Did you see the story about President Obama meeting with professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley for beers at the White House Rose Garden?

It’s all over the news, as you know.

Would you like to piggyback on that story’s popularity and let the media help you find a new job?

Yes, you can! Thanks to an old ”Guerrilla Marketing” concept, known as “entering the conversation going on in the minds of others.”

In other words, if you want to stand out and get attention, tie your message to something other people are thinking about.

In this case, everybody today is thinking about yesterday’s “beer summit.”

Here are 3 ideas to jump-start your creativity and help you ”use the news” to get the attention of people who can give you job leads …

1) Pick up the phone and call the 5 most-connected people you know, and invite them to a “Career Beer Summit.” Ask them to meet at a local watering hole (or your own “rose garden”?) to discuss their careers – and yours – over drinks.

2) Send an email invitation to 5-10 people you know, with the subject RE: Beer Summit. Same goal: meet, talk, and help solve each other’s problems, whether they be finding work or getting ahead in a current job.

3) If you’re on Twitter, invite your followers for a “Tweetup” – a local meeting where you can hold a “Career Beer Summit” networking event. Try to get at least 5-10+ people.

Let’s be clear: Am I suggesting that you shamelessly use the news to get the attention of other people who can help you in your job search?

Hell yes.

Why?

Because “entering the conversation going on in the minds of others” works! Try it and see.

For more proven Guerrilla Job Search secrets, grab your Free Audio CD — while they last.

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Here’s my reply to an email I just got before lunch today, from a reader in New York who’s flustered by one of my Guerrilla Job Search suggestions.

I think it may apply to you, too. Or I may be a dork.

What do you think?

Regarding your article about hand delivering resumes. You cannot just go into any office building in NYC and many other places.  With security they want to know where you are going and who you are seeing BEFORE they let you in. In some cases the company has to put you in the computer before you can go up and you have to wait in the lobby up to fifteen minutes. I even had to surrender my driver’s license one time when entering a building, until I came back down. 

The days of knocking on doors are over.

– Nick in New York

Here’s my reply to Nick …

This is all actually good news. If you are tempted to give up and not hand deliver a resume, so is everyone else. Which means there is a huge opportunity here to do something different that gets you on the radar screen of hiring managers — in non-felonious fashion, of course.
 
Rather than give you answers, let me try to inspire your creativity, so you can think and act more like a Guerrilla …
 
1) Who said it has to be you hand-delivering your resume?

Who else could do this for you? What if you enlisted an employee on the inside to help? It’s been done before … and it led to a job.
 
2) What could you mail to employers that will get opened and read?

Example: What if you mailed your resume in a thank-you note envelope that looked personal? Or mailed a coffee cup? A paper weight? ALL of these Guerrilla Job Search tactics have produced interviews, by the way.
 
3) What if you hand-delivered your resume at smaller firms that don’t have security guards at the door?

Remember: Small businesses account for up to 70-80% of all new jobs, so I would focus 80% of my efforts there. And they can often create jobs for the right person. Imagine having ZERO competition for a job, because it didn’t exist before you walked into the room. Here’s an example.

4) How else could you get around this problem of security, which is clearly defined for you, as opposed to most problems, which are not defined and, therefore, harder to solve?
 
For more creative ideas, get your copy of our free Guerrilla job search audio CD.

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I just reviewed several hundred emails from job seekers across the country, looking for common frustrations among people looking for work.

As you might imagine, many things are bugging many job seekers in this economy.

But I boiled them down to two prominent frustrations for this job search article.

Here they are, with suggested solutions.

Which ones apply to you?

Frustration #1: “I submit my resume for a posted job and never hear back from employers. Did they even read my resume?”

Solution: No news is bad news. So, here are 3 ways to make sure your resume is received and read.

1) Call the employer after applying.
Obviously, you can’t do this if you’re blasting resumes out by the dozens each week, so pick and choose carefully which employers you apply to. The smaller the employer, the more likely you are to connect with a hiring authority by phone.

2) Hand-deliver your resume.
This method really works, as I’ve written about before. People who get interviewed and hired after hand-delivering their resumes do the following:

• they dress professionally;
• ask the receptionist if they can personally give their resume to the hiring manager;
• if refused, they politely request a meeting at a later date;
• leave a copy of their resume with the receptionist;
• call or visit again until they get a meeting.

When you visit a company to drop off your resume, be ready to interview on the spot, if you meet the hiring manager in the lobby — it has happened!

3) Mail your resume.
Nowhere is it written that you cannot mail a resume after submitting it online. With a little sleuthing on the employer’s web site and/or Google, you can find the name of your potential boss and their mailing address.
Still unsure? Call the employer and ask!

Frustration #2: “I’m over-qualified for most positions I apply for.”

Solution: First, know that employers may fear your getting bored in a role dealing with budgets in the thousands of dollars, if you’ve worked with millions of dollars before, for example.

And employers may fret that you’ll leave as soon as a better job turns up.

To allay those fears, use your cover letter to highlight your record of long-term employment, if you have one. You can also offer to sign an agreement outlining a minimum stay in a new job.

Also, understand that “over-qualified” can mean “too expensive” for some employers, who fear being able to match your salary demands.

So, explain in your resume and cover letter that someone with your experience can save or earn significant amounts of money. Then, prove it with specific dollars and figures. Ideally, you will show employers that hiring you is like buying money at a discount — you can earn or save multiples of every dollar you get paid in salary.

Resource: Free Guerrilla Job Search audio.

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The 36-second video above is from the Guerrilla Job Search Seminar I just gave today in Edina, Minnesota.

It’s a reprise of a surprising “Guerrilla” networking technique I pioneered last year.

Rather than babble on and tell people how to network, I wanted to actually PRODUCE networking leads, live, at my seminar.

And I did.

Watch the video above to learn how Ellen quickly got the name and phone number of a valuable, new employment contact.

All she did was make one simple phone call, using a script I gave her and other seminar attendees.

I used to call this “5-Minute Networking,” but now I’m calling it “Guerrilla Networking - Instant Edition,” because — like the 4-minute mile — people keep doing it faster and faster.

In Ellen’s case, it took her just 2 minutes and 17 seconds to get a job lead.

Here’s the four-part networking script that Ellen and the others followed when making phone calls, with explanatory notes in parentheses:

1. “Hi! I’m at a training session and they told me to call the most-connected person I know. That’s you!”

(Many folks hesitate to make networking calls because they don’t know how to start the conversation. So, use me as your excuse — say that somebody else told you to call. That’s what Ellen and the others did.

Now, look through your phone list. Who is the one person who seems to know almost everybody? That’s the most-connected person you know.)

2. “I’m looking for a position as a JOB TITLE at a company like COMPANY #1, COMPANY #2, or COMPANY #3.”

(You have to think first, about what JOB you want and at least 3 COMPANIES you want to work for.)

3. “Who would you call if you were in my shoes?”

(You’re asking the most-connected person you know to think as if they were in your shoes. This produces rapid results.)

4. “Could I have their name and number?”

(Write it down. Hang up. Call that new person and drop your well-connected friend’s name.)

Can you dial a phone? Speak English? Congratulations. You can network. Almost instantly!

Am I crazy? Can networking really be this simple? Why not try this exercise NOW, then leave your comments below …

Resource: FREE Guerrilla Job Search Secrets Audio.

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Warning! Cliches in your resume may be hazardous to your career.

Are you a creative person who “thinks outside the box”?

Don’t mention that damn box on your resume — it’s the opposite of creativity. Because you’ll find “think outside the box” in approximately 10 squidillion other resumes.

Are you loyal, hard-working, and a strong communicator?

So is my dog, Ginger. That’s her above, loyally working hard to communicate strongly.

OK. What is the point of this verbal dressing down?

Creativity counts in your resume. But only if it’s creative.

That’s the message my business partner, the “Canadian” author, David Perry, has in an interview in yesterday’s Sacramento Bee, to promote the publication of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0.

Highlights:

“If you’re creative, dynamic and a leader, you need to demonstrate that in your résumé.”

Cite examples of your job accomplishments; list summaries of job skills. And do your homework: Read the company’s job description to find where your specific skills and talents would fit.

If it’s a sales job, for example, describe the kind of sales positions you’ve held and quantify the results. If you hit 100 percent of your sales target or turned around your division’s performance, state it.

Here’s my favorite part of David’s advice, the one that pisses off or mystifies about 90% of the HR people we tell it to:

To make your résumé more visual, Perry suggests adding logos from former employers, like AT&T’s globe or Apple’s apple. You can include brief testimonials from co-workers and managers, akin to a book jacket review.

Want more Guerrilla wisdom? Grab your free Guerrilla Job Search audio CD here.

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