determine, in a great part, how long it will take you to obtain the job you have chosen. You can take a "sit around and wait to see approach" or you can take a pro-active, positive, planned and organized approach to acquiring employment.
When you are communicating the potential benefits you offer a company, rather than the need for a job, the majority of the people will talk with you. As we said earlier, you will get many "NO's" in the Search Process before you get a "YES". Remember, these "No's" are not directed at you personally.
You must organize your efforts in advance and plan on making a targeted or specific number of calls each day. The number you target will depend on your schedule and the time available. These are calls in which you are able to talk with the party you called. These are not calls where you leave a message and ask for them to return your call.
Using your Personal Network and other sources, identify twenty to forty companies and individuals who are in hiring positions to call. Schedule your calls to begin at a particular time each day. Early morning is the best time, as a rule, to call. Schedule to begin at 8 am to 9 am, if possible. The exact time to schedule your calls will depend on the schedules of those you are calling. Often, the best time to reach someone is about thirty minutes after they arrive at the office.
Once you begin making your calls, do not stop until you have completed your target number for the day. When you are conducting a Search, one of your primary objectives is to accomplish activities necessary to find the job that meets your criteria.
Continued next week.....
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