How You Are Like Shampoo for Job Seekers. Brenda Bence

many years of experience or what level of education do most of the employees mention in their profiles?

      •What is most often mentioned in the testimonials of the company’s employees? Do they tend to focus more on creative input … loyalty … integrity?

      When you have a list of the company’s employees who have LinkedIn profiles, you will probably be amazed to discover how connected we all truly are to one another. Remember that old Kevin Bacon game that showed how everyone in Hollywood was only six degrees separated from him? LinkedIn works off that same idea — that everyone is only six degrees away from linking with everyone else. In other words, if you set up a profile on LinkedIn and invite others you know into your network, you will begin to create more and more connections. LinkedIn can search your address book in Microsoft Outlook or your e-mail list from many different servers and tell you automatically who on your list already has a profile on the site. You may even find out that you already know someone at one of your targeted companies! But even if you don’t, you may still be able to establish a connection with someone.

      Here’s how it works. Let’s say someone in your network knows someone in one of your targeted companies, and you see the number “2” by the employee’s name on LinkedIn. This means that the employee you want to meet is only one connection away from you — someone in your own network knows that person directly. LinkedIn then allows you to ask that friend in your network to introduce you to the employee by sending an e-mail to that employee through the LinkedIn system — and you’re off to the races!

      If you see a “3” next to the name of the person you want to meet, it means you’re two connections away from that person. So, you would need to request two introductions in order to meet him or her. That means you could ask the friend in your network to set up an introduction with the other person connected to the employee. Then, hopefully, that person would be willing to set up an introduction for you directly with the employee in question. That’s a fair amount of work, of course, so you’d want to make sure that the connection will really be beneficial to you.

      If you’re only one connection away from an important company employee (a “2”), it should be easy enough to get an introduction, and it’s well worth the effort. So, don’t be shy about making these connections. If someone is unwilling to help you out with information about the company, that’s fine, but you may also meet a great ally who could even help you get a job that’s better than you had hoped for.

      Culture is Key

      As you sift through all of the information on LinkedIn (and elsewhere), see what it tells you about the company’s “culture.” Every company has a culture, and it’s usually driven by its top leaders. So, reading LinkedIn profiles of a company’s top executives can be really helpful, too, giving you a good sense of the company’s values based on how its leaders are presented.

      As an applicant, fitting in with the company’s culture is key. First of all, if you don’t fit in, you’ll have a harder time getting a job. Second, if there isn’t a cultural “fit” once you do get the job, you’ll probably be unhappy there.

      The Right Questions

      What questions should you ask someone who works at one of your targeted companies when you have the chance to speak with them? The best suggestion: Simply ask for advice! Be honest, and let that person know you’re interested in working for the company. Ask them what they would recommend as first steps. You may be surprised by how much someone is willing to help you just because you’ve asked that one simple question.

      Here are a few other questions to ask if you get the chance to talk to someone who is already part of an organization you’re interested in:

      •What key characteristics does the company look for in an employee?

      •What do you think are the top five skills the company values most?

      •What do you like the most about working there? What do you like the least?

      •What’s the length of the typical work day?

      •Is it a training-focused company? If so, does it send employees to outside training programs, or does it hold regular in-house trainings?

      •What are three words that best describe the culture of the company?

      •How does the company treat its employees in general?

      •Does the company hold a lot of events for its employees? If so, what kind?

      •On a scale from 1-10, how open to new ideas is the company? Can you share some examples of why you would give it that score?

      •Would you say that the company is more team-oriented or individual-centric? Can you share with me a few examples of why you think that?

      The answers will give you great clues as to what to emphasize in your resume and interview. If you find out the company values integrity and collaboration skills, you can prepare examples to share in an interview about situations from the past where you’ve shown integrity and collaborated well.

      Of course (and this does happen), in the process of collecting answers to your questions, you may find out you no longer want to apply to a particular company. This is a good thing! Scratch that company off of your list, and focus your well-honed energies toward a job in a different company that’s a better fit for your talents and priorities.

      Once you know about your target companies, you can use the same ideas to find out about the division or department where you want to work. Most of the time, there’s a wealth of information out there about the particular area you’re interested in.

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      Find Out About the Interviewer

      Sometimes, you may be told who your interviewer will be, and sometimes not. If you’re only given a title, simply ask for the person’s name. Otherwise, you can do an Internet search for the company name and the interviewer’s title to see if a name shows up. No matter how you manage to get the name of your interviewer — which is a bit of a golden key — type the name into a search engine like Google.com. Also, look for him or her on LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com, Myspace.com, and other social networking sites. Knowledge is power! So, the more you know, the better prepared you will be for the interview. You may not want to mention any of the information you have discovered in your search, especially if it’s something personal like the name of the interviewer’s children, but the information you find may tell you a fair amount about the interviewer’s personality.

      The more information you can find out about your interviewer — within reason, of course — the more confidence and understanding you will bring to your interviews.

      Your Job-Seeker Personal Brand Positioning Statement

      You’re now ready to begin completing your Job-Seeker Personal Brand Positioning Statement.

      To help you with your own statement, let’s look at some examples. I have included the Job-Seeker Personal Brand Positioning Statements of two people who have different backgrounds and job search objectives. As we work through the chapters, we’ll follow along and see how these two people have completed each section of their own Job-Seeker Personal Brand Positioning Statements. These examples will hopefully give you lots of ideas and will help you understand how your own Positioning Statement all fits together into a cohesive whole. We’ll even show you how our two job seekers went about their own Audience research and what methods they used to find out about their main target company. Let’s start with Jamie.

      Case Study – Jamie Nelson

      For three