So you want to make a career change during a pandemic (or any time)…Part 3— Initiating the Job Search

So to this point, I’ve done the reflection to determine what I want to do, and I’ve gained clarity and information on the industry from trusted friends who are experts in the work I want to do (last post). Now, the dreaded next step: the job search. Admittedly even for a more extroverted, gregarious person like myself, the outreach necessary for a job search looks like a mighty foe. But I give all credit to one of my favorite Fuqua colleagues, Steve Dalton, for his book “The 2-Hour Job Search.” His book was my guide for the next step of this process and everything discussed in the rest of this post is how I exercised, interpreted and executed on the advice from this book. (So if you have read my posts to this point, like what you’ve heard and are actively looking for a job, my advice is to stop here and just buy the book or borrow it from your library. For those that want to hear more before they are convinced, here it goes.)

First Step: The first step of the book is to create a list of organizations to consider. However, the trick is it’s not just any list — it’s a list that is created with some specific parameters.

Parameter one: it has to be at least 40 companies, preferably more. For those who are familiar with the book Decisive, this is largely from the mental framework of avoiding a narrow frame by widening your options. You don’t feel as married to a set of companies if you have a list of more than 40.

Parameter two: you note and rate the level of advocacy that you have at each company by noting whether any alumni from the schools you have attended work at each company (and some added factors if you choose, like whether you know anyone personally that works there).

Parameter three: you rate your personal motivation to work at that company based on all the factors that are most important to you.

Finally, parameter four: you rate if the job currently has postings and, if so, whether those postings are in the area and/or type of role you want to be in.

With each of these you create your LAMP list: List, Advocacy, Motivation, Posting list. To give you an idea, my LAMP list was 73 companies long and had a mix of organizations. The majority were in the private sector but I did have some other organizations based on what I desired in terms of culture and personal motivation.

Second Step: Networking was the second step of the process and it brought with it the need to be systematic. The book provides a clear format on how to select those to network with. And below are some of the things I maximized on in my search.

1. Find individuals within the firm(s) that you are interested in joining who are in the division you believe you want to be in, and at a level just above the level you want to enter the organization.
2. Prioritize individuals who you have some affiliation with (if possible). Because I have two alma maters with large alumni bases, I prioritized that first when looking at individuals to reach out to. I also used other interests if possible, and other connections (organizations we are both members of, their major in college, etc.) as connection points
3. Set up the necessary communication. In the book, it is called the “3B7 model,” where you establish a schedule for the timing of your outreach. The intended schedule is sending the message out and then setting up a three-business-day note and a seven- business-day note from the date you sent the message from the contact. If you have not heard from the contact you e-mailed by the 3rd business day, this note provides the trigger to reach out to another contact at the same company of the individual you already wrote to. If you have not heard back from that same contact by the 7th business day, this note provides the trigger to reach back out to that contact with a “Hey, just circling back to see if you received my message” note.

As noted earlier, I had 73 companies on my LAMP List. Did I put together a list of contacts for all 73 companies and start reaching out to people at 73 companies? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I started with the top 5 (really 2 through 6) companies on my LAMP list. How many contacts did I put on my list for each of those companies? It depended on the company and how many folks I found that fit my above criteria, but it averaged about 12 per company. To be honest, that number was way too high for the most part — I didn’t need to reach out to more than five before I got at least one response.

Sidenote: The book discusses using fresh contacts versus individuals already in your network for this particular outreach, and I tend to agree with a caveat. You should feel comfortable reaching out to people you know at these organizations and asking them if they are willing to connect you to someone in the group you believe you are interested in. The context of the relationship is different, especially if they are a close friend, but it’s worth the discussion at the very least. The key in my experience is being able to communicate clearly what you want to do, what group in the organization that is in, and if they know someone of influence in that group.

The last part but probably the most important part of this outreach is the actual message itself. In the book, the template for e-mails for this kind of communication is called the 6-Point E-mail. The goal is to keep it as simple as possible including: sharing who you are; how are you connected (ex. Same undergraduate alma mater); specific request (ex. Would you have a few minutes to chat about…?); and the why behind the request (ex. I’m very interested in learning more about…).

This framework is masterful, as the goal of it is to get a “yes or no” response. In my experience, it works flawlessly. Let me be clear — that does not mean everyone responds to it, but those who do have a clear indication of what you want.

There is a second piece that is not in the book that I think is very important to note: Setting aside specific time to send these messages and for scheduling these chats. I discovered quickly that designating specific time to do this was very useful. Admittedly, I am a calendar person and use it to organize my time as clearly as I can, but I see it as useful for anyone working through this process. My outreach e-mails (once I set a time) were always sent between 9 AM and 12 PM (in the expected time zone of the contact) and the discussion blocks were typically between 10 AM and 3 PM on select days. (Thanks to insight from the book When by Daniel Pink, I did my best to avoid the 3 PM time or after.)

In the midst of this outreach I also discovered the best advocates respond to the initial message quickly and things can get slowed down quickly with the back and forth of trying to schedule a time to chat, which had me adopt a solution quickly. I began using Calendly as my scheduling tool and it worked masterfully. So for an example, I would send my outreach e-mail, get a quick response like “I’m open to chat. When works best for you,” and respond to the person with “Thank you for responding to chat. Here is my Calendly link with my schedule, please choose the time that works best for you. Look forward to speaking with you.” That cut out a number of steps and allowed the person to select their desired medium of communication (by phone or virtual), which I believe is a great touch.

Next Post…Resume Needs a Changing…

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