Part 10 (1/2)

Here is how to reverse-engineer what recruiters do, so that you can target your next employer.

Target Compet.i.tors

The easiest place for a recruiter to sell your skills is to a direct compet.i.tor or at least someone who is in your industry. Go to . Enter the name of the company and hit the ”capsule tab.” This will give you a snapshot not only of the company but also of its compet.i.tors. You can play the compet.i.tor's compet.i.tors game all day at Hoover's and never finish. Go in looking for what you need and don't waste your time playing with the technology. This is a very rich resource.

There are 2 other key organizations you can also try:and and .

Obtain Referrals from a.s.sociations

The next best way to research an industry is through its a.s.sociations. The best site to find the a.s.sociation most related to your interests is the American Society of a.s.sociation Executives: panies and the people who can hire you.

Develop a Target List of Companies

Here is an example using Google.com to search for work in advertising in New York: to search for work in advertising in New York: * When you do targeted research, generally you concentrate on an industry or a geographic preference (in this example, New York City). Use whatever city you like.* We need to find the names of all the advertising companies in New York. There are easy ways to do this using the Internet. Go toand type the following words in the advanced option in Google: advertising, new york, directory, conference. You are instructing Google to search for a directory of advertising firms in New York or a conference on advertising held in New York. We want this information to obtain leads to companies. and type the following words in the advanced option in Google: advertising, new york, directory, conference. You are instructing Google to search for a directory of advertising firms in New York or a conference on advertising held in New York. We want this information to obtain leads to companies.

Your text needs to be filled in as shown in Figure 3.1 Figure 3.1. The results returned when you hit the search b.u.t.ton will be similar to those shown in Figure 3.2 Figure 3.2.

At the time I did this search, the first result was for a conference held in New York for the advertising industry. The next 2 hits are both for directories of advertising companies in New York, complete with Web addresses, phone numbers, profiles, and more.

Figure 3.1 Google advanced. Google advanced.

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Find People Who Can Hire You

Once you have a target list of companies, you need to find out the names of the people who can actually hire you. Go to each company's web site and gather names. If you are lucky, every web site will provide the complete identification of all their senior executives, including names and sometimes e-mail, too. Web information should be up-to-the-minute accurate, but if you have any doubts, make a phone call to confirm it.

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 about . . . . . . which prompted me to write.” Very powerful. which prompted me to write.” Very powerful.

Figure 3.2 Google target directories. Google target directories.

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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: [image]

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, t.i.tles, revenues, numbers of employees, discussions about strategy and growth plans, and sometimes even photos of employees.