With recent statistics showing that most hiring in the U.S. is done by small companies, you, the job seeker, need a very different approach than if you were targeting larger companies.
First, one item to realize is that these small companies don’t have the large volume of open positions that larger companies do. Need proof? A quick sample of job openings with some large U.S. companies:
- Accenture: 1300+ openings
- Hewlett-Packard: 2500+ openings
- AT&T: 2300+ openings
Some simple math: if you have a shot at 10 jobs in each of these companies, it takes only three companies to target 30 jobs. With smaller companies, chances are there may only be one to five openings, which means you may only have a shot at one, maybe two openings at these smaller companies. What does that mean? You need to really expand the number of companies to target. Using our earlier example, that means you need to hit 30 small companies to approach the same volume of openings you would have had if you had targeted the larger ones.
Lesson 1: Target more companies!
So, how do we find these companies and get in the door?
Your best bet is a combination of search engines and social networks. Try using your favorite search engine and simply type “list of XXX companies in YYY”, where XXX is your field and YYY is your city. The larger the city, the better – usually. You’ll need a few combinations of your target job titles and various cities. This may provide you a good set of companies as a starting point. Here’s the kicker: Who cares if these companies are hiring or not? Some small companies may not even post positions, or may have given up looking for a specific skill set that you have. Once you have our targets, it’s time to do more detailed work. For each company that has a web page, check for open positions, research the management team and learn about the business. If the company has a Facebook page, make sure you “like” them. See who else in your network likes them. Search Facebook for the company to see if there’s someone in your network who’s already there. While you’re at it, if you have the names of the management team, search for them on Facebook to see if you can connect with them (directly, or through someone both of you know). Now, use LinkedIn and, if the company has a group, join it. Same drill as with Facebook: Search for people who are at the company and whom you may have worked with or went to school with. (Here’s a little more detail about how to build your network on LinkedIn.)
Here, your goal is to target companies, then build your network into the company. You may find you already know people in the company from a previous life, and LinkedIn or Facebook is a great way to reacquaint yourself. This process of finding new companies and building your network is a process that should not stop until you land that job. Let me slightly modify that: Keep building your network even after you land your job.
In another post, I’ll have more about getting hired at smaller companies.
