The Force Multiplier Affect – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters

By Lance Haun • Aug 24th, 2006 • Category: For the love of HR

David Perry writes today for the blogswap.  He talks about using technology to further your job search.

There’s an old sales adage that applies to job hunting which goes something like this: “success is 98% just showing up”. Following Hr Guys post yesterday I want to expand on the use of technology and how to apply it to your job search.

The new rules of modern job hunting change daily as does the technology and counter-technology companies use. Because of that, a traditional staple in the job-hunter’s arsenal is coming back into vogue - FAX. Guerrillas know that often the best weapon is “old reliable”. I wrote an article for California Job Journal on the use of fax technology as an effective alternative to email, snail mail and web forms. It’s well worth reading. On the Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters site there’s a free trial offer as well. With Fax your document cuts through all the technology barriers in your way.

Fax was pivotal in a successful marketing campaign I ran to place two candidates as a team [no easy feat]. Fax was the KEY distribution tool for the launch which also consisted of direct mail, web site and blog - along with a direct marketing campaign lead by me - to leverage the full power of the Force Multiplier Effect. Without the initial traction from MyFax, it’s very likely I would have worked a lot harder to schedule the 39 interviews. With it I simply zeroed in on who had opened the fax as the hottest prospects.

The two candidates where successful in closing on 38 offers from the initial round of 39 meetings. Their progress was tracked – in near real time - and podcasted on LandedFM in 3 segments over a 6 week period. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3. As far as tools go it’s also worth while looking at the web site he designed and the accompanying Blog. Using one tool in isolation will increase your ability to penetrate the companies you want. Using several of them in tandem has an exponential impact.

Lance Haun is the principle blogger for YourHRGuy.com. He is a 26 year old Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field for the past five years. His professional interests include recruitment, team building, training and development, employee relations and restraining himself from beating the crap out of bad managers and employees. He is a proud product of the Washington State University School of Business. In his spare time, he likes to recreate outdoors in the beautiful Northwest US with his flawless wife and tell stories about his co-workers with friends over a beer after work. Your HR Guy is a regular blogger on Vault.com as well as being featured on Wall Street Journal's Career Journal and MSNBC.com
Email this author | All posts by Lance Haun

5 Responses »

  1. Steve Armstrong on August 25th, 2006 at 6:09 pm:

    I have to disagree with this approach. Unless you have a direct number to the recruiters personal fax machine, chances are that the fax will never get to him. With e mail, and the ability to attach files either with pdf. or doc. extensions there is no need to take the risk that the phone connection will be poor, resulting in unreadable documents.

    Apart from that, as a person who reviews many resumes, I tend to think that people who insist on using faxes instead of e mail are stuck in the past.

    For my own hiring, I prefer a file by e mail that I can keep on my computer, rather than taking up file cabinet space.

  2. KellyMac on August 28th, 2006 at 1:00 pm:

    I hate faxes. I hate to send them, I hate to receive them. One page will look fine, the next page will look like crap. Plus, unless it is a confidential fax line, everyone who walks by can see what you sent - or what was sent to you. And, it seems more likely that paper faxes would be “lost” or “misplaced” easier than an email.

  3. David Perry on April 17th, 2007 at 10:31 am:

    Steve sorry to hear that you think dinosaurs use fax. I suggest you read the whole piece on incorporating fax into your job search: a.) because email gets stooped by spam filters NOT faxes and b.) because it’s only one of several tools that where used simultaneously so you need to understand the mix of tolls we used. AND if that’s not enough .. 38 out of 39 is as close to 100% as you’re likely to get.

  4. David Perry on April 17th, 2007 at 10:32 am:

    Kelly,
    You faxes can look crappy sometimes unless you use a service like MyFax.com Try it before you dis it. again. faxes are more likely toarrive at their intended destinations and be read than emails are now.

  5. Eric on June 17th, 2007 at 11:14 pm:

    This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title ce Multiplier Affect – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters | YourHRGuy.com. Thanks for informative article

Leave a Reply