5 STEPS TO YOUR NEXT JOB The following article is the last in a five part series. Last month we discussed Step Four: Targeting Companies, which briefly outlined your strategy for contacting personnel within those companies you’d like to work. To read previous articles, visit NRI’s website at www.nri-staffing.com and click on the Candidate Tools button. Please feel free to contact you NRI Staffing Specialist as well. Our Staffing Specialists are available to discuss your career choices, be they for temporary or permanent positions. Written by Amy Lindgren, this article was taken from CareerPath.com. Page 1 ...
STEP FIVE: CONTACTING EMPLOYERS At last! You’re finally ready for the step most people think is first: contacting employers. Now that you know what you want, what the employer needs, and where you fir in the industry, you’re ready to tell others. If you’ve completed Step 4, you have a place to start. Now you need a strategy.
The best job search plan is based on a simple rule:
Job offers come only from interviews. Since employers only hire after they’ve met you, you know your goal is to get as many meetings - interviews - as possible. Your job search strategy should be focused on getting interviews and on following up after the interview to get the offer.
Here is one process for contacting employers. It’s not easy, but it does work. Try it your self, and get ready to juggle the job offers!
A. Initial Contact
Purpose:
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"There is no future in any job. The future lies in the man who holds the job."- George Crane
- To introduce yourself
- To tell the employer you’re available
- To ask for an interview
Method:
Success Rate:
- Telephone call
- Letter with a resume
- Casual meeting at a professional association
You will need about 50 initial contacts to receive one interview. That’s because you’re introducing yourself to people who may or may not have an opening or have time to meet with you, or learn more about you. Don’t be discouraged! Your follow-up contacts will be more rewarding, but you have to start here. Some employers will “shut the door” by saying there’s no point in contacting them further. Thank them and, if their company is important to you, follow up in one or two months. Otherwise, drop them from the list.
Schedule:
Make at least 12 initial contact a week to yield one interview a month.
B. Follow Up (2nd Contact)
Purpose:
- To remind the employer of your earlier call or letter
- To answer questions they asked earlier
- To ask for an interview
Method:
- Telephone
- Letter with a resume
- Casual meeting at a networking event
The trick with follow up contact is to choose a different method than your initial contact. If you dropped by last week, follow up with a phone call or letter. If you called, send a letter referring to that call and include a resume. You are trying to establish a relationship so the employer knows you are interested and that you will stay in touch.
Success Rate:
Because this is the second contact, expect to make about 25 follow-up contacts to get one interview. That’s twice as good as the initial contact, so that’s progress! But remember: in order to get an interview, you have to ask for one. Make that request part of every contact with every employer.
Schedule:
Try to make 12 follow-up contacts a week, to get 2 interviews a month.
C. Interview Follow-Up
Purpose:
- To thank the employer for the meeting
- To express interest in working for them
- To give information you may have forgotten in the interview
- To ask when a decision will be made (if a job’s currently open)
Method:
- Typed letter, sometimes with a reference page or other information attached.
Success rate:
Depends on how the interview went, and whether a job is open right now. Expect one job offer for every 4-5 interviews.
Schedule:
Mail a follow-up/thank-you letter within a week of each face-to-face meeting, whether a job is open now or not.
MOST OFFICE COMPUTERS AREN'T "PERSONAL" ANYMORE The following article by Laura Lorber is from www.collegejournal.com. The article explores how and why employers are tracking internet use among their employees.
Your workstation may not be for your eyes only. In fact, at work the term personal computer could be considered a misnomer.
Employers are increasingly concerned about employees’ use and abuse of their desktop Internet connections. About 21% of employers monitor employees’ Web use, according to a survey of human-resources professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), an Alexandria, Va.-based professional group. Most HR professionals (76%) believe employers have the right to read e-mail in a company system, according to the survey.
This means that when you start work, you’ll have to watch what you say in e-mail and who you send it to. Also, your co-workers also may not support a laid-back, anything-goes attitude about the Web. Ten percent of employers have received complaints from employees regarding others’ inappropriate or offensive use of the Web, according to SHRM. Twenty percent say they’d received complaints involving e-mail: Most involved jokes, pictures or cartoons deemed inappropriate for the workplace, chain letters and threats and insults.
The consequences of these seemingly harmless amusements can be no laughing matter. In 1995, Chevron paid a $2.2 million settlement after a group of female employees took offense at e-mail postings, such as one detailing “25 reasons why beer is better than women.”
Some are installing surveillance software to keep track of employees’ Web use, block access to certain Web sites, monitor e-mail and alert managers’ to computer games.
When in doubt about Web use, ask your boss. Some companies don’t mind employees using computer for personal reasons before or after work or on their lunch hour. At 60% of companies, employees can use the Web for non-business reasons, according to SHRM.
WHO'S SURFING? The Internet has quickly become a mass phenomenon, now reaching as many as 134 million people in the United States. Data released this spring by Jupiter Communications suggests that about half of U.S. residents go online. Four years ago just one out of 10 people in the U.S. surfed the Net.And where are they surfing? As the graph to the left shows, only 24% of Americans are on the internet solely at work. More than half are accessing the internet from home (53%).
Data compiled by David Lake for The Standard, Intelligence for the Internet Economy.
NRI ACKNOWLEDGES OUTSTANDING EMPLOYEES As part of our 33rd Anniversary celebration, NRI announced the winners of our awards for outstanding employees. At the recent Annual Awards banquet, the following were recognized for their contributions in the past year. Should one of the winners be a Staffing Specialist you communicate with, please congratulate them!
Recruiter of the Year
Chris Ann Becki
NRI Staffing Resources
Washington, DCAccount Manager of the Year
Laurie Grimm
NRI Staffing Resources
Washington, DC
Manager of the Year
Marianne Earley
NRI Staffing Resources
Reston, VAStaffing Team of the Year
NRI Staffing Resources
Reston, VARookie of the Year
Chris Campbell
NRI Accounting Resources
Rockville, MDFounder’s Award
Dori Konopka
General Manager
NRI Legal Resources
NRI Accounting Resources
Washington, DCMost Valuable Player
Kimberly Connery
NRI Staffing Resources
Reston, VA
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