Job search at its best is an orchestrated campaign, sprinkled with sales, marketing, and relationship management. Clients who work with me are not limiting their search to applying for advertised openings. They are using targeted research to find the roles and places aligned with what they’ve pegged to be their wants. Savvy job seekers use raw leads as the cornerstone material of their job search. They systematically build and work their leads, to find those opportunities not advertised — sometimes opportunities still being tossed about in the minds of decision-makers.
Observe and grasp raw leads daily. A job lead is an uncle, a friend, a friend of a friend, a promising online posting, a newspaper article—anything that will help you build lead lists aligned with what you want. Sometimes “raw” job leads are vague. It might be a light-bulb moment sparked by a coffee shop conversation. To simplify it all, you can obtain all job leads from three categories: people, organizations, and ideas.
1. People
Build lists of every person who could help you in your job search. Don’t limit your list to those with power to hire you, nor to those who might be well connected, high-profile folks. It is often the third, fourth and fifth degree contacts who end up being your most valuable leads. Every single person who could possibly help you should be on your list, from the custodian at church, to Aunt Nellie’s brother-in-law!
2. Organizations
As a job seeker building lists with raw leads, “organizations” is defined as potential employers. You want to make lists of every potential employer relevant to your job targeted research. The role, the industry, the geography, the culture, the impact, the money – any place that might have the opportunities aligned with what you want. Again, this is not limited to advertised openings.
3. Ideas
Ideas can absolutely be the spark of raw leads.
- “I wonder if I can earn a living with my hobby making dog clothes?” or
- “I’ve noticed more families with children moving into my neighbor. Is there potential for a daycare business?” or
- “My town has experienced a boom of new small businesses in our area, according to Jan at the Chamber of Commerce. They might need janitorial services; I could be very competitive with the larger custodial services in the area.” or
- Widget Company just signed a big lease for an industrial site. I’ll try to get a list of other companies that have signed manufacturing leases in our area. There must be growth if that’s the case. Maybe there’s room for my Six Sigma and management skills.”
Ideas are intriguing raw leads, because they can quickly create a trail to lists of organizations and people.
Your challenge is to be working 75 leads at all times. Whenever you find your raw leads to be below this number, try tapping some of these great sources of leads:
- Your current job targets
Once you know the type of job you are targeting, you can make lists of companies that have that type of job. Your job search is then driven by the idea of the job you want to be hired for. If you do not have an idea of what you want, step back to figure it out.
- Job postings
The best use of job postings is not to apply for them, but to use them to generate ideas of jobs you might like. If you find a job posting for a fitness instructor with an assisted living facility, you can make a list of all senior centers or communities in your geographic area; and add to them health clubs or fitness centers that might have Silver Sneakers or similar programs for active older adults.
- Business news
Business news is chock full of raw leads. Companies launch, expand and relocate. Pay attention to anything they’re doing that’s interesting to you: an acquisition, reorganization or restructuring, a new product release, or drama surrounding top leadership. Any of these activities can signal opportunity for you.
- Small talk
Hopefully, you are staying in touch with a steady stream of folks via email, text, phone calls and meetings. This is the essence of networking. You connect, listen, converse and track. You are going to hear ideas from these people. Some will be silly or ambiguous. Take them all seriously at first. Who’s to say that working as a counselor for a homeless shelter, serving as a manufacturer’s candle sniffer in R&D, or becoming a horse exerciser in the equine industry won’t turn out to be great gigs?
- Internet excursions
Whenever you feel your raw lead pipeline to be low, go online and search ideas that come to mind. Play with keyword combinations that align with what you’re interested in; or just to find out what’s going on that might turn into a lead. You have rich resources at your fingertips, such as blogs, websites and news articles. Then follow up on your findings.
Some examples for searches:
- “new company” PLUS name of your town
- “was promoted” PLUS name of your town
- “newly hired” PLUS name of your town
- “new jobs” PLUS name of your town
- “fast-growing company” PLUS name of your town
- “economic growth” PLUS name of your town
Anytime your job-search ideas are turning stale, revisit these types of searches. Add any similar search terms that you believe may lead to opportunities. Be persistent. Keep your lists going and your pipeline full. This gives you control and continual realms of possibilities.
What are some of the ways you create and tap raw leads? I’d love to hear from you!
Photo: paurian
