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Estimated read time: 6 minutes
What’s in this letter 📧
Question from a job seeker: Why do employers want staff to return to the office?
Use the LAMP method to focus your job search efforts and amplify your ROI
Questions from Job Seekers…
Why do employers force you to work in office all week for a job that can easily be done at home?
A few possibilities for why companies are doing this:
The company doesn’t trust its staff to do the work at home
Team cohesion (companies claim WFH removes the team building
In the end, there are still a lot of companies that DO offer WFH. If you want to find them, here’s a long list of sites you can use to find remote work jobs:
Got job search or career questions? Email them to [email protected] for a chance to have them featured in this newsletter.
The LAMP Method…
Job searching is tough. What makes it worse is the complete saturation of the market with generic advice, like:
“Network…”
“Reach out to recruiters…”
"Follow up after submitting your application…"
"Prepare for common interview questions…"
"Research the company before the interview…"
That’s all great, but how do you actually do any of this. Well in today’s issue, I’m going to shed some light on one specific part of the job search - targeting specific employers according to 3 important criteria:
Advocates: People that are going to help either by referring you to the company or in some other way such as putting you in contact with a recruiter at the company
Motivation: How interested you are in working for the company
Prospects: How good the company’s job prospects are
Full disclaimer: The LAMP method was developed by Steve Dalton, author of The 2-Hour Job Search. I recommend reading his book for the full breakdown. I’m not affiliated with Steve in any way, and am not getting compensated for this. It’s just a really good method that I think more people should use.
Why should I target specific employers?
A few reasons:
Ensures higher quality job prospects
Avoids wasting time on job applications to companies you’re not interested in
This method ensures that you come up with a list of employers that:
Have a higher likelihood of responding,
Have job opportunities that are relevant to what you’re looking for, and
You’re actually interested in working for.
Done right, this method should take less around 70 minutes (it might take you longer at first).
What you’ll need:
LinkedIn or Indeed.
A spreadsheet like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel
Step 1: Format your spreadsheet
In your spreadsheet, create four columns as shown in the screenshot below.
The employer column used to list the name of the target company
The advocate column for listing whether or not you know anyone at the target company (”Y” for Yes, “N” for No)
Motivation on a scale of 1 to 5:
5 = employer you’re very interested in working for
1 = employer you have no interest in working for
Prospects on a scale of 1 to 3:
1 = employer with no job openings
2 = some job openings but not related to your field
3 = has job openings related to your field
How do I come up with a list of employers?
A few ways to do this:
Dream companies: These are employers you’ve always wanted to work for.
Alumni companies: You know someone, like a school alumnus, that works at the company. If you search a company on LinkedIn, the platform will tell you if you have anyone in common at that company.
See the screenshot below for an example of what I see when I search “Keller Williams Realty” in LinkedIn’s search bar. LinkedIn will show you who you have in common with that company, including connections and school alumni.
Job boards: Employers that come up on a list of results when you search sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, or Monster for your target job (i.e., software developer).
Professional associations: If you belong to an association, search their website for companies that employ people in your field.
Trend search: Run a Google search for [target field] + [trending]. Spend a few minutes searching through the results to find the names of trending companies in your industry.
The more employers you can add to this list, the better, because your’e eventually going to pare it down to a much shorter list of high priority companies. Start with at least 40 companies for the best results.
How do I find advocates?
An “advocate” is anyone willing to advocate on your behalf during the recruitment process. They could be:
School alumni
Past coworkers
Friends or family
Friend of a friend or someone a colleague knows (second degree connection)
For every employer on the list, you’re going to determine whether you have an advocate, and fill in a simple “Y” or “N” accordingly.
Motivation
As I mentioned earlier, give each company a rating on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is a company you’re very interested in, and 1 is a company you’re not.
Motivation plays a big role in the job search process, because you want to actually be interested in the companies you’re working for.
Interest could come from a number of sources:
Their values align with yours
They’re developing products you use and believe in
They’re known for having great compensation packages
They have a great work-life balance
They’re known for great career progression opportunities
Whatever the reason, being interested in a company is key and will prevent you from getting into a situation where you land a job at a company you dislike.
Often what happens in those situations is you continue to work at said company and burn away years of your life, or you quit shortly after starting and restart your job search (and all the stress and uncertainty that come with it).
Prospects
Imagine you go through the time of looking for advocates at American Apparel and all the time that takes, only to realize the company isn’t even hiring.
To save time, run a quick search of the company on LinkedIn or Indeed. In the example I used before, “Keller Williams Realty”, I simply click on the company’s profile page, then click “Jobs” tab.
LinkedIn is telling me there are 37 job openings, which is great, but do any of those openings fall in my field? To find out, let’s search for “resume writer” in the search bar shown at the centre of the page.
As seen in the next image, there aren’t any job openings for “resume writer” at Keller Williams Realty (not surprising, as they’re a real estate company).
In this case, I’d give Keller Williams Realty a score of 2, meaning they have jobs, but not in my field.
Organizing your list of target companies
Once you have your list ready, it’s time to sort it, so that the most high priority employers according to the criteria we talked about earlier, are at the top of the list.
First, you’re going to highlight your list.
Then you’re going to right-click > sort > custom sort.
You’re then going to sort by:
Motivation first
Job prospects second
Advocates last
What you’ll get is a list of priority employers, with those you’re most interested in first, followed by those that have the best job prospects, and finally those with which you have mutual contacts.
A note about this method:
In his book, Steve stresses the importance of sticking to the process. You’re only interested in the minimum amount of information needed to get through each step. No more. No less.
You’ll be tempted to pause the process to apply for an open job you saw while searching for alumni. Don’t. Trust the process. When done at peak efficiency, Steve’s LAMP method is intended to take 70 minutes or less.
What did you think of this week's issue?Did you find the topic covered and the way it was presented helpful? |
I’m James, Cofounder of Final Draft Resumes. I’ve been in the career consulting space for 13 years, and before that, I was a recruiter for AECOM.
I’ve helped thousands of job seekers, from industries like software engineering, IT, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and more generate job opportunities through well-written resumes that translate unique backgrounds into coherent narratives.
If you’re struggling with your resume for whatever reason, reach out - I just might be able to help!
If you’re more of a DIY person, then check out Resumatic, my free-to-try resume builder.