Surviving a Challenging Job Market
How can I connect with decision makers in organizations, and how can I get them to respond to my e-mails? I think if you can get to the decision makers either in human resources or in the business segment that you're looking at and get their email address. I carry my little Blackberry with me all the time and I get emails all the time and I read every one of them. Sometime the operator of a company will have that information and give it to you. Or in the personnel department, they'll say, "Oh yea, his email address is" whatever. In the operational unit, "You were looking for the manager of marketing; he's not in." "Do you have his email address"? And they'll give it to you. Now you've got an opportunity to email someone directly. I think it's kind of key in there to ask for a response of some sort. Not just say, "I'm looking forward to hearing from you." But ask questions. What kind of jobs are you hiring for and when. You know, short questions that they can respond to. If you're writing to them in an email format, I think you want to do it briefly, as people are busy. They'll read emails but they're not going to get caught up in reading a three page letter sort of thing. You want to hit it pretty crisply with your background and your objectives in a couple of paragraphs sort of thing. Attach your resume. But at the end of it, ask the questions. What positions are available? When would you be hiring for them? Questions that a busy professional can answer quickly, and respond and shoot you back an email. And then you have the ability to follow up further, given the responses.