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

[Aleem Bawany]

> 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.

It makes sense, besides, I wouldn't know how to go about
walking into a company in the first place - it would take
a lot of guts to just walk in and ask for hiring manager
or some other recruiter. If someone has done this, however,
I'd like to hear their experience.

> Who cares? You've got -- a name. Wow. Where does s/he
> work? Unless it's a tiny company, there's probably more
> [...]

That was one of my misconceptions as well - thanks for
clearing that up. Although, I would think that knowing
the roles of the different personell in the company and
their positions would help during interview time but
during the applications, a name on the cover letter may
just add a little bit of personal appeal to the reader and
nothing more. None the less, getting a name is the first
step towards getting to know the recuriter.

>> 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 best source of research I've found thus far is a company
website and have yet to look at the yellow pages for numbers
and IT companies relevant to my area of interest, I am not
too certain how I would go about talking even if I did manage
to get through to the company, but I guess a couple of calls
into it, I'll probably get a feel.

> 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.  :-)

IT folks like to get straight down to business, but having a
friendly character shouldn't be overlooked either. Being
on thelist and interacting has certainly been a valuable
exercise in both, developing character and substance :)

aleem

[ http://members.evolt.org/aleem/ ]