Regardless of your line of work, whether its driving a truck, cooking food in a restaurant, preparing tax returns, writing software, stocking shoes – you probably can list off the top of your head 3-5 companies you’d love to work for. Create a list of the top companies you want to work for, just off the top of your head, if you can think of that many. If you can’t, don’t fret, because quickly you’ll have a list of plenty to choose from.
Now, log into Facebook and type into the search bar at the top “Places my friends work at”. You’ll get a list of all of the companies the people you are friends with on Facebook work:
Pick out the 4-5 companies (or more) from this list that appeal to you, and don’t forgot to jot down the names of your friends that work at those companies.
Do the same thing on LinkedIn if you have a LinkedIn account – search through your list of connections to see what companies they work for and note the ones of interest to you.
This process will be a bit more challenging using Twitter since you don’t really have “connections” on Twitter, just accounts you follow and ones that follow you back. So we suggest sticking with Facebook and LinkedIn for now.
Note that as part of this job search workflow, you have not yet even looked at a job board or careers page – you are focused on leveraging your contacts to see what doors can be open for you.
Now that you’ve got your list, get the email addresses of all of the friends who work for companies that you might be interested in working for. Take those email addresses and add them into the BCC line of a new email in whatever email system you are using. Add any or all of the email contacts you regularly message with, and type an email that reads something like this:
Hello,
You are receiving this email because you either work for a company I may be interested in working for, or may be able to help open up a door for me.
I’m currently evaluating new opportunities in the job market and would like to focus my career on (specifically what you want to do – be clear about this!) in a company like (give some examples and why those companies appeal to you). I’m attaching my resume and contact info here and would appreciate any referrals or recommendations you can make for me.
Thank you,
(your name)
Attached your resume and send it off – and be ready to act on any leads that come through. If you can find the phone numbers for the specific people you know that work at companies on the top of your target list, call them too, even leaving a voice message will go a long way.
By doing this you’ve now completely circumvented the black hole that is job boards, and kick-started the process of finding job opportunities using the connections and relationships you’ve already formed.