CONTENTS

Setting Up Alerts Using Google...........................................................................................................................................2

Finding the Right Job – Job Aggregators.............................................................................................................................2

Using Google to Find Connections......................................................................................................................................4

Finding People on LinkedIn................................................................................................................................................7

Connecting with People through Groups.........................................................................................................................13

Why You Should Join Associations...................................................................................................................................16

SETTING UP ALERTS USING GOOGLEIf you already have a Gmail account, go to Google Alerts, write down the term or phase you went to set an alert for.

There are plenty of things you can set up alerts for: companies going through mergers, acquisitions, territory expansions, certain companies, an industry, a person you want to connect with, etc. The sky is the limit.

For our case, let’s suppose you want to be alerted whenever there’s a job opening for Petroleum Engineer jobs. Enter the term into the search bar and hit “Search Options”.

You can now refine the kind of information you’ll be getting in your inbox. Along with selecting how often you want to be alerted, you can select what sources you want the information to be filtered in from, the language, region, and which results to come through.

Suppose you’re specifically looking for petroleum engineering jobs in Canada, and you’re not picky about which company you want to work for. Then your search options will look something like this:

We would recommend you get daily digests, however you can limit the region to just your country if you want.

Select which email you want the alerts to go too and you’re all done!

FINDING THE RIGHT JOB – JOB AGGREGATORS

Job Aggregators are like Google but for job postings. They’re a comprehensive source of information, will help you save time, and find options you hadn’t considered.

There are several benefits to using job aggregators:

1. Job aggregators collect job postings from thousands of websites into one place, allowing you a greater pool of selection.

2. They tap into the “hidden” job market because they pull job listings from small job sites as well, such as association job boards.

3. They pull job listings directly from employer websites, reducing the possibility of fake listings or schemes.

Here are some of the best aggregator options available (you may already know many of these names):

1. Indeed.com2. Monster.com3. CareerBuilder.com4. SimplyHired.com 5. CareerJet.com6. JobSafari.co.uk (Europe)7. Jobster.com8. JobFox.com9. Climber.com

The biggest benefit signing up with these websites is that they will help you focus your job search because you’ll be getting high quality, relevant results. How will these high quality results help you in your job search? (Besides the obvious answer i.e. let you apply to better jobs)?

These websites can be an excellent source of information.

Not sure which keywords to use when applying for a certain position? Check the job out on two different job aggregator websites and you’re got yourself a comprehensive list of keywords you can put into your resume. You can keep tweaking and improving this list as newer jobs are posted.

Uncertain what kind of demand there is for a certain position? Check out how many job postings are available on different job aggregators. You’ll immediately understand what kind of demand is ongoing, as well as what kind of responsibilities are expected out of the applicants. You can further refine these results according to regions/location to see how demand is shifting.

If you’re in a specialized field (such as healthcare or O&G), you can use Google to search for specialized job boards e.g. there are job boards for oil and gas, advertising, remote jobs, for job seekers over 50 etc.

USING GOOGLE TO FIND CONNECTIONS

The biggest success factor in securing a job happens to be networking. You’ve probably already heard that from a lot of people. “You need to network with the right people to get a job.”

Let’s do an example.

Chexology is an up-and-coming start-up which currently has an open position in their senior management. Suppose you want to contact the CTO or COO as part of your job search strategy.

So you check their website out and check out their Team profiles.

Checking each person out, we see that Austin Feight is the man we want to contact. So we click his circle.

This takes us to his LinkedIn profile. If you do a quick check, you’ll see that he has provided viewers with a contact email:

Once you’ve got a name, but you don’t have a contact number or email, you can search for [contact name] + contact email or [contact name] + email address or similar variations.

There’s another free application called Email Hunter (emailhunter.co) which could be extremely helpful for your job search. With the free feature you have 150 queries allowed and you can use them to get contact emails from different company websites! Handy right?

All you need to do is add the Email Hunter Chrome extension, and you’ll see a list of emails to sift through.

It even shares the most common pattern in email addresses for you to mimic for your target contact!

So the basic steps if you want to find someone’s contact email (through Google):

- Check the company website and look for a team profile (at the very least you’ll find a name of the person you want to contact)

- Use Email Hunter to check if their email is available in their database- Check the contact persons LinkedIn for contact information- Check the profiles of other people at the same level to see if you can find a contact email so that you can

learn what the email address structure is. Once you know that, you can experiment with email addresses to see if you can reach out to the person you’re targeting.

- Google the contact person’s name and “contact information” or “email address” or similar variations to see if you can get lucky.

FINDING PEOPLE ON LINKEDIN

To find people to connect with on LinkedIn, follow these steps:

1. Go to LinkedIn

2. Search for your selected company

3. Go to their page

4. Check the ‘How You’re Connected’ heading on the top right corner and click “See All”. Now you’ll be able to see all the people who work in this company and are on LinkedIn.

5. Use filters given & the Advanced Search features to shortlist people. You can filter people through location, current company, Industry, Past Company, etc. You want to look for people who work in the same city as the job opening.

Advanced Search is a handy way to further filter people down. As you can see, you search people according to certain keywords or titles. This will help you find a very specific set of people. For example,

This set of filters will lead to these results:

The logic behind filtering people out by their rank is to find the people you will be potentially reporting to. But sometimes these people might be hard to find (like in the case of a start-up). Then you’ll have to select a more senior ranking individual to connect with. They key point to remember is you want to pick someone who you will be working with.

The second point to remember is that you want to select a Champion who is active on LinkedIn. They need to be able to see your communications and reply back. There are several tests for this:

- Is their LinkedIn profile complete?- Is there activity in their recent activity? - Have they published any posts?

Checking a connections recent activity is the best way to know how active they are. You can check any person’s recent activity like so:

CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE THROUGH GROUPS

Joining and being active on LinkedIn groups can serve a triple benefit: you can build your authority, keep up with the latest industry happenings, and find people to reach out too and form connections with.

How can you do both at the same time? It’s easy.

Step 1: Join LinkedIn groups

Step 2: Initiate discussions and stay up-to-date with industry news

Step 3: Reach out to people using Step 2 as a stepping stone

Let us quickly examine each step.

Step 1

If you search on LinkedIn, you’ll quickly realize there’s a host of groups available for you to join. So how do you select the right group for you? How do you know which group is worth the time and effort?

The best way is to ask your connections and friends for recommendations. If they can’t help you, you need to do your own research.

You want to avoid groups:

Where there are large time gaps in between posts. This means the members aren’t very active, and the discussions aren’t very interesting.

Where discussions aren’t getting very many comments. This shows you that your discussions won’t get much interaction either. Look for a 5 comments : 1 discussion ratio.

Where people post spam messages.

One point to keep in mind when looking for groups: Check which groups your target audience is hanging out in.

Use LinkedIn’s advanced search features to find your target audience once you have answers to these questions:

1. What is the job title of the people you want visiting your profile?2. Where do they live?3. What companies do they work for?

(You can use Boolean search terms to look for multiple options at once.)

Like this:

Go to their groups, read the group profile description, and determine if it is a good match for you and your goals.

Step 2

Once you’ve found the right groups, you have to initiate discussions. This is simpler online than it is offline for many reasons. Here are two simple techniques to get people talking with you:

Share interesting articles and breaking industry news. Ask open ended questions that encourage people to share their experiences. Nothing makes people open up

and talk faster than the opportunity to tell a story. (Bonus: You can message people you aren’t connected with if you share the same group, so you can respond to their comment via a message. Like this -- click “Reply Privately”):

Note: Be sure to tag the people you’re replying too. Doing so will ensure that the person you’re responding too will see your reply, thereby increasing the chances of them replying back and continuing the conversation.

Step 3

Suppose during one of the discussions, one of the group members talks about a topic that you’re experienced in or have posted an article about. You can send them a private message and initiate a conversation on the basis of their reply.

It can be a simple, short note saying “Hi there! I saw your reply on (topic) and thought you might find this article/post I wrote/found on the matter interesting (link here: _____). I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter. Have a good one! Regards.”

Like this:

“Hi Harry,

After reading your reply on the Quidditch Professionals group, I thought you might be interested in reading this post I’ve written on my profile. It’s called “Why EQ Development is Important in Quidditch Companies” and talks about the same issues that you brought up in the discussion.

I’d appreciate your view point on the article.

Thanks for your time.

Ron.”

Why is this important? Because this way you can reach out to 3rd connections on your own without needing an intermediary introduction. You can use mutual experiences, view points, opinions to connect with strangers and develop your network further.

It’s that easy.

Here are a few points you need to keep in mind when interacting in groups:

Keep your replies short. Don’t wander off topic. Reply promptly if the group is very active (i.e. if people are discussions and commenting on multiple topics

every day). Tag the person you’re replying too so that they can see your response. Remain polite and professional at all times. Use “you” in questions to form a connection with the readers. Thinks about your readers/audience. What kind of information would they like to read?

If it so happens that the group you joined turned out to a dud? There’s plenty of other fish in the sea. Do some more research, check some more groups out. You’re sure to find a winner soon enough.

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN ASSOCIATIONS

If you’re interested in developing your career, joining a professional association is a good starting point. You can join a national, state, regional, or even global association and enjoy all the benefits that comes with a member.

There are multiple benefits to joining a professional association:

#1: An enhanced network: Associations tend to sponsor multiple networking events where members can meet up and connect. You can share ideas, seek out advice, host a talk, or become a committee member. Associations also have their own chat groups or discussion boards where you can talk to your peers and make great connections that can help you.

#2: Keeping up with industry news and trends: You can learn of new ideas, strategies, and methodologies as soon as they break from the key people in your field.

#3: Information goldmine: Joining an association offers you access to a treasure trove of information. You’ll be able to access case studies, articles, white papers, books, magazines, and newsletters written by field experts.

#4: Mentorship: You might possibly even find a mentor to advise you during your job search and career development.

#5: Job listing board: Many associations have their own private job listing boards that only members can access. Beyond these targeted job listings, associations also offer industry or job specific career advice that can help.

#6: Professional development: Several associations arrange a panel of experts who you can reach out to with questions. You can also sign up for trainings, certifications, and workshops. Add these to your resume for an extra punch.

If you’re a student, you shouldn’t feel deterred from joining a professional association. There are many benefits for you too!

#1: Scholarships: Many associations offer scholarships to their youngest members in a bid to encourage them to join their field.

#2: Test the waters: Joining an association is a good way to get a firsthand look at what the industry is like in real time. You can directly meet with people and ask them for their opinion and advice.

#3: Build your portfolio & network: Volunteering during association events is also a good way to build you portfolio and make connections.

Here are some places where you can search for associations to join:

Weddle’s Guide to Associations – www.weddles.com/associations/index.cfm Association Search – Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/IPLBrowse/GetSubject?

vid=13&cid=7&tid=0&parent=0 Guidestar – http://www2.guidestar.org – directory of nonprofit organizations

Internet Nonprofit Center – http://www.charterschoolcenter.org - for non-profits BBB’s Philanthopic Advisory Service – http://give.org/ - for major charitable organizations National Center for Charitable Statistics – http://nccs.urban.org/ - collects statistics on non-profit

organizations Google your location + industry + the word “association.” Like this: “IT Los Angeles Association.”

Once you’ve gotten started, you can use the templates that come with this pack to follow up and develop your connections with the people you meet at association events.