Monday 5 August 2013

GUEST ARTICLE JJC - Series 2 - job search- How to Find Company Emails and Websites


Happy Monday everyone!

Please help me give a warm welcome for our guest blogger Ma’Reke, a budding career and management consultant with a passion for connecting people to volunteer and internship positions. Via the twitter handle @NaijaVolunteers, their amazing team have placed dozens of young Nigerians in jobs right across Naija including the fabulous Kunle who works with us right here at insiteful solutions. She truly is doing great things in Naija. Enjoy!

Whether you want to introduce yourself, send a cover letter, make a pitch or raise awareness about your new product, email addresses and websites always come in handy. I can throw caution to the ‘near’ winds and say that the website and e-mail aspect of technology would not quickly go out of fashion. The world would still be checking websites and sending e-mails for a long time. However, though everybody is quick to tell you about his website and links to his social media profiles, not many people hand you their email address just because you need it. In fact, the rule is that the needy side is the email address-giving side.(Feel free to share exceptions to this rule via comments)How do you find a website? It is quite easy! With more and more attention being paid to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), digital marketing and web statistics, every website yearns to be found. Head over to a search engine (like Google, Bing, etc) and type [company name]+[country] or just type whatever you need and look through the search results to pick the one that looks like the website not just news about what you searched for. Look for results with links in these formats (if the company is Ishall Limited): ishall.com, ishall.net, ishallltd.ng, ishall.org

Alright, it is confirmed you are on the right website but how do you find an email address? Look around for a Contact Us tab this time. Click it when you see it. You should find an email address for general correspondence and/or a contact form.

YIKES!!!! THIS COMPANY IS HIDING THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES!!! NOW WHAT?
  • Start by snooping around the website’s press releases or News/Media/Events section. For instance, if they announced an event, there would probably be contact phone number and email address included. Still can’t find any? Check for a Resources tab for downloadable documents. Download a brochure or other material and check the beginning and last pages. You may also want to scan the entire document, if you still do not find. No luck? Search the web! Has the organization been in the newspaper websites? If they have been, you may get an email address from them announcing an event or Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. Subscribe for the organization's newsletter on the website. You may get a feedback email acknowledging that you just signed up, from a valid email address you can send mails to. If you receive the acknowledgement mail from a mail you cannot reply to or an automatic mail (something like donotreply@blabla.com or automaticresponse@bloblo.net ), do not despair. As the company sends you newsletters, you are very likely to find an email address or two in some-with contact names as well.

  • Apply for work! Okay, this is absolutely worst case-but it can work. Check the Careers or Join Us or Work with us or Get Involved tab of the website and apply for a position you qualify for. What next? A contact from the organization would send you an e-mail (sometimes in addition to a call or SMS) long listing or short listing you for interview or some other assessment. And there you have it! I am laughing at myself right now so feel free to laugh at me too. However, if this works for you, remember to testify to us.


1-2-3-4-5-and it is see you next time! No worries, I have not run out of ideas. God strengthen and bless your hustle. 

Watch out for the next edition in this series coming soon!!


Still rooting for you!

Ma’Reke  [linked to http://twitter.com/thetytestudent]

ChiomaTanwaOkereke (Ma’Reke) is a budding career and management consultant, research & development geek, tech enthusiast, and digital strategist. She unravels advice, cheap and free tools especially useful for career newbies at thetytestudent.wordpress.com and leads the amazing Volunteer in Nigeria network (volunteerinnigeria.wordpress.com).