California Man Cuts The Crap, Gets Hired
By Kevin Donlin | June 17th, 2009
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right?
And the shortest distance between you and your next job may lie in your making straight for the hiring manager.
In other words, if you decide to cut the crap, stop jumping through hoops and just go meet your next boss, you may get … hired.
That’s what happened to one “Guerrilla Job Hunter” who shares his story below.
Matthew Ringue, a Career Services Advisor for Heald College in Concord, Calif., got hired by his current employer after doing something unexpected.
“I saw an ad online for a position as an admissions advisor. I submitted my resume but I normally didn’t get a response from doing that, so I decided to walk my resume in. I found the college, went up to the receptionist, and said: ‘I applied for a position online and I was hoping there was someone I could talk to about it.’”
The receptionist’s reaction?
“She said, ‘Oh. Let me see if someone is available,’” says Ringue.
It turned out that nobody was available.
But the receptionist suggested Ringue come back the following Tuesday. Upon his return, he was again unable to meet anyone. So he politely asked for and received an appointment. On his third visit, Ringue got the meeting he wanted with a decision maker.
How did it go?
“Very well. The hiring manager said, ‘I really appreciate your being persistent. I think it’s great that you came in a couple of times and pushed for an interview,’” recalls Ringue.
He was eventually hired, but not for the job he first applied for. It turns out that the college no longer had an opening for an Admissions Advisor. But executives were impressed enough by Ringue to hire him for another position, the one he now holds, Career Services Advisor.
Your takeaway lesson: Always try to apply in person at an employer, even if they don’t expect you.
You can take the direct approach by walking up to a receptionist and asking for a meeting, or you can get referred by an employee first. In either case, persist until you get a meeting.
However you do it, know that every time you meet with an employer, you’ll have no competition from ordinary job seekers, who are content to sit behind a computer keyboard and fire off resumes electronically.
Also, know this — asking to meet an employer is not pushy or aggressive, unless you are.
Remember why an employer buys online job postings in the first place: To hire the right people. And before anyone can hire you, they have to meet you. So, by meeting with employers — whether they expect you or not — you demonstrate initiative, persistence, and a bias for action. Who wouldn’t want those traits in a new hire?
Put another way, it’s perfectly reasonable to take the ordinary approach and not apply in person for a job posted online. But how has “ordinary” been working for you?
More “extraordinary” job search tips like this in our free Guerrilla Job Search audio.
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