Pro Hacks To Get In Front Of Your Future Boss

Pro Hacks to Get In Front of Your Future Boss arsp-064 by Anthony Ryan of Flickr   Last week I laid out plans A through D for getting noticed by your future employer, but one of those plans deserves its own post, as it requires some ingenuity, investigative skills, and GUTS. Did that just discourage you?   We will talk in the coming weeks about what caused that and how it can sabotage your success beyond your job search. Back to Plan C â€" Find out what other media, social media, professional events, or social events enable you to capture an executive’s attention where few others will be vying for it. Some executives are inaccessible. Can you presume that they are “ivory tower” types, making decisions from far above the front lines, making you schedule an appointment through their assistant, deeming the lower rungs of the career ladder less important and influential to success? Not really, and they probably are completely unaware that they give off that vibe. I have had to point out to many of my clients through the years just how unapproachable they have made themselves by failing to give themselves a presence. Their top real reasons? They are just too busy tending to the people and business that make their success possible. They sometimes even don’t have time to hire the talent that they desperately need! OR… They have valid reasons to be concerned about privacy.   They have had access to highly privileged and sought after information. They worked in industries targeted by zealots who bordered on dangerous. Some also worked in highly regulated industries that had not yet discovered how to navigate marketing while staying in compliance. I have helped my clients overcome these challenges while remaining sensitive to them. But for the executives who remain “invisible,” but who still need YOUR value on their team to support organizational success, how do you make sure you become visible to them? Have you tried googling their name in quotes? This sounds so common sense in today’s world where our first instinct to find any answer appears to be Google (or YouTube). However, I have been recruiting and finding people on the internet since 2000, and it may not be common sense to everyone. What clues are you looking for? WHY? This can help you determine: Does this sound “stalkerish?” Is it Overkill? That is most likely your fear talking. This is where the GUTS come in. You may not be driven to try this if you are generating a lot of interest in your top companies by tapping the shoulders of the people you know in order to make powerful introductions that get you interviews. That is Plan A, remember. However, before you go spend the same amount of time filling out a frustrating online application with redundant or irrelevant questions only to drop into an abyss of résumés that will never even get seen, let alone get a response, muster up some guts to try this experiment with two of your TOP target companies. If you find yourself unwilling, scared, or thinking any of the following: “I don’t want to bother anyone.” “I don’t have time for that; I need a J-O-B!” “They’re not going to like me.” “What if I fail?” “What if I embarrass myself?” Then we have a post coming up that you need to read, because no matter what you do, you will STOP yourself from getting what you want every time if you do not address the REAL cause.   Do you have a story where you boldness was rewarded? Please share the results of your experiments!