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Dedicated cell phone and e-mail for your search

December 15, 2008 by

I recommend a dedicated cell and e-mail account for your search – you want both of them to last longer than your search.

Using a work cell or e-mail will cut yourself off to all the networking contacts you’ve made once you change jobs.   Also, you may not be able to take your cell number with you when you leave.

A dedicated e-mail is helpful so you don’t mix up important networking e-mails with kids soccer, book club, etc.   Also, an e-mail that is just your name looks more professional. 

LESSON LEARNED:  I’ve got 500 business cards with my old work cell number if anyone wants one – I found out after I had them printed that our corporate agreement did not allow me to take the number.

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E-mail address – Considerations for selecting

December 15, 2008 by

Depending on your networking contact’s style, e-mail can be a great vehicle to set-up times to meet/telephone and to stay in touch.

Most people use personal e-mail accounts for managing their career search.  I seen fellow job seekers with e-mails addresses that range from clever (e.g.  yournamehere@…) to cryptic (e.g. bbk43437@…) to ‘all in the family’ (e.g. billandmarge@…).

While these addresses may be unique or clever, they can reduce the professionalism and effectiveness of the e-mail.

Recommendation: Use an e-mail address that begins with or contains your full last name.

1) Looks professional

2) Makes it easier for the contact to see who sent the e-mail – especially in a follow-up. 

3) Blackberries usually display a portion of the e-mail address and title – why start with your last name.

Most importantly, people to whom you have been introduced or met will likely remember your name, they will not remember your e-mail address. 

Also, until you network regularly, you are less likely to have a spot in their contact list - so your name will not appear in the “From” line, just your e-mail address.

Make it simple for your contacts to help you.

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Before you begin – Organizing Your Story

December 15, 2008 by

A marketing plan is the start of an effective pitch as it provides the context for telling your story.  

Start with the position you seek, and then begin to build your case on why you are qualified for filling it.

Focus on the key elements of the role – no more than two or three – then how your skills and experiences support the key elements.

Pitch overview:

1-30 Seconds:                    Role you seek

30 – 60 Seconds:               Key elements critical for fulfilling the role

60 – 120 Seconds:            Key element #1 – how your skills and experience fill in

120 – 180 Seconds:          Key element #2

180 – 240 Seconds:          Key element #3

Remember this is your first pass.  As you continue the conversation, you can expand the details that seem fit to share.

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Using e-mail Folders to Organize Your Search

December 15, 2008 by

One item I found very useful in my search was creating the following mail folders to organize all of my e-mail and meeting requests.

1.       Search – 1 – Open invitations

2.       Search – 2 – Pending meetings

3.       Search – 3  -Post-meeting follow-up

4.       Search – 4 – Introductions made

5.       Search – 5 – Introductions received

6.       Search – 6 – Second Contact

7.       Search – 7 – No Response/Complete

Notice that I labeled each folder using the term “Search” and a number.   Simply so they would show up in one spot among my other folders and in order.

See the toolkit “Organizing E-mail Folders for your Search” tool for description of what I included in each folder.

Meetings may take several e-mails to set up, so you need a method to keep track of the status.  I simply used these folders to file e-mails – so I could sort on the person, date, etc. to quickly check where I was in the process.   Also, to make sure I had transferred everything from my e-mail to my calendar.

The “Open Invitations” folder was probably the busiest folder.  Each time I sent out an invitation to network, I would file it here.    Each week, I would check the status of whether I had received a response to my invitation.  If yes, I’d delete it.  If not, if the original date was over two weeks, I would hit “Reply All” and send a quick follow-up note.   I would also move the follow-up note into this folder – so then I could see I had two requests outstanding.    In case you’re wondering, my rule was three tries to get an invite accepted – then move on.

I sent about 100 e-mails a week during my search.   So these folders came in pretty handy.

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Tracking Your Progress

December 15, 2008 by

In the toolkit is something I created to help track five weeks of progress (two prior weeks, current week, and two upcoming weeks).   I liked to look at it like this for a couple reasons:

·         Balance of the individuals I was meeting

·         Plan for the upcoming two weeks

·         Keep track of follow-up items

·         Identify possible introductions I could make

I built this in Excel – so I simply just added columns so I could easily look backwards.   The ability to go backwards was important for planning my follow-up activities.

I know this seems like too much detail, but if you go back to “Expectation #1 – Get ready to meet loads of people” – within just a few weeks you could easily have 60+ meetings.   Finding a method to keep track of who you have met and those for you need to prepare is important.

 

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