-SUN TZU, The Art of War

Unlike the one-size-fits-all strategies in most job-hunting books, the balanced approach in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 blends the best of networking, target marketing, warm-calling, and public relations into a cohesive framework for success. Strategy underpins every suggestion in this book. blends the best of networking, target marketing, warm-calling, and public relations into a cohesive framework for success. Strategy underpins every suggestion in this book.

Networking is not always the answer: neither are direct marketing and job boards. Instead, consider combining several tactics with the correct weapons to create a force multiplier effect. It can lead to victory-your dream job. This section shows you how to think like a general, plan your strategy, marshal your resources, and then how to work like a sergeant and execute that strategy.

WHY YOU NEED A PERSONAL MARKETING STRATEGY

As Sun Tzu said 2,500 years ago, "many calculations lead to victory and few calculations to defeat." Before you begin job hunting, you need to craft a personal marketing strategy that will guide your efforts. This game plan includes the details about whom you will approach, how you will approach them, and what weapons you will need to use.

As a professional recruiter, I know firsthand that all employers have a salary range they like to work within for every position. Once the most suitable candidate is found, it is my job to negotiate a deal that is acceptable for both parties. In nearly all cases, the difference between the lower and the upper end is $20,000-and I am not talking about executive level candidates here. I am referring to midlevel managers where the salary band can run from $30,000 to $50,000 per year.

Your marketing strategy will determine not only whether you get an interview, but also where you fit in that range. If you market your skills as a commodity, you'll be lucky to even land the job, and you will be paid at the bottom end. However, if you market and present yourself as a "you-can't-do-without-me" solution to the employer, you will start near the top the top or more. Over the course of your lifetime earnings, this can easily amount to an extra $800,000 to $1 million in salary. or more. Over the course of your lifetime earnings, this can easily amount to an extra $800,000 to $1 million in salary.

There are hundreds of books that explain how to sell yourself in an interview, but you need to get the interview first. To do that, you need to understand what employers are seeking in a candidate.

Being great at your job is not enough anymore. People have to know you are one of the best if you want to advance in your chosen profession. As technology continues to shrink trade barriers and offsh.o.r.e compet.i.tion increases, North American employers will have more options, and there are likely to be many other candidates who are just as good as you.

The bar for job hunters was raised during the last recession. Indeed, many companies will opt to make no decision rather than risk making a poor hire.

SKILLS EMPLOYERS BUY

You need to position yourself in a different way. You need to emphasize those qualities that will let you leapfrog over other compet.i.tors. The following qualities will land you at the front of the hiring line: * Leadership skills* Communication skills* Bias toward action* Pa.s.sion* Cultural compatibility

Leadership Skills

At every level of organizations, employers are hiring leaders who can galvanize talented people toward ambitious goals and motivate them to succeed. Employers today don't need another "team player." Team players are often afraid to voice their opinions. Who wants another hanger-on? Every company in the United States is battling the clock to stay in business, increase market share, and meet the demands of their shareholders. In this environment, you must convince an employer that you will have a positive influence on their ability to win and that you are an integral part of their solution. If you can't communicate your personal commitment and drive through your words and actions in the interview, you won't be their first choice. Be a team leader instead.

Communication Skills

Your ability to communicate a clear vision for your group must be far above average. Unclear writing and lumbering speaking skills rarely indicate sharp thinking, whereas clarity and concise expression are favorable signs. Slang expressions may work well on the factory floor but they will not impress customers or your prospective boss. Employers hire articulate candidates before all others. People don't have the time to interpret what they think you said. More and more, companies are requesting that candidates prepare presentations and deliver them in front of the hiring board. This is especially true in sales and marketing roles, but it also extends down to line positions on the shop floor.

A Bias toward Action

Because companies are hiring fewer but better qualified people, they are pushing decision-making authority down the chain of command. Today, a manager may need to make a decision that a few years ago might have been approved by a management committee. So no matter what level of employment you are seeking, do not be afraid to ask the hard questions and make tough decisions. You must demonstrate your ability to take action with limited or imperfect information.

Pa.s.sion

Clients often ask me to find someone with "fire in their belly"-that is, employer speak for pa.s.sion. Employers know that many employees coast through life preferring to be safe rather than sorry in their career. I have had the great fortune to work with brilliant technical people who are also pa.s.sionate about what they do and want to leave their mark on the world. They challenge others to stretch and open their minds to new possibilities. Pa.s.sionate workers envision what is possible, not just what is. They have a zest for life and a sense of urgency that infects everyone around them. Show an employer that you have that spark and they will hire you over more experienced candidates any day!

Cultural Compatibility

By the year 2010, the c.u.mulative codified knowledge of the world will double every 11 hours. What you go to bed knowing at night will be outdated by daybreak. Shelf life for knowledge is the same as that for a banana. To succeed today, a company's employees must share knowledge freely, a concept that is foreign to most organizations, where people h.o.a.rd knowledge to safeguard their jobs.

In the upcoming book, Building Organizations That Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound Building Organizations That Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound (Ottawa, ON: Totem Hill), Ron Wiens, Ken Sudday, and I focus on how to build a corporate culture that produces a winning bottom line by focusing on the organization's Relationship Intelligence (RI). The authors explain that the ability of employees to trust is a measure of the organization's RI. Companies with high RI will succeed because they can build new knowledge and therefore new products and wealth on a constant basis. In contrast, companies that have low RI and h.o.a.rd their knowledge will fail. (Ottawa, ON: Totem Hill), Ron Wiens, Ken Sudday, and I focus on how to build a corporate culture that produces a winning bottom line by focusing on the organization's Relationship Intelligence (RI). The authors explain that the ability of employees to trust is a measure of the organization's RI. Companies with high RI will succeed because they can build new knowledge and therefore new products and wealth on a constant basis. In contrast, companies that have low RI and h.o.a.rd their knowledge will fail.

As a job hunter, you cannot risk being viewed as "political" or as "playing games." Managers who play politics have a devastating impact on their organization regardless of their personal performance. The winning companies are the ones whose players play for the good of the whole. They know how to fight and disagree with each other but they do so not for personal gain but for corporate gain. The paradox is that managers who play this way end up with the fattest personal bottom line.

That is just the beginning of what is expected. Particular qualities and attributes dominate each hiring level, and you need to be aware of the different interests that govern each. We go into greater detail in Chapter 12, when we discuss face-to-face interviews.

THE HIDDEN JOB MARKET AND WHY IT IS HIDING

Okay, so it is a misnomer. The hidden job market isn't really hidden. It is just not in plain sight. It is called the hidden job market because of the way jobs are created and filled.

Most jobs are created in a company in one of 3 ways: 1. The company is growing.2. Someone quits, leaving a vacancy.3. Someone is being replaced, and the employer does not want the employees to know about it.

When the company is growing, the owner, president, or someone else may know they need to make a new hire, but they haven't initiated any measures to find someone. They may not have had the time. They may not quite have the budget. They may not want to go through the ha.s.sle of advertising and interviewing. So while the need is real, the job itself remains hidden in the hiring manager's head.

When someone quits, managers will first consider eliminating the job. If that is not feasible, they will look inside their organization to see if there is an employee they can promote into the role. If they can't find anyone, they'll likely ask their coworkers for referrals. If that doesn't work, depending on the size of the company, they may run an ad through HR, or hire a headhunter. They may even run it on a job board or in the newspaper as a "company confidential" box ad. Companies will contact a headhunter when secrecy is required because the recruiter can conduct a search without anyone ever knowing.

In all cases, the job remains hidden to the outside world for weeks if not months; hence the term hidden job market. The only successful way to access this market is to reach the hiring managers before they opt to go the advertising or HR route. The bulk of this book revolves around creative and effective ways to reach hiring managers who are just waiting to hear from you.

The hidden job market is your private laboratory to test out the best methods for finding your dream job.

Cracking the Hidden Job Market

For most people, the Internet is a mess. It suffers from too much information and too little structure. Most people looking for a job online quickly get overwhelmed with the quant.i.ty of responses from a search engine. Headhunters use the following types of Internet searches to find new job openings, and you can do the same thing: * Target compet.i.tors.* Obtain referrals from a.s.sociations.* Conduct Internet searches.