I wanted to share this great client story with you. I was talking to Janice in Ohio recently, she applied for a position at Pitney Bowes. Right away she noticed two Pitney people viewed her LinkedIn profile. She asked me if it was appropriate for her to reach out them, or would she look like a stalker. I said go for it, just be careful of how you word your message and be professional. Here is the conversation thread you can use if you are ever in this situation – and her story of how it worked well:
Hallie: Write them both and say something like:
Hi NAME, I recently applied for X position at X company. I wanted to reach out to you to let you know I am very interested in working at XX to (for example) to facilitate and enhance the research process (mention how you could impact the organization through that role). I would love to have the chance to interview for this position. If we can connect on LinkedIn that would be great, but at the very least I wanted to re-iterate my interest in the position. Thank you, NAME
*Side note: You could also ask this person for 10 minutes of their time to conduct an informational interview to learn more about the organization.
Janice: Thanks, Hallie. I took your advice and contacted both. They each accepted and one of them invited me to call them tomorrow or Wednesday. :) Hopefully this can help start getting the ball rolling on something!
Here’s the logic everyone: What do you have to lose? You do want to be careful of contacting people you don not know on LinkedIn so they don’t report you as spamming them. But if you handle it professionally and are clear with your intentions, the likelihood of that happening is low. Worst case they ignore your request. My client Jeremy in New Jersey said the other day, “You’re always pushing the envelope.” He’s right. You have to be assertive in your search to get noticed.
Hallie Crawford
Certified Career Coach
P.S. Be sure to check out our LinkedIn Consulting Program where you can learn how to effectively leverage your LinkedIn account for your job search and ongoing professional development.
