I wanted to share with you guys a job hunting strategy that he shared with me that was like… “Wow, why didn’t I think of that? It’s like… so obvious and would work too.” But I digress, here is his plan, something I call “The Khabza Method”
Step 1: Find a job that you want.
Step 2: Find out if the company has an employee referral program. (And who doesn’t these days?)
Step 3: Approach someone in the company and say, in so many words, how would you like to make a couple of bucks? All you have to do is forward my resume to your company recruiter. If I get hired, you get the employee referral bonus. If I do not get hired, its sorry for me, but nothing happens to you. It’s a no-risk way to earn extra cash with VERY little work.
How smart is that? I thought it was brilliant. As soon as he shared that gem with me, the little hamster in my mind started running in a wheel. Does every company have an employee referral program? Hmm… The quickest (and easiest) way to find out is to go to the career section of the company I am interested in and, look at their Career section. I am chomping on some Frosted Flakes as I brainstorm this, so let me look up the Kellogg’s website to show you what I mean.
Hmm… For that matter, I could do the same thing on a job board.
Okay as I look at the results I am getting, I am thinking that they are just too broad, so I refine my searches a bit more by adding more keywords like a job title or industry.
Oh!
Once you have confirmed the company you have an interest in has an employee referral program or you have found another company that does, contact an employee who works there. How? There are a lot of ways to do that, but I suggest researching Linkedin. Do you know how to do that? If not let me know and maybe I will write up something on that.
Now, why do I suggest that you mimic someone’s work history rather than say… a job description. Oh, let me count the ways…
- Job Descriptions tend to be too generic and often do not give the job seeker enough information. I mean, think about it, how carefully would a want-ad accurately describe all that you are responsible for at the office? (Especially when companies are ascribing more work, but not more money.)
- Who is evaluating your resume? An experienced recruiter with years of hiring in the industry or a junior recruiter who is only checking for keywords? There is no way you can know! However, if an experienced recruiter and a junior recruiter can scan your resume and see you doing things that present-day employees are doing, chances are they will consider you more qualified. Furthermore, a hiring manager can look at your resume, and their “gut” will tell them that you would be a good fit since you have done so much of what their workers are presently doing. Make sense?
- If you look at someone’s resume and you cannot reasonably adapt your resume to fit what they have done, then maybe its not the job for you. Make sense?