A targeted company list provides your networking contact with the companies, possible roles, industries, cities and people where you want their help.
- As always, you start with practicing the 80% rule (if you do not know, give it a quick read)
- The 80% rule allows you to focus on what’s most important to you: Improving your aim
- Using your targeted company list – you can ask for help.
- Click on the link in the line above and review the Targeted Company list – it will help with the rest of the post
Targeted Company List: More Powerful in Networking than a Resume
Resumes are important, but are a secondary tool in networking. Networking is focusing on relationships needed and your resume is not always clear what connections you need.
- If you ask ten people to read your resume, you will likely get ten interpretations of the job that fits you.
- Perhaps 1-2 people will identify what role you want, the rest will create their own perception and it does not align with your own. Why risk spending precious networking time unwinding an incorrect perception?
- For the 1-2 people who get the roles right, you want to make sure you give them guidance as to whom you want to meet – your resume is designed to give other information.
- Resumes fit into networking as ‘proof’ that you have selected the proper roles to target and gives your networking contact confidence to offer connections.
Targeted Company List: Making it Easier for Your Networking Contact
A good networking mantra is “Help them to help you”. The easier you make it, the more likely you will get more from each meeting and follow-up activities. The targeted company list is a great start to making it easy because you have removed the following tasks:
- Figuring out what companies fit your resume
- What role fits your resume
- What is the right department and/or person within the company
If you do your research on your networking contact in advance, then you will only ask her/him for contacts on the list that they are more likely to have based upon their work. Only ask them what they can deliver – they will let you know if they can do more.
The List Begins a Broader Conversation
A targeted company list should always be presented as a starting place for your discussion. You provide a very specific set of companies to both focus on and use as a jumping off point for new ideas. Many people gave me alternative companies, industries or contacts after they saw my list.
Giving people something to react to is always easier than starting from a blank sheet of paper. The real power of the list is that it makes your networking time more effective. It’s also a tool that can be used before, during and after your search. With on-line storage tools, it’s easy to send links to your most recent list.
Is a Targeted Company List Mandatory? No. Will it shorten my search? Yes.
A targeted company list takes time to build and it can be tedious to find all the data points. When done well it really is the key to fine tuning your aim and getting value out of a meeting.
The reality of networking is that it is easy to find people with whom to network, it is harder to make progress toward your objective. Your targeted company list makes progress easier.
Good luck today.
Mark
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