Motivation Monday Control!

Motivation Monday Control! This week, lets get un-stuck!   Lets take control! Each day, each hour, be purposeful in the activities and thoughts you are engaged in. I.D. 5 Target Companies You Would Want to Work For If you dont already have 5 companies selected, you may be wondering how you do this.   You could identify competitors to your previous employer.   You could select companies you had once interviewed with or old job postings.   Maybe some of your past co-workers are working in companies you would want to work for. Use LinkedIn Find and follow these 5 companies on LinkedIn.   Literally, click on the follow company button on the right-hand side of their profile. See if you have any 1st degree connections. (If yes, these are people you will contact this week) Note the activity within the company (new hires or news or blog posts or tweets) You should subscribe to their blog and follow them on Twitter if they are using those tools. Check out the insightful stats on the company over in the right-hand column. Now,   you can see if they have careers posted, but you are not going to apply yet! Go to the Company Website Read the site. Become familiar with their mission, new projects, executive leadership. You are going to want to take notes and keep them somewhere so you can refer back to them. Develop Your List of Questions Based on your initial research of these 5 companies, what questions do you want answered?   Questions about their business!   Where are they going?   What are their challenges?   What makes their company a great place to work? You are NOT asking questions about job openings.   You are learning about the company to see if it is a place you would want to work. Here are some Questions to ask during networking to get you thinking in the right way. Search Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for Contacts First, of course, you want to tap into your personal network of friends and family to see if they know someone who works at one of these 5 companies.   Go ahead, ask them Who do you know who works for Now search on all three of these platforms to see who you know who works in these companies now or who used to work there. Call them!   Email them directly.   Systematically reach out to each one of them THIS WEEK.   If you dont connect, try again in a couple of days. People are busy and may have overlooked your message or perhaps even deleted it.   Dont take it personally.   It happens. If you dont have any direct connections within these companies, then youll have to go back to your friends and family to see if they recognize any of the names and could make an introduction on your behalf.   Ask, youll never know. Out and About As you run errands or attend events, look for opportunities to ask people you meet about these 5 target companies.   What do you know about XYZ company?   Ive identified them as a company I might be interested in. Change How You Spend Your Time You want to speak to people. You dont want to get lost in the piles of resumes and online applications.   If there is a great job, you MUST find someone inside the company to talk to, either right before or right after you apply.   You just MUST! Changing your approach this way will give you a feeling of being in control.   Responding to job postings is re-active.   Reaching out to people is pro-active!