[thelist] Head Hunters, Staffing Agencis and Job Hunting Tips

Hassan Schroeder hassan at webtuitive.com
Tue Jan 14 10:54:01 CST 2003


Ben Henick wrote:

> That's a bit broad.

I think you missed my point. I wasn't being critical of the idea
of targeting a particular company, I was suggesting that there is
*no* value in walking in cold off the street without an appointment.

>>You just don't walk into companies without the name of a person
>>*and* an appointment. You'll see, at best, a security guard or
>>receptionist who assuredly doesn't care how good a developer you
>>are, and likely doesn't know who *would* care.
>
> Again, a lot of this has to do with approaches.  Research, research,
> research.  There are directories with listings of mid-level and senior
> managers at all manner of companies - and certainly a well-appointed
> library is likely to have a few.

If it's in a library, it's out of date, and people whose names
are in those kinds of publications aren't going to be involved
with hiring developers anyway. The managers who do that report
to them. But let's say you found a development manager's name.

Who cares? You've got -- a name. Wow. Where does s/he work? Unless
it's a tiny company, there's probably more than one building. But
say you managed to guess correctly *and* it's a non-secured-access
building with a lobby you can enter; the security guard will ask
you who you're there to see and call that person to come get you.
If you're not expected, the chances of getting to see that person
are near-zero; the chances of this unsolicited interruption being
appreciated are substantially less. :-)

> In the little phone work (research and, yes, solicitation) that I've done,
> I've discovered that if you are patient, confident, friendly, and well
> informed... you may not hit a home run, but you'll learn a lot and put
> yourself that much closer with each call.  The goldmines I've hit as a
> researcher just by being polite have on a few occasions caused me to
> blink.

Working the phone to try to make contacts is an entirely different
story, and well worth the time.

Working your shoe leather hoping your sparkling smile will impress
someone is not.  :-)

IMHO!
--
Hassan Schroeder ----------------------------- hassan at webtuitive.com
Webtuitive Design ===  (+1) 408-938-0567   === http://webtuitive.com

                           dream.  code.






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