So you are working or not in one city and thinking of expanding your job search to one or two more cities. How do you accomplish that when you have little or no network in the new city?
1) Use your alumni network – Get back in touch with your high school, college, and graduate school network. Contact everyone you remember from those schools in your target city. Search for alumni on LInkedIn. Ask them to introduce you to hiring managers in your targeted companies.
2) Network with your LinkedIn connections. See who works in your targeted city and who can introduce you to people who work in your targeted companies. Even if the contact is not a hiring manager, or works in department other than where you would fit in, they can introduce you to other employees in the company.
3) Write directly to hiring managers. Create your list of companies. Research the names of hiring managers or employees two levels above your level and write directly asking for a meeting.
4) Work with a search firm in the new city. Research first – ask for recommendations from your colleagues and friends for search firms with good reputations in the new city. Write directly to the search firms and get a phone or face-to-face interview.
5) Plan a visit to the new city and fill your time with meetings. Plan to visit the city in a fact- finding, information-seeking mode during 3 to 5 days in a specific time frame. Mention that time frame in your emails to hiring managers and the search firm. Call to set up meetings for that time period.
Get the meetings. Follow up after the meetings. Keep building your network, making connections and meeting new people. Follow up once amonth with each person you meet, adding some new information, a link to a recent article you read, or something related to their hobby or interest.
(c) 2018 Amy Geffen All rights reserved