Your next job is out there waiting for you.

Where?

In somebody’s skull.

More specifically, your next job exists - right now - in the mind of your next boss.

That job may be murky and formless, a nagging problem that will eventually require a new employee to solve, for example.

Or it may be defined and open right now, perhaps advertised in the newspaper.

In either case, the job you seek must first exist in the mind of a hiring manager before it can be filled by a person.

So, the more hiring managers’ heads you can get into, the more jobs you can be considered for.

Here’s the story of one very smart job seeker who did just that. He met more hiring managers and got hired for a great job -- one that was created just for him …


1) Start with clarity
When J.L. Zoeckler, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, found himself in the job market in January 2009, his first step was to decide exactly what he wanted to do next.

“I knew I was looking for a director of communications or a public relations position where I could use my skills in public speaking, writing, and sales,” said Zoeckler.

A trivial point? Hardly.

Most job seekers I encounter have only the faintest idea of what they want to do.


2) Choose your targets
Zoeckler then spent a Sunday researching potential employers and made a list of 24 companies he wanted to work for.

“I hunted online for people who could actually hire me, like a VP of marketing or corporate communications, along with their mailing addresses and phone numbers,” he said.

Zoeckler was smart to create a “job shopping list” and target people with the authority to hire him.


3) Send a sales letter
Not a cover letter. A sales letter, one that “sells” employers on the following points:
• you know who they are,
• you understand their problems, and
• you can help, with promises backed by specific results.

“I worked from my list of skills, then figured out what my work meant in terms of saving money or creating money. And I was amazed when I thought about, for example, the time I took that extra responsibility and revenues went up almost $400,000,” said Zoeckler.

Now. You might think you can’t come up with specific numbers or dollars. And you would be wrong.

In any job you’ve held for more than 90 days, you either made more money or saved more money than you were paid in salary. The dollars are there, if only you’ll look long and hard enough.

Also, you may think you can’t write a sales letter. Wrong again.

Today, go through your “junk mail” and save the sales letters that appeal to you. Do the same tomorrow and the next day. In three days, you’ll have a “swipe file” of examples you can borrow from to write your own sales letter to employers.

Whatever letter you do come up with will be light years ahead of the typical cover letter, which reads like an IRS tax form.


4) Call to follow up
This is essential. It’s not enough to mail letters - you have to talk to people.

If you’ve put the time into choosing employers, targeting hiring managers, and writing a relevant sales letter, people should be willing to take your call, if only out of curiosity.

That’s what Zoeckler found after mailing his 24 letters on a Monday.

“I called on Thursday, talked to six people, and four of those were immediately ready to set up a time for an interview,” he said.


5) Meet and get hired
When Zoeckler met with his first potential employer, it was more of a business discussion than a job interview. That’s because Zoeckler had positioned himself as the solution to a problem, rather than as a job seeker.

“The employer and I got together for lunch. He said he had more business than he’s ever had, and unless he brought in someone like me immediately, he had no idea how he was going to juggle it,” said Zoeckler.

Think you can’t get employers this excited about you? Dogwash.

In good times and in bad, all businesses have problems. They need to make more money or capitalize on the money they are making. In either case, they need help.

Your job is to research ideal employers, find out what help they need, offer to provide it, and prove you can deliver. That’s what Zoeckler did.

How did all of this turn out?

“I was hired full time at the company I first interviewed with, which I most wanted to work for. The whole thing took only 2.5 weeks.”


Despite the tough economic times, you can take heart from this success story, which may be the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the perfect job search.

More important than taking heart, though, is for you to take action on these ideas.