So far in this series I’ve covered Taking Aim of Your Target in Part 1 and Writing your Pocket Resume in Part 2.  So at this point, we’ll assume the following:

• You’ve met this person who you previously didn’t know.
• You’ve chatted with them socially in some way.
• They are in possession of your pocket resume.

Now don’t get frustrated by the fact that your treasured pocket resume is now in some business card pile with OTHER cards that will never see the light of day.  Your job now is to get your new contact to reach back into that pile, grab the card and remember you.

Step 3 – Pocket Resume Follow Up to Get You the Interview

Many people go to these networking events and hope (maybe even pray) someone calls them up with a job interview.  Sorry!  It doesn’t work that way.  Unless you are extremely attractive (and for this I mean tremendously noticeable) or have a tremendous rap, most people won’t remember you from the 20 or so other people they meet at the event.

Your job is to get them to remember you.  Within the next several days (three days max) you need to make a second contact with them.  This can be either via email, a phone call or better yet, a hand written card.   Just think of how many emails you get versus how many phone calls you get versus how many handwritten cards you receive.  Use the method here that gets you most noticed.

You need to deliver the same exact message multiple times and multiple ways.  If you’ve followed up your in-person conversation and pocket resume exchange with a follow-up of some sort, you’ve made three touches in what us marketing folks call a multi-touch campaign:

1. You’ve told them face-to-face.
2. You’ve written it on your pocket resume (which you hope they read).
3. You’re now repeating it on this third message your making with them.

For people you consider having the best chances of connecting you to a potential hiring manager, send them both an e-mail and a handwritten note.  This gets them hearing your message right away and 2 or 3 days later depending up how long it takes the mail to deliver it.

Warning: Do NOT under estimate people. You may have met someone who doesn’t seem to be a valuable contact, but you don’t know what their spouse, sibling or close friends do.  One of these contacts of theirs may own the company where they have a sweet job just waiting for you.  Think of yourself as a cast net fisherman. (Fisher-person is a less sexist term, but it just doesn’t work for me.) You want to throw as large a net as possible via these apparently less connected people but it still so you increases your chances of hitting upon the target you want.

Some people when contacted will respond right away either wanting to honestly help you or just because they have some professional courtesy.  If they respond for whatever reason, you send them another message a few days later.  This would be an introductory letter (kind of like a cover letter except written for your networking contact) and resume.  Again, you need to repeat the message on your pocket resume so they are constantly reminded of when you want them to think of you.

The final step, and this one is ongoing, is to write these people down in your calendar and reach out to them every two to three weeks as a reminder.  It could be you’ll just call them and leave a voice mail like this one:

“This is Fred Little.  I’m the job seeker looking for a Pharmaceutical Rep position.  We met at the XXXX.  Just wanted to touch base with you to see if you knew of people that might be able to help me with my job hunt.”

The idea is to repeat your message and stay top of mind with them.  I can’t tell you how many times I get emails from people wanting to fill a job opening.  They are begging for someone in their circle of contacts to get them a referral.  (Check out Lesson 2 of my Job Hunt Basics story for an explanation of how people go about hiring someone.  You want to play right into their thinking.)

So there you have it – every think you needed to know on how to use a Pocket Resume to land yourself that next job.

I would really appreciate sharing your ideas with the rest of us to get us all thinking about the best ways to get our message across and get people networking on our behalf to get us that awesome job you want.