April Webinar for MBA Career Services Professionals

The 2-Hour Job Search: Targeting Employers & Finding Contacts

Presented by Steve Dalton

Author of The 2-Hour Job Search and Associate Director at Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business

OPTISKEPTIMIST

Hiring managers prefer referrals to 100s of resumes

2HJS = a predictably-positive alternative to online black holes

2HJS is a precise, efficient way to get interviews

1. Prioritize - LAMP Method
Brainstorming & prioritize targets in 70 min

2. Contact - 5-Point Email & 3B7

Find advocates at target employers systematically in 50 min

3. Convince TIARA Framework

Build advocacy in informationals

Good game theory

No game theory

Artificial desperation (eg, % >500 employees?)

Generate List of 40 employers in 40 minutes

Ten minutes per each of four methods 1. Dreams 2. Alumni 3. Indeed.com 4. Trends

#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tivo Enspire

List
Leapfrog

Teach Street Scholastic

Beware cognitive drift Cross-check with visa database (if seeking H-1B)

Identify presence of Alumni at each target (10 min)

Proxy for likelihood of finding a sympathetic contact Use most recent alumni only
# 1 2 3 4 5 List Leapfrog Tivo Enspire Teach Street Scholastic Alumni Y N N N Y Motivation Posting

Approximate Motivation to approach each target (5 min)

Proxy for pain tolerance for getting ignored Arbitrary coherence
# 1 2 3 4 5 List Leapfrog Tivo Enspire Teach Street Scholastic Alumni Y N N N Y Motivation 4 5 4 3 4 Posting

Classify Posting activity for each target (15 min)

Proxy for urgency (not to apply for jobs) Can replace with Location or cut
# 1 2 3 4 5 List Leapfrog Tivo Enspire Teach Street Scholastic Alumni Y N N N Y Motivation 4 5 4 3 4 Posting N Y N Y N

Sort LAMP by Motivatn 1st, Posting 2nd, Alumni 3rd

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 40 Company List Best Buy Corporation Disney Interactive Sony Tivo Match.com L'Oreal Mars North America eHarmony General Mills Pabst Brewing Nike ZipCar UnderArmour DuPont eBay Hallmark Target 3M Enspire Learning "Alumni" Y Y Y N N Y Y N Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Y N Motivation 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 1 Posting 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 5 5 5 5 4 5

Output of Step 1: Prioritize = Top 5 targets

Finding contacts
If multiple alumni options, ideal starter contact will be (in order of importance): 1. Functionally similar to what you want to do 2. ~10 years senior to you 3. In your desired location

Finding contacts
If no alumni, find contacts using this hierarchy (listed from highest to lowest return on effort): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Most recent alumni LinkedIn (L I ) Undergraduate alumni L I Group connection L I Facebook Fan mail (Google?) 2nd-degree connection L I

Sort LAMP by Motivatn 1st, Posting 2nd, Alumni 3rd

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 40 Company List Best Buy Corporation Disney Interactive Sony Tivo Match.com L'Oreal Mars North America eHarmony General Mills Pabst Brewing Nike ZipCar UnderArmour DuPont eBay Hallmark Target 3M Enspire Learning "Alumni" Y Y Y NY NY Y Y N Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Y N Motivation 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 2 Posting 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 5 5 5 5 4 5

Output of Step 1: Prioritize = Top 5 targets

Summary of Prioritization
1. Employers looking for good enough candidate quickly, not a perfect candidate slowly 2. Be The Bachelor / Bachelorette 3. Finding contacts is not difficult, but it takes time -- do it smartly and only when necessary

The Beyond B-School training center contains a video of Steve on camera presenting a condensed version of his LAMP method. To view the 10 minute video, click on the play button in the screen below:

Steve Dalton
Twitter: @Dalton_Steve Like 2HJS on Facebook Join the L I Group: 2-Hour Job Search Q&A Forum

An Online Resource Center

with Video Presentations by Top-tier Experts

CATHARINE FENNELL

Video

LinkedIn

JASON ALBA

Company Research

SEAN CAMPBELL

JORDAN FRIEDMAN

Job Search

Resumes Personal Branding

WILLIAM ARRUDA

DEB DIB

MICHAEL GOODMAN

DARRELL GURNEY

Interviewing

Networking

Social Networking

CHANDLEE BRYAN

SUSAN WHITCOMB

Career Path

Job Search
SCOTT SWIGART

STEVE DALTON

ROSS MACPHERSON

Company Research Leadership

SARA CANADAY

Resumes and LinkedIn Social Networking

JOSHUA WALDMAN

MBA Roundtables

VERONICA HO

Monthly Webinar Series Featuring Our Top-Tier Experts

1. May 16: LinkedIn Contacts: How MBAs Can Find and Make Quality Connections with Jason Alba 2. June 6: 10 Networking Keys for MBAs to Open Doors with Darrell Gurney 3. July 23: How MBAs Can Use Social Media to Get Hired Fast with Joshua Waldman Past Webinars
Personal Branding Strategies for MBAs with William Arruda LinkedIn Profile with Ross Macpherson Company Research with Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

A Beyond B-School Production

Beyond B-School is pleased to produce the Beyond B-School Webinar Series for MBA Career Services Professionals. Dedicated to supporting MBA career services professionals, Beyond B-School is an online library of presentations by top experts that prepare MBAs with the latest, most effective jobsearch strategies. Learn more from the below video and by visiting www.BeyondB-School.com.