Sending out 'speculative' letters to employers

SueC_2

Blitz01 wrote: »

What people job hunting should do is this:
Don't send CV's......it's no better than junk mail and gets filed accordingly. It also seems to be the 'easy answer' to job hunting.
If you REALLY want a job, get your best clothes out, and come and knock on the door of people you wish to work for.
I would have the utmost respect for someone that pro-active, and if anything was available, i would give them serious consideration.

Horses for courses really.

Personally, if I receive a speculative CV and well-worded covering letter the chances are that it will sit on my desk until I get fed up of pushing it around, at which point I will look through it - at a time convenient to me, and with a cup of coffee to see me through - it'll probably provide quite a nice interlude in my day. If there was anything there of any interest, I'd persue it, or keep the CV on file until I needed it.

On the other hand, if someone came knocking at my door uninvited, interrupting what I was in the middle of and expecting me to drop everything and see them there and then at THEIR convenience, I'm afraid I'd be unlikely to view them as anything more than an irritant, regardless of whether or not they were wearing their best clothes.

I guess the bottom line is that there is no 'right' way to go about job hunting - if there was, no-one would need to do it more than once.

Blitz01

Sorry but getting up and going for a walk is far more pro-active than sending out a CV.

Wellery82

Blitz01 wrote: »

OK.
I'm glad it worked for you, but you are in a MASSIVE minority. I am trying to let others know there is a better way, as I deal with this daily, whereas i seriously doubt that you do.

Anyone reading this, just do your homework on the company and pay them a visit......you have a way better chance and don't waste a fortune on stamps whilst applying to a business you may not/never have the skills to work for.

I work in recruitment - i do deal with it daily. We proactively try and get speculative applications into our business.

As i have said there is no right or wrong but at my company you wouldn't get past security on a visit to our premises without appointment, whereas we have hired people from speculative applications and i have been offered a role myself through this approach previously. Some people will have different success through different methods, whether cold calling, sending spec CVs, visiting companies, registering with agencies, networking on social media etc. The bottom line is different approaches work for different people. The type of industry and job role affects it to. I would certainly suggest that given speculative applications can work then it is certainly worth giving it a go - nothing ventured nothing gained

geek84

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your replies so far.

I know this may sound like a silly question, but when finding out names and addresses of local small/medium sized businesses using for example yell.com or Kompass, what do I need to put in the search criteria?

Thank You.

MsHoarder

geek84 wrote: »

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your replies so far.

I know this may sound like a silly question, but when finding out names and addresses of local small/medium sized businesses using for example yell.com or Kompass, what do I need to put in the search criteria?

Thank You.

Browse business directories in the sectors you are interested in. For instance if you want to do admin work you want to look at people like solicitors, consultants etc. It will also help if you get the local paper and look at all the adverts. Even if they aren't advertising for someone with your skills, they clearly are doing well enough to hire so think if its a company which is likely to want to hire you for another position. If so, send them a speculative letter!:)

Blitz01

We proactively try and get speculative applications into our business

Recruitment people do nothing pro-actively, and this why they are so unpopular.

I would rather Idi Amin called my 8 times a week than the recruitment agency begging me to use them

but at my company you wouldn't get past security on a visit to our premises without appointment

Why would anyone want to? You work in recruitment, not in Fort Knox.

speculative applications can work then it is certainly worth giving it a go - nothing ventured nothing gained

I can agree with that i suppose.

Slinky

geek84 wrote: »

Hi folks
I have been out of work for a while, and looking for an administration job. I have put together, via merge mail, quite a large amount of letters to send to local employers in the hope of getting some type of employment.

Does anybody know of any typing services, or similar, who could print all those letters out for me on a good quality printer?

Thanks in advance.

Have you thought about investing in a new printer? The last one I bought cost about £25 complete with cartridges - may be worth thinking about if the volumes justify it.

I'd give the mail-out a go, some will end up in the bin, some wont. Also with email, some will go straight to the bin, some won't. You can't tell what approach will work, so you have to have a go at every avenue you can find.

My husband emailed his CV speculatively to the HR department of a company via their website a few years ago and heard nothing. A couple of months later he was recruited into this company via an agency. If the HR people had been paying attention, they could have saved themselves an agency fee. Maybe if he'd sent a hard copy to the HR department they'd have paid more attention, who knows....

SueC_2

When job-seeking, there really is no way of knowing what will pay off, or when.

Last Summer a friend of mine had been job-hunting for over a year, to no avail. He'd tried pretty much every method he could think of and was getting very down and disheartened. Out of the blue he was contacted by an agency he had registered with SEVEN years previously, had heard nothing from, and had completely forgotten about. They were trying to fill a role, and a search through their database had thrown his name out. He applied for the job, got the job, and is loving every minute of it.

Wellery82

Blitz01 wrote: »

Recruitment people do nothing pro-actively, and this why they are so unpopular.

I would rather Idi Amin called my 8 times a week than the recruitment agency begging me to use them

Why would anyone want to? You work in recruitment, not in Fort Knox.


I can agree with that i suppose.

I don't work for a recruitment agency. I work for a global organisation that has an in house recruitment function which i work alongside. Your tone is a bit sarky to be honest. I've offered help, they can take on board if they agree and forget if not.

Big_Boss_Man

Agreed that there is no foolproof way to ensure job hunting success. The people applying are as diverse as the people hiring and all have their particular views on how it should be done! The trick is to find the perfect match.
Here's my input:
Sending speculative letters are nothing more than unsolicited junk mail, as are speculative telephone calls and emails. Technically the sender could also be breaking the law by doing so!
Reading, handling and dealing with speculative communication is tiresome, frustrating and especially if there is a lot of it, has a negative cost attached to it. Not a good way to make a first impression!
If I want to hire - I advertise and invite the responses I really need.
Is it any wonder you hear job seekers who report that they are sending hundreds of letters out each week and getting no replies. A little research and a keen target focus will get you further with a lot less stress and effort.
Best of luck to all "hunters" out there - It's very tough at the moment!