I was living in Knoxville, TN (in 2008) and was looking for a job in Kansas City, my home town. I found several companies I was interested in working for and began calling them. Notice I did not start by searching for open positions. I was called and asked if someone would talk to me about the department I was interested in. Sometimes it took a little searching and several phone calls to get to the right person.
You would not believe how many people are willing to talk to you about their company and department.
I called a company in Olathe, KS (just outside of Kansas City). I told them I was looking to move back to the area and wanted to learn more about their company. They asked about my background and then said they were considering hiring someone with my skills and had not even posted a job yet. Then they asked me to come in for an interview. They did not ask for my resume, and they wanted me to come interview the following week. No applications, no websites, just a phone call.
I interviewed and they offered me a job in about 3 weeks.
If you are job searching be willing to make phone calls and ask to learn about the company. Don’t just look for openings on the web job boards.
Great advice Josh. It’s incredibly easy to stand out from the crowd. Simply do the things that others aren’t willing to do.
I think the phone call is the lost art in getting a job